Cecil A. Fayard
Elliott Baptist Church
February 13, 2005
The Truth About Faith and Works
James 2:14-26
INTRO: The most interesting verse in this passage for me is verse 18: "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works."
We are not saved by works, but works will come as a result of salvation (Eph 2:8-10). Real faith, Biblical faith, will change your life. It will produce spiritual fruit. John the Baptist wanted to see proof of repentance before he would baptize folks (Mt 3:8; Lk 3:8).
William Brown says: "The point to be made is not what justifies a man, but who is justified. James is not inferring that one who has works is justified by those works. But, he is saying the works give evidence of ones being justified" (15).
The underlying current of this section is belief. Paul’s position on salvation is found in Acts 16:31: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved....." What does it mean to believe?
There are two kinds of belief:
1. Purely intellectual– this kind of belief does not effect the inner being of a man. It does not change him; it has no influence on his life.
2. Heart belief– this kind of belief changes a man. It changes his thinking, and it changes his actions. Belief that saves is a belief that produces spiritual fruit.
I. VSS 14-17, FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD
A. Vs 14, What good is it for a man to say he has faith and yet show no fruits or deeds of that faith? Can that kind of faith saved him? A.T. Robertson says of James: "He does not scoff faith but at such hollow ‘faith’ as this" (94).
B. Vss 15-16, James here gives a simple illustration of dead faith, faith does not work.
1. Vs 15, James pictures for us a poor believer coming to the assembly, church, without proper clothing and hungry.
2. Vs 16, The person with dead faith sees the visitor come in, he sees his needs and does nothing to help him, does nothing to alleviate his pain. He has no heart for the poor man.
a. What good is it to say be warned and filled and do nothing about it?
b. We are not saved by keeping the law, but the deeds of the law (Gal 2:16). But well doing does go with believing (Gal 6:9-10).
C. Vs 17, Dead faith does not produce spiritual fruit, living faith does (Gal 5:22).
1. Dead faith, head faith, is empty and alone.
2. True saving faith can never be alone. Saving faith produces life (Jn 3:16) and life produces fruit. Where life is there will be fruit.
II. VSS 18-19, INTELLECTUAL ASSENT
A. Vs 18, The believer is created in Christ Jesus unto good works (Eph 2:10).
1. A changed life (II Cor 5:17) produces good works.
2. James contrasts true faith and intellectual faith.
a. True belief is accompanied by works of faith.
b. False belief, profession without possession is empty.
B. Vs 19, Demons believe in the existence of God. They have better sense than not to; but their belief is head not heart belief. The demons believe in the deity of Christ (Mk 3:11-12) and they believe in hell (Lk 8:31).
1. There are not atheists among the demons.
2. Dead faith or intellectual faith can know the doctrine but not live the life.
III. VSS 20-26, THE OBEDIENT FAITH OF ABRAHAM AND RAHAB
A. Vs 20, Faith without works is like money with no interest and lands without crops, fruit trees without fruit.
B. Vs 21, In this verse, we are not speaking of works that save, but works as a natural outgrowth of saving faith.
1. Abraham offered Isaac in obedience to God in Gen 22:9. When this occurred, Abraham had already been saved forty years.
a. Abraham was not saved by obeying God’s difficult command.
b. His obedience proved that he already was saved.
2. How was Abraham justified by works.
a. Rom 4:1-5 says that Abraham was justified by faith and he was. It was belief that saved him (Gal 3:6-7).
b. James 2:21 says he was justified by works.
c. By faith, he was justified before God and his righteousness declared (Gen 15:5-6) and by works he was justified before men and his righteousness demonstrated.
d. By offering up Isaac, he declared that he had faith that God would take care of it all.
C. Vs 22, Through the offering of Isaac, we can see how that faith operated with his works and by actions his faith was made complete.
1. Abraham was not saved by faith plus works, but by faith that works.
2. D. L. Moody said often: "Every Bible should be bound in shoe leather."
D. Vs 23, The account of Abraham’s conversion is found in Gen 15:5-6.
1. Counted is a legal or financial term. It means to put to one’s account.
a. Abraham’s spiritual bank book was empty. He was bankrupt.
b. But when he trusted God, God put righteousness on Abraham’s account. He received it as a gift from God (Rom 4:4-5).
2. Abraham was saved by faith.
E. Vs 24, Abraham is an example of how a man is justified by faith that works.
1. "Is justified" is dikaioutai which does not mean "to be made righteous," but "is shown to be righteous."
2. Abraham proved he was saved by his good works.
F. Vs 25, Rahab trusted God and proved her trust by receiving the spies, hiding them, and getting them out of town.
1. Rahab had faith that worked.
2. She demonstrated her faith by works.
G. Vs 26, When one is dead, there is the absence of the spirit. Breath and life are gone.
1. Faith without works is dead. It has no life; it is empty and cold.
2. Faith that works is alive and vibrant.
CONCLUSION: There is only one work that you can do to get into heaven. This work reconciles Paul and James "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom he hath sent" (Jn 6:28-29).
For additional copies of the sermon CD's, please contact the church office:
Elliott Baptist Church
566 Nat G. Troutt Road
Elliott, Mississippi 38901
Phone: 662-226-4425
Pastors Email: cecilafayard@msn.com