James (part 6)

Faith as Belief, Trust, and the Faith Once Delivered

We probably get into one of the passages in scripture that does create a little bit of consternation for some, only because it seems to be difficult to reconcile with other passages.

In scripture.

Probably the passage that makes James more famous than almost any other passage, we need to come to grips with the question, when James talks about faith, is he coming from a different vantage point than St. Paul is coming, or is it the same thing and we just need to understand it better.

Because much of what Paul has to say when he talks about faith puts an emphasis on a different syllable than James does. So this is that section in James where we actually get to talk about it. As we get started, let me just throw this out.

Give me a definition. It can be from the Bible, it can be from a dictionary, practical application. Tell me what is faith?

The evidence of things hoped for, the substance of things not seen.

Right to you, Ephesians 11.

I think it's believing in something before it has been proven, before it has come to fruition.

It's our protection from the evil one, it's the vehicle for our salvation, by grace, through faith, that we're saved.

Dictionary says, confidence or trust in a person or thing, also belief that is not based on proof or in the doctrines of truth.

Very solid.

And it's not the same as the faith.

Express that, explain that to them.

The faith is the doctrine of belief. It's the doctrine that we've been given. We've been handed down the faith, but having faith in the promises and in the verses of God is faith.

It's absolute assurance. You almost make it sound like a noun versus a verb.

Well, there are two aspects of faith. The faith that's been handed down to us, which is the doctrine of truth that we've been given. It's not the same as the verb, having.

Excellent. Let's open with a word of prayer. Eric, would you do that for us?

Sure.

Dear Lord, we thank you for another opportunity to come together to study your Word. Thank you for the preparation that he's put in. He teaches us that you would guide us.

Then Eric, get Deuteronomy 10 ready and Ryan get Matthew 22. For the Jews, again, James written to the Jewish believers, scattered. Good idea to go back to context. For the Jews, what was their governing religious background?

Give me more. That's a good answer. What does that mean, the Law of Moses?

The laws were handed him on Simon.

Word by Kabbalah, 100 laws as well. 613.

Yeah, that's so true. Last week when we were talking about how James came out of be holy, be pure, and then he takes this little small thing in the middle of Leviticus 19, chooses to use that as his teaching point.

Don't show favoritism. It's such a small thing in the middle of Leviticus 19, verse 15. Chooses to use that as a teaching point. But now we get into what's going to come up. For the Jew, this concept of living in a religious obedience, there was the Levitical Law, there was the Ten Commandments, there was the Levitical Law, there was the Pharisaical Law, there was a ton.

How did the Jews know God?

Through the prophets, through religious leaders.

Okay.

Not on a personal level.

Okay.

Through their deliverance.

Yes, explain that one a little bit. That's a good answer.

The pointing to his saving them by sending them to Egypt and by 400 years plus later bringing them out of Egypt and watching over them.

The miracles he performed.

The miracles. But think about what it would have been like for the Jews during those 40 years. God's presence was clear. It was a pillar of fire by night, a cloud by day.

And their sandals never wore out, their clothing never wore out. He fed them with manna and quail. So he was there the whole time.

But yet their experience with God was, how would you characterize their experience with God?

I would say the Jews that we're reading about right now didn't experience it at all, so they wouldn't know God in that way.

Good point.

But they would have known God as a distant guy who comes in to save the day. Or when we complain a lot, he gives us our need in like 30 seconds. Or judgment. He was a God of judgment.

Ryan, what were you going to say?

The only way to get to him was to go through someone else who was appointed as a mediator. So it was the priest or the high priest. And then when you went to him, you needed to bring a sacrifice for whatever it was that you were required to bring.

What was the name of that guy that rode back to Jerusalem? The ark was on the cart.

Uzziah.

His experience with God or his family's experience with God. Did you ever wonder what it was like for Uzziah's wife? What are you doing?

So they knew him more as a disciplinarian than a loving father.

Their knowledge of God would have been clearly disciplinary. It clearly would have been holy. It clearly would have been distant. They were not... Even the high priest put bells around his ankles, put a rope around his waist.

It wasn't the type of thing... By the way, hi, I'm John.

Hi, Tim.

Tim, welcome. I just tend to go.

Do you know George? No, it's my first time here.

Nice to have you.

There's a reason, by the way, we're all sitting back here. What's wrong with him?

But what's great is you guys took five seats and now Bob has to come in here.

We're going to get a camera today.

Nobody wants to get anywhere near that.

A small rabbit trail. Growing up, my girls would bring friends over. And there was just kind of a thing in our house, especially when there was company in, two seats to my left, pray. And it was interesting to watch how my girls would either jockey to have their friends sit in that seat or that seat.

The Great Commandment and the Whole-Hearted Requirement of God

All right.

What was God's requirement of Israel? Obedience. Deuteronomy 10 -12.

Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul?

And give me Matthew 22 because it goes right on top of that.

Yeah.

What was the verse?

36 -40.

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? And he said to them, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment, and the second is like it.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.

I ask the question again. What was God's requirement of the nation of Israel? To love him.

Love God and love others.

Read that again, Eric.

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul?

There's four things in there that are required. Now, the heart is the glue, but what are the four things required?

Fear.

Walk in his ways.

Love.

Serve.

That's pretty inclusive. If you want to try to rephrase these a little bit, I tried. There's better ways, I'm sure. We're to worship God. Fear him. We're to worship God. We're to be in submission to him and to his way and to his will.

We're to be in obedience to him. We're to love him. I couldn't come up with a better word than love. We're to be in response to him and walk in his ways. This is more than just having a solid, holy, appropriate picture of God.

Go ahead.

Well, it ends with all your soul. So I think many of us can take those four things and say, be myself when that overflows from your heart. That's when you're...

In fact, Ryan, in your passage, we're told to do these various things.

Love, love, love.

And there are three processes that it's without. Did you catch that at the end of yours? With all your...

No, I'm talking about the first commandment. With all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.

All your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. The reason I'm bringing this out, faith is not, I believe, accurately understood when it is a passive or a stative concept. We aren't our. That's not what faith is.

Faith has worship, submission, love, service, following. Faith has the heart, the soul, the essence of me, and the mind, which says that if faith is purely cognitively doing, it's incomplete. But if faith is perceived as something that I've received it, it's been bestowed upon me, I've accepted the concept, but I'm not doing anything with it, I think it's also inadequate.

I think this is what makes James so powerful, is that I have, for years, thought about Deuteronomy 10 -12 as an exhortation that what God wants is my heart. And that's true. In its fullness, what does Deuteronomy 10 -12 say God wants?

Your whole being, all of you.

And my shoes. He wants me doing. He wants me obeying. He wants me responding. We're to serve. This is more than a state of being, this is more than a state of is, I am. This is a state of... My feet are involved with this thing.

My hands are involved with this thing. If we go to Deuteronomy 12, if we go to Matthew 22, we see this, this becomes a requirement. Textually, we're not going to spend time. I do recognize time is moving.

But within James, so far, we've seen a lot of things that talk about becoming a person after God's own heart in so many different ways. We're told to be steadfast under trial. We're told to recognize that everything that we have is from God.

It's not about me. Every good and perfect gift comes from above. We're to put away filthy things. We're supposed to respond. We're not supposed to show partiality. He has built this picture of a true follower of Christ is not just a state of being.

It's not just a state of being, which opens the door wide open now for him to go into Chapter 3. 2 .14. Bob, if you would give James 2 .14, please. I have a lot of passages here. We may read them somewhat.

I'm picking shoes around. A lot of information to cover. But give me 2 .14 first of all.

Sure.

James 2 .14. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?

Salvation, Faith, and Works in James 2

I think it's important as we want to understand James 2 .14 through 26. There are three concepts that we better get our hands around real well. The first one is salvation. It's safe. The first one is salvation.

The second one clearly will be faith. Let's go back to the Scriptures. Let's understand faith. And then the third is this thing of works. Scripturally, this is an important concept also. Genesis 1. Tim, is that your name?

Yeah. Okay.

If you mind reading all the passages that I have around the book, and if you're not comfortable, just pass by. That's okay. But I'm going to ask Genesis 1, 26 and 27, and then Rick, Genesis 3, 22 to 24.

Arlene, if you would get Ephesians 2, verses 1 and then verse 6. Galatians 3, Gen. Titus 3, 2 Corinthians 5.

Okay.

Go ahead, Tim.

And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

If we want to understand salvation, I think we need to understand the beginning of it all. How did God create man? Why did God create man?

Yeah.

So why did he make man? Anybody know the first answer to the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism? What's the chief goal of man?

To enjoy God and to live in his presence forever.

This was the plan for God and man to be in fellowship. And in fact, we can understand after the fall when man hides himself because God is coming to walk with him in the garden in the cool of the day that this was God's normal thing to do, to come and walk with man in the garden in the cool of the day.

So man knew it was coming, so he hid. Because of the fall, Rick?

Genesis 3, 22 -24. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever.

Therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

There are some very, very disturbing phrases, concepts in scripture. That one there in verse 27, and he drove out man, or verse 24, he drove out man, is distressing, it's true. If you take Christ on the cross, when the whole sins of the world had come upon him, what did the Father do?

And James in here is going to say that the devils believe. That's a scary thought, to think that the devils believe because there's a reality that belief is not enough. But it's God's intent, even from the fall, for the restoration of man.

And so Deuteronomy 10 -12, which you already read, God's desire is that man serve him with all his heart. That we fear him, that we walk in his ways, that we love him, that we serve him with all our heart.

He wants to restore us, but the relationship was severed. But he wants it restored. Ephesians 2 -1.

Do you want me to connect it to 2 -6 or no?

Just 2 -1 and then 2 -6.

Okay. Ephesians 2 -1. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins.

That's who we are. There's no sugarcoating that and there's no political correctness about it. God drove man away. And so we're dead in our trespasses and sins. But the good news, 2 -6.

2 -6. It's okay, I'll connect it with 5. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, by grace you have been saved and raised us, meaning Christ, raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ.

There is a victory at the end of it, those who have come to faith, to be raised and seated with him back in heaven. We were driven away. We're going to be raised again. We will be with him. There is a requirement of our essence has to be transformed from death to what?

Life.

I put in another word, from death to righteousness. Righteousness. And so scripture has, Paul, a lot of his writings have given us a ton. James gives us also. But in Galatians 2 -21.

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.

Can't come through the law. There are other ways. And then we go to Titus.

He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Washing of rebirth comes through faith, through the Holy Spirit, and then 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 5 -17?

Yes.

Will we become new creatures in Christ?

Yes.

In this matter of ourselves?

Yes. Okay.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. The new has come.

There is a transformation required. Salvation is the answer to Genesis 3 -24. God drove man away. But God has set up a plan. We go back to James. There's three concepts. One is salvation. And it's the door by which we get there.

The door by which we get there.

I studied this passage in Greek. And the word for new, when it says new creation,.

There are two Greek words for new.

Neos is new in time. And kynos is new in quality or nature. That's the word that's used. We're a completely new creation. And quality, nature.

Our old nature still deserves to be cast away by a holy God. But our new creation is given the opportunity of being adopted by a holy and loving God. The second concept that we have to get our hands around, if we're going to go into James 2 -14 on salvation, the second one is faith.

We talked about what we think faith is. How do we receive faith? Romans 10, I guess, Eric, you've got that. In Galatians 5, Bob, I guess. How do we get faith? By hearing. It comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10. We defined it already, so I'm not going to redo that. How do we get faith? I'm looking at your point, of course.

It's given by God.

How successful can we be conjuring up faith within ourselves? Why not? God chooses us. Within me, there is nothing that is going to, in and of itself, there's nothing in me that's going to go to God. But God, because of His love, through His grace, He even, we'll go ahead and give you yours.

10 -17. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God.

It comes through the word of God. It doesn't come through us. Even understanding the word of God, things of the Spirit are not understood by the flesh. Even going to the word of God, even spending time in the word of God, if it isn't empowered by the word of God, by His Spirit, it's going to come up short.

Faith is something that, it's a God-given gift. In fact, it's even described better in Galatians 2.

Is it Galatians 5 .22?

Yeah, that's right.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law.

The fruit of the Spirit, and one of those is faith. The reality that I've responded to God's grace, His call, He's allowed me to even have faith. Even as I go on, the ability to continue to come to God in faith, it's driven by His Spirit.

It's not driven by anything in me. It's driven by His Spirit. So, to have faith that is effectual and powerful, who gets the glory?

God.

God gets the glory. False piety and stuff like that has no place when it comes to having your hand wrapped around the sufficiency of faith. Because faith comes from God in the first place. We have the ability to block it, but only He has the ability to give it.

The next passage tells us that it's the only path to righteousness. I'm going to pass by that for now. Maybe not. Romans 5 .1. Ryan, if you would get that.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Can I keep going? Because the next one's really good, too.

Until you're done, go.

Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope and the glory of God.

It's the only path to righteousness is faith. It almost sounds too easy, but the next one becomes important also. John 6. Tim, right? I'm going to get this identity. And then 1 John 5, Rick, and then Hebrews 11 .6.

Go ahead.

John 6. I find it interesting that Jesus says, I don't want you to work. I find it interesting that He doesn't say, Believe is enough. There is an action involvement. In fact, Rick, how about yours?

I would point out also in John 6 .44, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And 1 John 5 .4. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.

And who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

What is faith doing in that passage? Overcoming the world. Faith loses its ability to be understood as a state of being and a state of existence. It's a state of action. It's a state of moving forward.

How about yours, Arlene?

Hebrews 11 .6. And without faith it is impossible to do sin. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.

Pleasing God, seeking God, the concept of putting shoes on our feet, preparing our hands to go out and do the thing. Faith, I think, fully understood. If we go back to Deuteronomy 10 .12, we're talking about fearing God, walking, loving Him with all our heart and serving Him.

Faith has to have... Okay, last week I talked a little bit about a phrase that I had heard moving into works. That I heard a phrase of understanding works that it's understood in its biblical context there's a difference between works as the way, which is wrong.

Works is not the way. Works on the way. What would be the difference between works as the way and works on the way?

Works on the way suggests that it's a result of your faith, not the cause of your salvation.

We were on a scenic railroad in West Virginia with our daughter a couple of years ago. Really kind of cool. You get in this old-style steam coal-fired locomotive with a couple of vintage late 19th century cars, and they take you out into the wilderness, turn around, and then they come back.

But on the way, one of the employees is sitting in front. The engine was behind, it was pushing us on the way out. He was sitting at the end watching track. Why do you think he was watching track?

Track. Track.

What does the engineer, he's going backwards?

Well, he's going backwards, so what? He's on a track. He doesn't have to go right, go left. A tree had fallen.

It could be problems with animals even or natural.

A tree had fallen. He had to get out. There were two of them, got out with a chainsaw, cut the tree, cleared the track so we could go. And our faith, I'm not saying it's a perfect analogy, but our faith is not just sitting on that train and enjoying the ride.

There's work to be done, not because it's going to get us to the place, but it's going to get us on the way. How should our life be changed? Because we have faith.

We should be humble because we recognize that we don't have the power within us to be saved ourselves and to overcome the enemy. So, I don't have God to do that for us.

For me personally, when I got saved, before I got saved, I did all kinds of drugs. I smoked pot, snorted cocaine. I did all kinds of stuff. That stuff fell away. When I accepted Christ, I wanted nothing to do with that anymore.

So I just put away all sinful. I tried my best to put away all. Now, I have put away all of them, but all the obvious ones.

Eileen, you read my testimony. Did you already just read?

It's my turn.

It's your turn. Galatians 5 .16. It's not on the list. Galatians 5 .16. These are good answers. I think that if we're going to understand James, that my life, because of faith, should be motivated by service to God.

That goes back to Ephesians 2, where it says we're saved by grace, but verse 10, God prepared us for good works, which he prepared beforehand for us to do.

Faith Without Works Is Dead

Okay, you got that one. I appreciate that. Nate, you're going to get 2 Corinthians 5, 17 to 20 this time. Eric, you're going to get 1 Samuel 12. Actually, we'll skip that.

Can I make a comment?

Please.

I think that if we focus on the workspace theology, that we can't truly be satisfied and realize our full nature, because I feel like that.

Galatians 5 .16.

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

What is the difference between walking in the flesh and walking in the Spirit?

She said you won't want to gratify the sinful nature.

But what's the difference between them? And I think, Eric, you started to answer it by saying walking in the flesh is a workspace theology, perhaps, or even worse than that, totally denying and walking in whatever path I want to walk to.

But I think that a workspace theology falls under that definition of walking in the flesh, because it's taking my, who I am, what I bring to the table as the answer, walking in the flesh. On the other side, what is walking in the Spirit?

You need to walk in the Spirit.

Trusting in God, walking in His promises, realizing that you don't have to work for your salvation. You can't work for your salvation.

And I think that's a large part of the answer. But it's getting off of that car with the chainsaw and cutting out the limb, and it's doing. Not because it's going to get me. It's not workspace theology, but it's a life that is so in tune to God that I'm going to do, because God has told me.

God has enabled me. Ephesians 2 .10, go ahead and read that again.

Ephesians 2 .10,.

That's it. You go to Ephesians 2 .8 and 9, for by grace I say to faith, that not of yourself. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Then verse 10, It's not an either or, it's a because, not.

And that answers James 2 .14.

That's the answer to James 2 .14.

Go ahead with that. What do you mean by that?

Well, James 2 .14, well let's go back to that,.

Says, Right.

So our punchline in just a minute is going to be to go through that passage. And there's a real important question at the end of that. But I want to do one more thing before we get there. Nate, you've got 2 Corinthians 5 .17.

Through 20 this time.

Go ahead.

I'm sorry?

All the way through verse 20 this time.

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. And when you go to that passage,.

2 Corinthians 5 .17, you need to keep going and find the therefore. That's at the end, verse 20. There's a therefore. Therefore we are what?

Ambassadors.

We're ambassadors. Which is awesome. Which is amazing. That says the world is going to seek God, experience God through us.

As diplomatic representatives of the king of the universe. Which is awesome.

An ambassador has to represent the authority that put them in place. And to be able to represent the authority that put them in place, they have to be given that authority. They don't take it. They don't earn it.

They're given it. The ambassador has to know the desires, the intent of the authority that's sent there. And then the ambassador has to be willing to go out into the place where they're serving and do.

And do the will of the authority that sent them. That's who we are. That's the therefore at the end of 1 Corinthians 5 .17.

I think that was one of Paul's favorite words.

Therefore. All over.

Okay, Bob, you're going to read slowly as we go through James 2. Probably one or two verses. First 14. For time, I'll give you my insights on these. They're so inspired. You guys can't wait to hear them.

Okay.

2 .14. The good is of my brothers and sisters. If someone claims to have faith but has no deeds. Can such faith save them?

What I'm going to put there is people actually claim to have faith. Not just those who really have faith. Those who have what they claim to be faith claim to have faith. We see that all over the place.

People that are religious or whatever, people claim to have faith. It's a fact. 15 and 16.