I’LL SHOW YOU (PART 7 - WORKING FAITH) VISIBLE FAITH IN THE BOOK OF JAMES

•Saving Mr. Banks

James 2:14-2114 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

The simple answer then is the simple answer now: That faith is no good whatsoever.

Can that faith save him?

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Again, the answer then and now is no, that faith cannot save. A faith that does not respond to the Word of God is not a saving faith. Then, he gives us an example of a faith that does not save.

15 If a brother or sister...

Notice, he is speaking in the context of Christian community here. He is not talking about the stranger on the street who approaches you and asks if you can spare some change.

... is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

Clearly, that is ridiculous. So, he gives us this example to emphasize his point:

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

A dead faith is the exact opposite of a living faith. A dead faith is not a saving faith. It is not the faith of someone who has been given new life by God’s Spirit who brings life. The Apostle John agrees wholeheartedly with James when he writes:

1 John 4:2020 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

Now, James answers some objections that may arise.

18  But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

James is saying this truth is so evident that only the most foolish person will not see it for what it is -- sheer nonsense. To say, “I am saved by faith in Jesus,” and then to go on and have a longstanding extramarital affair that produces a child while having a family with the spouse you married is to have a faith that is sheer nonsense. The world will tell this professing Christian that such faith is nonsense and the world speaks the truth when it does so. The problem is the world then assumes all of Christianity is nonsense, not just the life of the fool they’re witnessing.

But understanding that we can be so foolish, James shows us that his arguments stand scripturally.

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21  Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

Genesis 22:1-1822 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

The testing is always to reveal the content of our faith to ourselves and to others, not to God. God knows.

2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

Now, we see Abraham respond to the Word of God. The Word of the Lord came first, then faith in the Word of God, then the response to the Word of God.

3 So Abraham rose early in the morning,

This is a work in response to faith in God’s Word.

saddled his donkey,

A work that springs from faith in God’s Word.

and took two of his young men with him,

A work from faith.

and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering

A work from faith.

and arose

A work from faith.

and went to the place of which God had told him.

A work from faith in the Word of God.

4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife.

The fire and the knife - can these two objects represent a spiritual truth to us? Well, in Scripture, the Holy Spirit is often symbolized by fire. And the Word of God is symbolized by a sword. The fire and the knife - the two things that make it possible for us to have works that spring from faith.

So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

This is a completely different kind of faith than the pagan faith that sacrifices children to

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merit the deity’s favor. In such thinking it is the sacrifice of the children that the pagan deity desires. In the Christian revelation of God, it is trust in the character and nature of God that God is teaching the one who responds to His Word. It is not in the superstitious ritualistic sacrifice that God delights, but in the full trust of His character -- that this God will not do me wrong. That I can trust His Word because I trust Him. Even if He slay, yet I will trust Him. That it will all eventually work out for the best. “For we know that for those who love God all things work together for the good.” It is that kind of faith.

9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

Notice it is this -- the reaching out of his hand, not the lifting of us hand with the knife in it, but in the reaching out of his hand when the Lord calls to him.

11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his

eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Abraham believed the Word of God because he trusted in the nature and character of God. God had shown Himself to be benevolent and kind and just, a God who provided what was needed at just the right time and in just the right way. Abraham knew this because of his relationship with the Living God.

Relationship with God as an ongoing Self-revelation of God

15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

See this is where the religious person gets things confused. The religious person thinks the merit comes from the works. This takes us back to the pagan idea that the sacrifice of the child is what the deity wants. It is our trust in His nature and character that God is

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showing us here. This is where the blessing comes from -- trusting in God, not in mindless obedience, but in childlike trust. The religious person thinks it’s about the obedience alone. The child knows is it’s about trust in God which produces the obedience. The only reason Abraham takes these steps is because he trusts God.

James 2:22-2422 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Now, this is a very misunderstood verse. James is not contradicting the teachings of the Apostle Paul here.

Titus 2:1414 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

He is emphasizing that the faith the saves produces works, just as it did in the account of Abraham and Isaac.

James 2:25-2625  And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent

them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Joshua 2:9-109 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

Her first words express what she believes. “I know that the Lord has given you the land.” That is truly a statement of faith.

10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.

Then she mentions three accounts of the Lord’s dealings that she believed. She didn’t witness these things personally. She only heard about them, but she believed these accounts of the Lord. This explains her behavior. Because she believed these accounts of the Lord, she wanted to help these servants of the Lord. This is no different than us hearing about these accounts and believing them. Jesus said that she is even more blessed because she only heard about them and believed. He says the same thing about us.

John 20:29

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29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

There is enough evidence to believe.

Joshua 2:11-1411 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

Her lips confess what her heart believes. That’s one evidence of true faith -- our lips confess what we truly believe. But another evidence is that our lives show what we believe by the actions we take. It’s both what we say and what we do.

12 Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house, and give me a sure sign 13 that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.” 14 And the men said to her, “Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.”

And the sign that saved her and her family was a scarlet cord tied in the window of her home.

Scarlet was the color of Jesus’s robe. (Matt. 27:28) It’s a deep color representing the deep stain of sin in our lives. (Is. 1:18) In

Proverbs, scarlet material showed that a family was being taken care of. (Prov. 31:21) All over Leviticus and the Old Testament, scarlet materials were used in the sacrifices for sins. Scarlet wool was dipped in the blood of calves and goats mixed with water and hyssop and sprinkled on all the people. (Heb. 9:19)

Rahab not only believed that God was Lord, but she believed that He was good and kind. She trusted God and her family was saved by the scarlet cord, foreshadowing the blood of Jesus that saves us from our wicked distrust of God’s character. The disbelief in God’s goodness accuses His character. People who accuse God of being a monster because He is not doing according to their will. To accuse the self-revealed God of being other than He truly is -- this is the great sin of unbelief.

James 2:2626 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Copyright © 2013 Thor Ramsey www.canyonlakechurch.org