Worse Than Demon Faith - [James 2:14-26]

Faith Without Works and the Danger of Counterfeit Christianity

Well, last week I was in California for a No Compromise Conference on Biblical Discernment in Northern California. I was glad to be there. Everywhere I go it happens to storm. There was a huge storm in California last week, a sun storm.

But then we sat down on the flight from Logan to SFO, and for a long time nobody sat next to me. And I thought, you know, the Lord sure is good. I'm going to have special elbow room to work on some messages and speak several times in California.

And pretty much at the last second, the proverbial doors are shutting, and in walks this big huge guy and sits right next to me. Seemed friendly enough, he had Patriots gear on, and so we talked for a while.

And four hours into the flight he saw me work on my message and he said, are you a Bible student? I said, yes, I'm a Bible student. I'm a pastor and I'm going to teach people this very passage about Jesus Christ, the risen King.

And he said, you know, for a long time I studied the Bible every day. I did gospel ministry. I prayed. I encouraged other people to do it. But it's been years since I've opened the Bible. I said, you know, the good news is there's no time like today.

I don't think it was by accident that I sat next to you today and had no arm room for six hours. Then he told me how he was a felon. He was in jail. Someone preached the gospel to him and he responded.

And he said, what do you think my problem is? And I said, well, one, you either aren't saved. Before I could get number two out, he said, no, I'm a Christian for sure. I'm a Christian. I'm absolutely positive I'm a Christian.

Now he had told me some other things about his life that made me also wonder. And I said, are number two, you're really sinning now and God won't let you go and he is after you via your conscience. I said, I'm not your eternal judge, but my guess is number one.

And then I thought of this passage right here. So let's turn our Bibles this morning to James chapter two for several reasons. One being, this is the passage that I talked to him about, this idea. And number two, I can't start Romans one when it's a snow day and only half the people are here.

So I want to confess right now, Romans one is finished. This is not out of laziness. This is out of a divine orchestration. People can say that they're Christians all they want, but if the God of the universe has made you alive, has regenerated you, has made you into a new creation, you can't keep living the way you used to.

And you know what? You can receive the word with joy. I read him Luke eight, and then just fall away. So today is going to be really good because faith without works is dead. And I think for the majority of people here at Bethlehem Bible Church, you are born again and you have a live faith.

Your faith is alive. But what do you do when you sit next to someone on the airplane? What do you do when you have a child who says, I believe when I'm twelve, and then when the world comes calling at eighteen, couldn't care less about the Lord except for a little buyer insurance called hell insurance.

This passage will help you evangelize. This passage will help stimulate a lethargic faith. The God of the universe, when He changes someone, they are what? Changed. My friend used to say, if there's no change, Steve, there's no change.

If there's no change in your life, there's no change in your status before God. Because you're saved by works? Yes. You're saved by the work of Jesus Christ in Him alone, because if you try to work yourself to heaven with your sinful, tainted hands and heart, you can't do it.

You need a Savior. You need the work of another. You need a captain, an author of salvation, the Alpha and the Omega. And when He changes you, yes, there might be struggles. Obviously, there'll be struggles.

And yes, your life is of sanctification, has ups and downs and peaks and valleys, but you will be different. And if you're not different, you ought to ask yourself the question, I probably should think twice about calling myself a Christian.

J. Verna McGee tells this story. The devil had a meeting with his demons to decide how to persuade men that God was non-existent. Since the demons themselves believed in his existence, they wondered just how to do it.

One demon suggested that they tell people Jesus Christ never really existed and that men should not believe such fiction. Another demon suggested that they persuade men that death ends all and there's no need to worry.

Finally, the most intelligent demon suggested that they tell everyone that there is a God, Jesus Christ is the only God, and that by believing in Him, you receive salvation, but that you can get to heaven by simply professing faith and then go on living in sin just as you used to.

Everywhere you look, there are fake things, counterfeit things. Matter of fact, we live right down the street from the home of counterfeit. You're looking at me like, what is that? Lemonster. How many people here are from Lemonster?

A few will admit it. One reluctantly, because you know what's coming next. Lemonster, the home of not only Johnny Appleseed, but of fakes, plastics, plastic just means fake. Plastoi in Greek means fake.

It's not a real bowl, it's a fake bowl. I know it says Tupperware on it, but it's still fake because it's plastic. Ten years ago, it was said that there are estimated to be five hundred thousand Americans here in the states that have counterfeit diplomas or counterfeit credentials.

I hope no one here has counterfeit faith because there is such a thing. In the Bible, there are counterfeit gods, there are counterfeit prophets, counterfeit Christs, counterfeit Jesuses, counterfeit Gospels, counterfeit brethren, counterfeit teachers, counterfeit apostles, and counterfeit faith.

And I'm very, very personally concerned about the issue because I know my background. I grew up a Lutheran and I was baptized as a baby. I was confirmed. I went on missions trips. I prayed. I tried to live out the Ten Commandments.

I believed in Jesus Christ. There's no other God. I told you the story when I met the lady that introduced me to Kim. When I talked to her in California, she said, I worship Jesus. I said, good, I do too.

She said, do you want to see a picture of Him? I thought it was going to be like Jesus the pilot, navigating with the steering deal in the boat. No, it was a picture of a guy standing next to my friend, our friend.

I said, that's Jesus? She said, yeah, that's Jesus. I said, no it isn't. He's got a suit on and He's just some guy. He's a false teacher named John Rogers. That's not Jesus. And yet the whole time I was completely unregenerate.

I was not a Christian. I could say that's the wrong Gospel. This is the right Gospel. But what I didn't know is this, there's a faith that doesn't save. There's a spurious faith, a non-saving faith. Not all faith saves.

So James chapter two, in a marvelous way, deals with this issue. And I think today, if you're a Christian, here's what I'd like you to do. I'd like you to be equipped so when you meet people who say, I believe, but they live their life like they're not a Christian, that you can analyze their lives, you can judge their lives, not eternally, but with discernment so you can give them the good news.

Because what's worse, thinking you're going to go to hell and glad you are, or thinking you're going to go to heaven and when the porthole of heaven, when the gates of heaven open, as Bunyan said, there's really a porthole that goes straight to hell.

That would be scary to me. Thinking you're going to go to heaven. Isn't that the ultimate con? I'm going to heaven and then when you think you're going there, you're not. So I think this will help you with your evangelism.

That's what we're called to do. We're called to tell people. I think if you're a Christian, it will also spur you up and think to yourself, since God has saved me, my only logical response is gracious ministry to the other saints for his glory.

I think you'll also be helped with questions like these. How could Jim say he's still a Christian and live with his girlfriend? How could Sue say she's still a believer? How could Sid profess Christ and still be?

Answer, maybe they're not Christians at all. Maybe they're modern day Judas's. Judas believed in Jesus. Judas, I think, would have went down the aisle for an altar call because he did everything he could to make sure he blended right in.

And of course, if you're here today and you don't have real faith, then I hope James' pungent words. You know, James doesn't pull any punches. The half-brother of Jesus, when you read this, you know what you want to do?

Boxing rounds are only three minutes for a reason because you just can't take anymore no matter how good a shape you're in. James 2, verses 14 through 26 is like a three-minute boxing round. And only those with faith given to them by God can withstand it.

James says, if you look at James 1, he writes to people who are scattered all around. Mainly Jews, but there are some Gentiles in there as well. And he's going to challenge people about their faith. Is it really saving faith?

Calvin said, it is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be, what? Alone. God saves you by grace alone, but if He saved you by grace alone, He's also made you born again. You're a new creature in Christ and you will be different.

Not perfect in terms of your appetite, but you'll be different. It's like when I used to go surfing at San Onofre, there's two huge nuclear reactors right there on land as you're out there swimming. Just imagine if they broke somehow and all the ooze came out into the surf at San Onofre and I said to myself, well, you know what?

I've come in contact with the nuclear reactors, but I'm exactly the same. Nothing's changed, even though I swallowed some of the water that was polluted by the nuclear reactors. No. When you come to Christ by faith alone and remain the same, you didn't really come by faith alone.

Let's read verses 24 through verses 26 in James chapter 2. I'll be reading from the ESV and see if you can catch how many times James says passive faith isn't saving faith. That there's a fake faith. You know, you can call it faith, but it's not biblical faith.

See how many times you can catch it. I think you'll find the number to be five. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food 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?

So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 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. You believe that God is one?

You do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works. 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.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not Rahab, was not also Rahab the prostitute, justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Now how is this tied into the last section in James? James gives all kinds of tests for saving faith and the last one was the sin of partiality.

You might imagine someone might say, how can these deeds of me treating other people rightly help me in the day of judgment? Isn't it faith that matters? You know, discrimination and prejudice and all that, I don't want to do it, but you try to tell me that somehow these matter on the judgment day?

I thought it was only faith and now James says it's a faith that works. So for our outline this morning, let me give you, I want to give you several because I don't know if I can get through these six points today, but since we don't have another service, I get to preach for 90 minutes.

No service tonight? That's the longest sermon by the way I've ever preached, 92 minutes. Why did I preach only 92 minutes? Because in those days the cassette tapes that say Max L, you know, Memorex 90 were really 92.

46 on one side, flip it over, 46 on the other side. So they used to give you signals in the back. Okay, flip it over? Yep, flip it over, keep going. It won't be that long. Six reasons you should never buy into the ultimate satanic lie that faith without works is saving.

Six reasons you should never buy into the ultimate satanic lie. Six lies that if you hear people talk this way, you evangelize them. If your kids talk this way, you evangelize them. If you say, yeah, I've got faith, but you know, it's a Sunday morning faith and it doesn't flesh itself out in any works by the Spirit of God, then you need to take heed as well.

Six reasons you should never buy into the lie that says faith without works is saving faith. Number one, faith without works is not saving faith because it brings no salvation. Don't buy into that lie because it brings no salvation.

What does verse 14 say? Two self-answering questions that help us get down to the bottom of counterfeit faith. They're rhetorical, they're direct. I think there are 104 verses in James and 52 are imperatives.

Just like this machine gun, not one bullet gets jammed in this chamber either. What good is it, my brothers? Pretty sudden, get your attention. What good is it, my brothers, if someone continually says he has faith, that's the original, but he does not have any works?

That faith can't save him. Well, I've got a lot of faith. Yeah, I've got uber faith. Yeah, I believe. I trust. Trust and obey, there's no other way. And James says the person that brags about his faith, or the lady that boasts about her faith, but there's no works that stem from that because God gives us a living faith, an abiding faith, a real faith, transcendentally changing our lives.

James says there's no profit, not financially, but there's no profit spiritually. And again, for me, this was me growing up. What is faith? I think the good way to think about faith is K-A-T, saving faith.

Knowledge, assent, and trust. It's more than just I know something about it, but I believe unto it. I believe it. I'm persuaded that it's true. I'm confident that what God says is true. I take God at His word.

George Zemeck, my old professor, said, man's response to God, characterized by a totally dependent entrustment, and then demonstrated through a persistent commitment to obedience. And the key here, detective fans, Columbo fans, is the word says.

He says. Now, remember, God knows if our faith is real or not because He can see invisible things. But for other people, if you say, I wonder if Mike's a Christian, you can't know what's inside of me.

You can only go based on what I say and how I act. So here, these people are all talk. Notice it? He says. He keeps on saying that. He's got all the verbiage down. He's got all the vernacular down. I call this nominal Christian nomenclature.

And maybe in our day today, day and age, and maybe especially on college campuses, they know all the emergent language. They talk about the journey, relevant, authentic, community, Lord-willing, God bless you, grace and peace to you.

No matter what it is, this case, the vocation doesn't match up to the vocabulary. They say things, but that doesn't mean anything. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will I...will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

Look at the text again, verse 14. Someone who says he has faith, but he has no works. Plural. There's been no change in his life. He doesn't have works that flow out of his life. Of course, we're not saved by our works.

Go back to James 1, verse 17. What does 117 say? Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change of his own will.

He brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creation. We're saved by the work of Christ. But the work of Christ in the life of a person changes that person.

And by the way, when you read Hebrews chapter 11, aren't those kind of people that had a faith that was active, aren't they commended? Because by faith, they did these things. Faith works. And if you don't have a working faith, you ought to say to yourself, do I really have faith?

Now, Luther was perplexed by this because all this talk about justification by works messed Luther's mind up because we're not justified by works. Romans chapter 4 makes it clear, right? Christ justifies the ungodly.

Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, not to the one who works. But remember, just think of two soldiers. I think Blanchard said this, soldier one stands this way with a sword and his name is Romans 4 and he's attacking anybody that wants to add to the work of Christ.

We're saved by Jesus's life and death alone confirmed by the resurrection. Romans 4. Then standing back to back to the Romans 4 soldier is the Romans, excuse me, is the James 2 soldier. There's a different enemy over there.

The enemy over there is get to heaven by being good. The enemy here, James 2 is attacking is, well, I say I believe, but my life doesn't have to be changed. Lip service is what I do. And James is saying, no, if God really saves you, you've got to have fruit in your life because if you don't have fruit in your life, you better check the tree.

It might be dead. We know by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves. But we also know the next verse in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10, you're created in Christ Jesus to do what? Good works.

Of course, by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. But if God changes you, you will be changed. Oh, immaturely to start, yes, and baby steps and sinful stumbling, yes. But when you take that compass and you shake it all around and that needle goes all the way, whether it's real north or fake north, eventually when it settles down, it's still pointing north.

Pink said, the tragic thing is that in most places, there's nothing in the preaching which is at all calculated to undeceive the deceived. There's a large class in Christendom today who are satisfied with a bare profession.

What's the answer to these two questions in verse 14? What good is it? It's no good. Can that faith save him? No. Lie number two that I don't want you to ever buy into, either personally or with a loved one or with a child or somebody sitting next to you.

First of all, fake faith doesn't bring any salvation. And secondly, it doesn't help other people. Found in verses 15 and 16. Now, the greatest commandment you know is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

And what's the second great commandment? Love your neighbor as yourself. So when God changes you, there'll be a disposition to want to honor God and to love Him. And there'll be a new disposition to help other people.

Verse 15, if a brother or sister is poorly clothed, without clothing, could mean naked. It could be used for someone who just has an undergarment on or could be just poorly dressed, hardly anything, tatters and lacking in daily food.

They don't have enough food to eat for the day. They're both cold and hungry. And then one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled. Right? Be warmed, you don't have any clothes. Be filled, you don't have any food.

Without giving the things needed for the body, what good is that? This person is desperate. Be warmed, be filled, go in peace. You could say other things to them, I guess, too. I'll pray for you. God helps those who help themselves.

God bless you. Good luck. Now look at what he says here. It kind of gets convicting. When one of you says, it's like this. James the pastor, who this is most likely a sermon of James here, that we have in the text.

He knows there's somebody out in the congregation who does this. And it's like his long fingers going, yep, there's one of you. One of you does this right here. When one of you says, that's the idea. It's kind of scary.

When you say things, they cost nothing. It's lip service. You don't give them what's necessary, verse 16. What use is that? And he says, yet you do not give them. He opens up the congregation to say, you plural, you don't help out either.

And so make sure your faith is an active faith. Or maybe you're really duped. John strikes the same nerve, 1 John 3. Whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him.

How does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. Number three, don't ever buy into the lie that faith without works is a saving faith.

Because three, it's not living. It doesn't bring salvation, it doesn't help others, and it's not living. And again, this is good because it should stir up our faith if we're Christians. We should be thankful that God gave us faith that results in works.

Maybe there's somebody here who's not born again. You say, oh, I'm a church member. I've been baptized. Verse 17, almost a summary statement of the last few verses. So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is necros.

It's dead. No life, no activity, permanent cessation of all vital functions. It might look like it's okay on the outside, but the corpse isn't alive. Roper said to illustrate dead faith, it is that kind of faith which would lead a man to take a bottle of medicine from his medicine cabinet.

Looking at the instructions on it, he says, I'm sure they're correct. I have all the confidence in the source of the medicine. I know who wrote these directions. I believe everything about it. I know this will relieve my headache if I just take it.

But he takes the medicine bottle and puts it back on the shelf. He doesn't lose his headache. It continues on. Yet he can say, I believe that medicine. I believe all about that medicine. That's dead faith.

It's not living faith. Because faith and obedience are bound up together. If faith is the engine, then works are the caboose. Jesus said in Luke 6, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and yet do not do the things I say?

Strangely, and in a way that's scary to me, there are some people in evangelical circles that say, you're not called to be a fruit inspector. Because when they talk about these issues, is that person really saved?

He says he is, but his life doesn't show any grace at all. Any works at all. But you know what? I can't judge. And then they quote the world's favorite verse. What's the world's favorite verse? Judge not lest you be judged.

It's like that's their memory verse. That's what the world knows. And they don't look at it in terms of context. And so they say, well, we can't judge. And you know what? God never called me to be no fruit inspector.

Kind of sounds cool. Especially if I'm doing something, I want you out of my business. Fruit producing isn't an option for the Christian because God has made you alive. And God has given you the ability to produce the fruit.

If there's no fruit in your life, I want you to inspect your own life and say, Lord, help me, save me, give me fruit. If you see no fruit in someone else's life, true. Maybe they serve the Lord behind the scenes and you can't see that.

There's an aspect of people's lives we don't know. But I live in the world of evangelical leadership, and all they can try to do these days is to water everything down to the barest minimum. The standards are so low in Christianity, you don't even need the Holy Spirit to jump over the hurdle.

Paul, and if we're not careful, even good people can say, you know what, I think I'm going to lower the standard of salvation because my spouse, my kids, my friend. If the salvation standard is like this, I know they don't meet it, but I so want them to be into heaven.

I'll try to lower this in my mind so then I can count them as Christians. For Paul, when he valued Christ more than anything else in life, that was his stimulus to pour himself out for others. I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.

I consider them rubbish that I might gain Christ and to be found in Him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. If you meet someone and they say, well, I've just got Jesus for hell insurance, then you need to talk to them.

Spurgeon said, I would recommend you either believe God up to the hilt or else not to believe at all. Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place between the two.

Be satisfied with nothing less than a faith that swims in the deeps of divine revelation, a faith that paddles about the edge of the water is poor faith at best. The absence of deeds proves there's no faith.

Number four, don't buy into this lie that faith without works is saving because faith and works are inseparable. Verse 18, faith without works doesn't bring salvation, doesn't help others, it's not living, and faith and works are inseparable.

Look at how James continues to build his case. But someone will say, he's injecting somebody's opinion here, someone will say, you have works and I have faith. Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works.

A little imaginative dialogue, that was a good way to teach people. You allege to have faith, I have works. I can demonstrate my faith by my works. I challenge you to demonstrate your faith without your works.

Someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from works, he says. I'll show you my faith by my works. Because faith is invisible and God knows whether it's real or not, but the only way we know if it's real or not is an outflowing of what comes out of the person's mouth and hands and life.

Show me your faith without the works. Since faith is invisible, what can we see? I kind of like this illustration by David's. A horse that cannot be seen, smelled, touched, or ridden, that eats invisible grass and leaves no mark on the ground, such faith is indemonstrable and suspect.

And I wrote down here, a cow that can't be eaten is suspect as well. It's just fake, it's invisible, it doesn't exist. Number five, oh, this is just devastating. Don't ever buy into the lie that faith without works saves, because this kind of faith, this false faith, number five is worse than demon faith.

Lenski says this is the most stunning illustration of dead faith in all the Bible. Verse 19, if so far it's been the scorpion with the pincers kind of crawling up on your pillow, and you wake up in the morning and here's the scorpion right in front of you, 219 is the stinger going to sting you in the forehead.

How's that for no compromise radio? I mean, it's just like, it's when you quick brush it over to your wife's side. Honey, you believe that God is one. By the way, the content of the faith here isn't argued, it's the lack of works that flow out of such a saving faith.

You do well, sarcasm galore, big deal. If I was teaching a youth group, I'd put my finger in my mouth and pop it. But I'm not going to do it right now. You do well. Bravo! Yes! The demons also believe.

And you know what? They one-up you because they have more than intellectual faith. This word shudder is an emotional reaction to who God is. You think you've got it down because you can recite the creeds, you can recite 1689 Westminster Confession, you say Jesus is God, Jesus is coming back and all that.

Well, the demons do better than you because they're actually afraid. That's a good place to start. The fear of the Lord is a beginning. That's a sign from God. The avalanche is coming for you. That was kind of cool, wasn't it?

I should have like a little button, and when I push it, effect! Weak point, snow avalanche! Demons have more than intellectual faith. They shudder. And friends, I would imagine we all have children who at one point in their lives, if in fact not right now as well, they've got all the right answers.

They go through the attributes of God and they can tell you how He's almighty and how He's beautiful and how He's compassionate and how He's a deliverer and how He's excellent. And you just could go through an alphabetical list and they would subscribe to every single one.

Kids are not born into the world as Christians, so they have to be born again. And here the demons shudder. The demons, take a look at the passage again. They believe God is one. They believe in the attributes and existence of God.

They could read Charnock's book and say, I totally believe that. They're even believing in the unity of God. You believe that God is one. Now he's disassociating himself from this person, James, is you believe, you deceptively believe this, that God is one.

This is the part of the Old Testament that the Jews would recite every morning and every evening, the Shema. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. It is said of Rabbi Akiba, who suffered a martyr's death, that the last word he breathed out was the word one because of this great confession.

They're creedally orthodox. They believe the statement of faith. They probably have memorized the Apostles' Creed. Now I lay me down to sleep, our Father who is art in heaven. They probably have it all memorized.

But take a look at this. The demons believe and they shudder. And that's an ongoing word, by the way. They keep on shuddering. It's a great onomatopoetic word there, frisussen. If I say it like this, you'll probably get it.

Frisussen. It's just kind of fun to say, by the way. It means to shake. It means to bristle. When you have a dog and the dog is afraid, what happens to the hair on the back of the dog? It frisussens. It's scared.

Fear. That's why, in tradition, demons were called the hairy ones. How do you like that for a demon picture? The hairy ones. Why are they called hairy ones? Because they were afraid of God because if they had hair on their backs, it would be going up.

Bristling up, Job 4 translates it. Trembles at my word, Isaiah 66, same idea. But just because you know things, it says that's not going to get you anywhere. Actually, if you only believe in the God of the Bible and the statements of faith and everything else, you have a lower rank in your life than demons.

Demons outrank you. Demons we know aren't going to heaven. Demons we know don't have saving faith. Demons aren't going to swim around and swirl around the throne of God forever with the saints and other good angels singing and saying, holy, holy, holy, worthy is the Lamb who was slain.