Dead Faith, Living Faith

Dead Faith, Living Faith

“Dead Faith, Living Faith”
(James 2:14-26)
Series: Living the Faith (James)

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson

•I invite you to join me in the second chapter of the Book of James (p. 812;YouVersion).

If you are visiting, we are studying this practical little book, the Book of James and are going through it’s five chapters verse-by-verse, and left off last time at verse 13 and so, we’ll be picking up this morning at verse 14.

James is writing first and foremost to the churches in Jerusalem and scattered beyond.  His teachings, of course, have application to the church in Henderson. He has been writing about this business of being what he calls, “Doers of the Word” and not mere hearers only. He introduces this theme of “doing the Word” in the first chapter, back in chapter 1, verse 22, “But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

And James taught us what that looks like, giving the practical illustration of a rich man entering into the congregation and how we must guard against the sinful tendency to show favoritism to the rich man while shunning the poor man. “Do the Word,” by applying what it teaches about loving all persons and forgiving all persons, including even our enemies.

So this matter of not merely hearing the Word, but doing what it says continues on in verses 14 and following.

•Let me invite you to stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

•Pray.

Introduction:

Last week many of us shuddered as we learned the news about the latest aviation tragedy that claimed 150 lives. Since then we have learned more and more about the emotional state of the Germanwings co-pilot who reportedly deliberately crashed the jet into the French Alps on Tuesday killing all 150 people on board.

Our immediate reaction to these tragedies is often to respond in shock and disbelief and we offer up a prayer for the families of those who died. And we often place ourselves there, wondering what it must have been like for those who boarded the plane and what they experienced in the final moments. It truly is horrific in every sense of the word.

One of the reasons a tragedy like this is so unbelievable to us is because we are used to this kind of thing not happening. We generally feel very secure as we board a plane. We walk past the cockpit and we generally don’t question the capability and security of the pilots, we trust, they are physically capable and emotionally secure. We just trust and have faith that everything is okay.

And yet, tragic as that horrible event was to us in recent days, and tragic as it remains, gripping as it continues to be in our thoughts and feelings, there is a far greater tragedy with which we live every day of our lives. There is a far greater tragedy in terms of eternal consequences that far exceeds the boundaries of mere physical concerns. And this tragedy is to believe that one is secure spiritually and to die with a false sense of spiritual security.

James warns us here in this second chapter to examine whether our faith is genuine. He addresses the reality that there are many who live from day to day assuming that they are okay spiritually when they are not. He writes about faith here. And he contrasts living faith, real Christian faith, with what he terms a dead faith. The question, then is, “Do you have genuine saving faith, or do you have a dead faith, a useless faith?”

One of the ways to learn what something is, is by also talking about what a thing is not. So in our passage this morning I want to draw out from these six verses what saving faith is not. What saving faith is not. First:

I. Saving Faith is not Merely Confessional (14-18)

Saving faith, real Christian faith, is not merely confessional. That is, we are not Christians merely because we profess to be or confess to be. We are not Christians merely because we say we are.

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

So right from the start James teaches that no one is a Christian based upon mere verbal confession. This teaching is much as the teaching of our Lord Jesus who said, you will remember in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7:21 and following:

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Saying we are Christians does not necessarily mean that we are Christians. Saving faith is not merely confessional.

James’ immediate concern here is that there were some in the church who said they were followers of Christ, but the way they lived suggested otherwise. Principally, James teaches that these who said they were Christians did not live it out, did not demonstrate that they were true Christians by showing concern for others. He says in verse 15 and following:

15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?

What does it profit? What good is that kind of faith? What good is there in a faith that is merely confessional? A man says he is a Christian, but clearly he is not living as a Christian. He doesn’t show that he is a Christian by the way he lives.

So a man or woman is dressed in shabby clothes and is hungry and all you can say to them is, “God bless you. Be warm. Be filled.” And James protests: “But you do not give them what they need!” You don’t give them food and clothing.” James says, “What good is that?!”

And he concludes that that kind of faith isn’t good at all because it doesn’t lead to action. It doesn’t lead to the kind of good deeds one expects from Christians. In fact, James refers to that kind of faith as useless and dead. This is why James writes as he does, again back in verse 14 with the question:

“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?” and the idea is that kind of faith? Does that kind of faith save the soul? And the implied response is, “No! No, that kind of faith does not save.”

Why? Because it is not genuine. It does not lead to the doing of good deeds. It is a faith by itself, a faith that does not result in works. So James concludes in verse 17:

17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

It is a dead faith which means it is a faith that does not live. It does not grant life. It does not lead to eternal life.

So saving faith is not merely confessional. We are not Christians simply because we say we are Christians. We demonstrate that we are true Christians by the way we live.

That surely comes as no surprise to those who are genuinely saved. We understand that the power of the Gospel leads to regeneration, new life. Jesus says we are “born again.” We are, as Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “New creations.” He says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

If we are truly saved God gives us a new heart with new desires. We read the Bible because we want to. We attend worship because we want to. We pray because we enjoy talking with God. We return a weekly tithe, 10%, because we want to. We love God and we just naturally live out our Christian faith.

So, James argues, that if a person says he has faith but does not have the accompanying good deeds that follow, if a man or woman says he or she is a Christian, but there is no evidence based upon how he or she lives, then that person has every reason in the world to doubt whether or not he or she has been genuinely saved. Saving faith is not merely confessional. It is a confession that leads to expression, namely the doing of good deeds or works. “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

James is not contradicting the Bible’s teaching elsewhere that a person is saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Were we to disregard context and just pull a couple verses from different parts of the Bible, then it may appear as though there were a contradiction here.

We read, for example, verse 17, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” And we open to Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

And we might conclude that James is teaching in a faith plus works as though both were necessary to salvation, and Paul is teaching in a faith minus works, as though merely faith were required.

What we must understand is that James and Paul are speaking about two different points in the Christian life. Paul is talking about the way into the Christian life, the beginning of Christian living. James is talking about a point after one becomes a Christian, the living out of Christian faith. As we have noted before, James does not write this letter to teach how to become a Christian, but how to behave as a Christian. Paul, in his writings, often stresses the way one becomes a Christian and he does so clarifying that it is not in the way many Jews of his day thought they were to become Christians, by keeping the law.

So Paul is addressing the entry point into salvation when he writes in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” You can’t earn your way into heaven. You can’t work your way into favor with God. You are saved by grace, through faith, in Christ, alone.

Now in that same passage Paul goes on to say, however, that once a person is saved that he or she will live out the Christian faith by doing the good deeds and works that God has prepared for them to do. So Ephesians 2:8-10:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

So salvation is not a “faith plus works,” nor a “faith without works,” but a “faith that works.” Or, if you like, “Faith alone saves,” but “the faith that saves is never alone.”

It may be helpful to repeat this:

Salvation is not a “faith plus works,” nor a “faith without works,” but a “faith that works.” Stated another way: “Faith alone saves,” but “the faith that saves is never alone.”

As we sang in the hymn earlier:

For not with swords loud clashing,
Nor roll of stirring drums,
With deeds of love and mercy,
The heavenly kingdom comes

True, genuine faith will inevitably result in good works, or good deeds. This is James’ primary point. Verse 17 again, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Saving faith is not merely confessional. Verse 18:

18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

This verse is notoriously difficult to translate. Remember that in the original Greek there is no punctuation and all the letters are side-by-side with hardly any space in between. So we can’t say for sure who is doing the talking here in verse 18. Someone says something and then a person responds and we just can’t say for certain where the quotation marks go and you may enjoy studying verse 18 further this afternoon in an attempt to figure it all out.

For our purposes this morning, it seems helpful to avoid being too near-sighted and back up a bit and read the text in it’s wider understanding. And so, however the punctuation works out, the wider point is that faith and works are inseparable. As wrong as it is for one person to say, “I have merely faith” it is equally wrong for the other person to say, “I have merely works.” The two are inseparable.

Again, salvation is not a “faith plus works,” nor is salvation found in a “faith without works,” but genuine living faith is a “faith that works.” Or: “Faith alone saves,” but “the faith that saves is never alone.”

Faith that is alone is a dead faith. True faith, living faith, shows its authenticity by good deeds that follow. But if one has merely good deeds, good works only, good deeds but no faith, then this is a person who may be good on the outside but has not been changed on the inside.

Have you ever heard the expression, “Empty suit?” And empty suit is a derogatory expression, a way to refer to someone who looks good on the outside—they’re dressed nicely—but they are empty on the inside. Or we might say, “The lights are on, but there’s nobody home.” What we mean is that this person looks okay on the outside, but there’s a problem on the inside.

So just because a person does good deeds, good works, just because a person attends the worship services of the church, gives money to the church, works for the church, gives to the poor, helps the downtrodden. These things are all good, but if a person does not have faith, then this person—while doing many good works—is not saved. This person has not been changed on the inside. This is a person who is all dressed up on the outside, but empty on the inside. This is a person who has never placed his faith in Christ alone as Savior. Saving faith is not merely confessional.

Number two:

II. Saving Faith is not Merely Intellectual (19a)

James addresses those who may have their doctrine right, but again do not live out that faith in the doing of good deeds. So James addresses the matter of saving faith being not merely a cerebral experience, not merely an intellectual experience. Verse 19:

19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

A person can believe orthodox statements about the Christian faith and still be lost. A person can accept as true statements about God and about Christianity and be lost.

This is the point here in verse 19, “You believe that there is one God.” That’s an orthodox Christian statement. So James says, “You do well.” But then he adds, “Even the demons believe (this)—and tremble.”

Even the demons, the devils, believe true statements about God, but that does not mean that they are in a right relationship with God. Saving faith is not merely intellectual. It is not just mentally assenting to true statements.

True saving Christian faith, living faith, grips both the head and the heart. It is both cerebral and cardiological. If it is merely intellectual, then it’s just in our heads. If, however, we recognize the depth of our sin, and throw ourselves upon the mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and surrender to Him as Lord, then something has happened on the inside. Something has happened in our hearts. We are different. We are changed. We are saved.

Saving faith accepts gospel truth and lives it out. Saving faith is not merely intellectual.

The great puritan preacher and thinker Jonathan Edwards makes this point in a sermon preached on this verse, verse 19. Jonathan Edwards was an 18th Century preacher, preached in America in the mid-1700s and he preached a sermon on this verse entitled, “True Grace Distinguished From The Experience Of Devils.” Isn’t that a great puritan sermon title? Edwards makes the point that just like demons, man can know the various attributes of God and yet remain lost. Here’s an excerpt from the sermon:

This is no sign of a state of grace…found in the devils. They believe that there is one God, and that he is a holy, sin-hating God and that he is a God of truth, and will fulfill his threatenings by which he has denounced future judgments, and a great increase of misery on them, and that he is an almighty God, and able to execute his threatened vengeance upon them.

The devils know God’s almighty power. They saw a great manifestation of it when they saw God lay the foundation of the earth…and were much affected with it. They have seen innumerable other great demonstrations of [God’s] power, as in the universal [flood], the destruction of Sodom, the wonders in Egypt, at the Red sea, and in the wilderness, causing the sun to stand still in Joshua’s time, and many others…

So the devils have a great knowledge of the wisdom of God. They have had unspeakably more opportunity and occasion to observe it in the work of creation, and also in the works of providence, than any mortal man has ever had.

Devils and [condemned] men know that God is eternal and unchangeable. And therefore they despair of there ever being an end to their misery. Therefore it is manifest, that merely persons having an affecting sense of some, or even of all God’s attributes, is no certain sign that they have the true grace of God in their hearts.

We can know true statements about God and be lost. Merely intellectually understanding truths of the Bible does not guarantee one’s salvation, does not guarantee that the grace of God is working in our hearts.

Saving faith is not merely intellectual and, similarly, and finally:

III. Saving Faith is not Merely Emotional (19b)

Note the emotion that is shown here in verse 19 by the demons. James says of the demons that, “Even the demons believe—and tremble!”

They shudder, they bristle. They move, they shake. They feel. You might say that when they are in the presence of God, they are emotional.

It is a very dangerous thing to judge our salvation based upon pure emotion. We are not saved based upon the way we feel. There are days when the true Christian does not necessarily feel very spiritual. Emotions come and emotions go.

A lost person can feel the warmth of church building. A lost person can feel the care and concern of others. A lost person can feel good when the music plays, can feel excited, happy, good about himself, pleased with herself.

A lost person can feel awe in the presence of God. A lost person can feel happy in the presence of God.

No one is saved based upon mere emotion.

Saving faith is not merely confessional; saving faith is not merely intellectual; saving faith is not merely emotional.

So there is danger in merely saying one is a Christian. There is danger in merely believing the things of Christianity. And there is danger in merely feeling the things of Christianity.

So what is the sign of the true grace of God working in our hearts? We are saved when we place our faith in Jesus Christ alone as Savior. We must believe that we are sinners…repent…turn to Christ…live our lives in such a way that shows…

Salvation is not a “faith plus works,” nor is salvation found in a “faith without works,” but genuine living faith is a “faith that works.” Or: “Faith alone saves,” but “the faith that saves is never alone.”

•Stand for prayer.

…concern for the lost…KY game last night, cameras cut to KY fans and Notre Dame fans, people biting their nails, heads bowed as in prayer, concerned for the winning and losing of a game…same concern for the spiritually lost?! Life is not a game…

…received from the monthly update from Nik Ripken (The Insanity of God) and his wife, a question we are asked often from our Muslim Friends:

“If Jesus means that much to you, why don’t you talk about Him?””
May we talk about Him to everyone we meet! And let our light shine”

…Are you praying daily this prayer:

“Lord, give me an opportunity to share my faith today.
Enable me to recognize this opportunity when it comes.
When it happens, give me the courage to proceed.”

 

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