Let's turn, if we would, to James chapter 2. We're going to come back to Romans 4, and I'm really preaching on James chapter 2 tonight.
And James chapter 2 is a chapter that's often abused and misused because, you see, the message of the Bible from start to finish, all the way from Genesis to Revelation,
is that if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. You say, well, prove it.
The Bible says in Acts 10, 47, to him give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins.
So the Bible says that all the prophets, all the Old Testament, all the New Testament, are pointing us to Jesus Christ and salvation through Jesus Christ,
that whosoever believeth in him shall receive the remission of sins. I mean, that's the whole Bible from start to finish.
I mean, all the way back in the beginning of creation, you've got Adam and Eve, and then you have two sons, Cain and Abel.
And you remember, Abel brought the sacrifice of the Lamb, which represented Jesus Christ.
And of course, Cain brought his best, you know, his works, his produce, the things that he had brought forth from the work of the ground.
And he expected God to accept his good works and his best, and God told him, no, I will not accept your offering.
He said, bring the offering that I told you to bring, basically to paraphrase, and Cain got upset and killed Abel.
Man was trying to build his own way to heaven back in Genesis chapter 11.
All throughout the Old Testament, we see that people were saved by grace. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Abraham believed God and it was imputed on him in righteousness. David called upon the name of the Lord.
Abraham called upon the name of the Lord. And in the New Testament, the Bible tells us that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Of course, the Bible tells us that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
So the Bible is clear, salvation is by faith, and then it goes on to say, for by grace are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
He said in Romans 4-5, where we just read it, Romans 4, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.
His faith is counted for righteousness. And hey, you'll be saved, your sins will be forgiven, he said, your sins will be covered,
righteousness will be imputed unto you. But as we go out and preach the gospel to the Catholic,
as we go out and preach the gospel to the Mormon, as we go out and preach the gospel to the Pentecostal,
and those who are adding works to salvation, many times they'll take us to James 2, won't they?
And say, faith without works is dead, you have to have faith and works to be saved.
And they're basically saying that salvation is by faith and works.
I knocked on the door today of Arizona Congressman Harry Mitchell. Who knows who that is?
Put up your hand if you know Arizona Congressman Harry Mitchell. He's a Democrat incumbent Congressman,
and he's up for re-election in November, as all Congressmen are, therefore his signs are all over the place,
and his supporters are out and so forth. Well, I knocked upon the door of Harry Mitchell,
just because I was knocking every door in Tempe. Just by chance, of course, eventually I'm going to run into this door.
And he happened to be here, where I spent Zappos time in Washington, D.C., of course, as a United States Congressman.
I knocked upon his door, and I asked him where he went to church. He said he goes to, you know,
he named a Roman Catholic church in town. And I asked him, I said, do you know for sure,
if you died today, that you'd go to heaven? And he said, oh, I know I'm going to heaven.
And I said, how do you know? He said, I asked him, what do we have to do to be saved?
And he said, well, he said, you have to have faith, and you have to have deeds.
And basically that's because in the Catholic Bible, instead of using the word works, it uses the word deeds.
Like doing good deeds. So he's basically saying to me, it's faith plus works.
He said, it's faith plus deeds. And so I went ahead and gave him some verses from the Bible.
I quoted a couple scriptures saying it's by faith alone. He didn't have time to talk.
He was kind of in a hurry. He was rushing out the door. But I gave him some verses to give him the gospel.
And I hope that he, you know, stops trusting in his works, because his works are going to take him to hell.
And his Catholic religion is going to take him to hell. And you say, oh, you just hate the guy?
Hey, I loved him enough to go give him the gospel, didn't I?
I loved him enough to go bring my Bible and to present him kindly and graciously the word of God on how to be saved.
But he rejected it. You know, and hopefully he'll change his mind and eventually be saved before it's eternally too late for him.
But it's not faith plus deeds, Harry Mitchell. It's not faith plus works.
It's just faith alone. And it's not of works that any man should boast.
But they'll throw at you James 2. The Catholic will throw at you James 2. The Mormon will throw James 2 at you.
And even many Baptists today will say, well, you're saved by faith, but if you don't have the works, you're not really saved.
The works prove you're saved, because if you don't have the works, you never were saved.
Now that's false as well. And we're going to go into that tonight.
And I'm going to explain to you verse by verse James chapter 2. We're going to interpret this properly.
And let me tell you something. We are going to leave no stone unturned tonight.
We are going to just finally put this thing to bed.
You know, we're going to go through this and we're going to look at a lot of scripture tonight.
And we're going to go through this and I will prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt that James chapter 2 is not teaching works salvation.
I'll prove it to you.
Now we're going to skip the first part of the chapter because the first part of the chapter is on a completely different subject.
So we're going to go ahead and start with chapter 2 verse 14 where he begins this subject about doing works.
He says in verse 14,
Now, the first thing that I want to bring up here is that this is a question.
Now, whenever we want to decide what we believe, we should always base what we believe upon clear statements in the Bible, not questions.
Because sometimes we assume we know the answer to a question, don't we?
But our answer might not be the same answer as God's answer.
And so sometimes people will base what they believe upon a question instead of upon a clear statement.
Let me give an example.
A guy walked up to Jesus and said,
Jesus did not respond with a statement.
Jesus responded with a question.
And Jesus asked him a question,
So people will try to say, see right there, Jesus isn't God.
But no, he just asked a question.
He didn't say, I'm not God.
He said, why callest thou me good?
There's none good but one.
That's God.
Now, I've always asked these people who don't believe that Jesus is God one question.
Was Jesus good?
And invariably they say, of course Jesus was good.
I say, was Jesus sinless?
Oh, he was sinless.
Did Jesus ever sin?
No!
I said, then he was God.
Because he said, there's none that's good but one and that's God.
He said, there's none good but one and that's God.
I said, either you're saying that he wasn't good or you're saying that he's God.
But you see, the Jehovah's Witnesses, they jumped to conclusions there
and they think they know the answer to that question.
When really the answer to the question is that Jesus is God in the flesh.
That's why when Thomas fell on his face before him and said, my Lord and my God,
he said, blessed art thou Thomas because you've seen me, you've believed.
And he said, blessed are they that have not seen and have yet believed.
So we don't want to just jump to a conclusion and a question.
We want to get into what the Bible is actually teaching, get the statement.
He said, what to the prophet, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works,
can faith save him?
Do we know for sure that this person that we're talking about has faith?
No.
This is a man who says he has faith.
Now, do you think that there are some people who say they believe but don't really believe?
Absolutely.
And it's impossible for us to always know whether someone truly believes, right?
All we can go by is what they say, what they do.
Judas said he believed but he didn't believe.
Judas is scary.
And so the first thing is he says, what is the problem, my brother?
Though a man say he hath faith and have not works, can faith save him?
The guy who says he has faith and doesn't have works, can faith save him?
Well, he goes on to explain what he means.
He uses an illustration.
He says, if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say
unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those
things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?
Even so, faith, if it have not works, is dead being alone.
Now, let's look at this.
What does it profit is the first thing that he said in verse 14, wasn't it?
He's saying, what is it profit if a man say he hath faith and have not works, can faith
save him?
Then he uses an illustration about somebody who doesn't have any food, doesn't have any
clothes, and someone says to them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, but doesn't
give them what they need, what does it profit?
The question is, what does it profit who?
The person that they were talking to when they said, depart in peace, be ye warmed and
filled.
He's saying, your faith is not going to profit anyone else if you don't have works.
You know, just saying you believe is not helping anyone else, he's saying.
Saying to someone, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, is not putting any food
in their stomach.
He's just saying that in order for our faith to profit others, it has to be accompanied
by works.
I mean, think about it.
I can believe in Jesus Christ all day long, from the top of my head to the bottom of my
feet, and I'll still be saved and I'll go to heaven, but if I don't have any works to
go with that, it's not going to profit anybody.
And how many people believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?
They might even go to church, they may even read the Bible, but if they don't go out and
do the works, what does it profit?
How does it help others?
It doesn't.
It doesn't do anyone else any good.
It's just like what we talked about this morning when we were talking about speaking
in an unknown tongue.
He says, look, it's not going to profit.
It's not fruitful.
It's not bringing forth fruit.
It's not helping anyone else to speak a language that people don't understand.
Speak to people in a language they understand, 1 Corinthians 14.
So let's keep going here, though.
Does everybody follow the gist of what he's explaining so far?
Okay, he goes on to say in verse 18, yea, a man may say, thou has faith and I have works.
Show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works.
Now, first of all, this isn't what James is saying.
This isn't what God is saying.
He's saying a man may say this.
He says, look, this is what people are going to say.
People will say to you, what?
You have faith?
Look at your life.
Look at the way you live.
And you're going to tell me you're a Christian?
He said people are going to say that to you.
James didn't say, hey, I'm saying that to you right now or God is saying that.
He's saying that's what people are going to say.
They're going to look at you and say, show me your faith without your works.
Look at you living like the world, dressing like the world, talking like the world, acting like the world.
You don't do anything for God.
You do exactly like the world and you're going to tell me you believe on Jesus Christ.
He's saying, look, if you don't have works, people will question whether you even believe on Christ.
Right or wrong, it's going to happen.
People are going to look at you from the outside.
They can't see your heart.
They can't see what you believe.
And they are going to question whether or not you believe on Jesus.
They're going to say, show me your faith without works.
I'll show you my faith by my works is what they're saying.
Now let's keep going.
It says in verse 19, thou believeth that there is one God.
Thou doest well.
The devils also believe and tremble.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
So basically what he's saying here is, hey, you believe that there's one God?
Great.
But did you know that the devil also believes that?
Now a lot of people will misquote this.
How many times have you had somebody say to you, the devil believes in Jesus Christ?
Have you heard somebody say that?
The devil believes on Jesus Christ?
No, a lot. Is that what that says right there?
Does that say anywhere the devil believes in Jesus Christ?
No.
That says the devil believes what?
That there's one God.
The devil believes that there is one God.
Now let me ask you something.
Does believing that there's one God save you?
If so, every Muslim is saved.
Because we had a Muslim today that we gave the gospel to,
and he said, you've got to believe these six things to be saved.
And the first one, he said, you have to believe that there's one God,
was the first thing that he told us.
The Muslims believe there's one God, but they're going to hell,
because they don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But they definitely believe that there's one God.
He says, look, it's great that you believe that there's one God.
Wow.
But he says, faith without works is dead.
So what, you're going to go to work and tell people,
yeah, I believe in God.
That's not going to get anybody saved.
That's not going to profit anybody.
Even if you're truly saved in your heart,
telling somebody, I believe in God, is not going to get anybody saved.
It's not a testimony of God's word.
It's not going to profit anybody.
What you ought to do is, instead of going to work and saying,
oh, I believe in God, is to open your Bible and preach somebody the gospel
and do the works that God told you to do.
That's going to profit somebody.
Not just saying, oh, I believe in God.
Say, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and open the Bible
and show somebody how to be saved.
That's the works that we ought to be doing.
But let's keep going.
He says this, and this is the part I really want to focus on tonight.
It says right here, verse 21.
Was not Abraham our father justified by works
when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works,
and by works was faith made perfect?
And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith,
Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness,
and he was called the friend of God.
He see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only.
Now, this is the part where people say, look, you see that?
He was justified by works, not by faith alone.
That's what they'll say.
Abraham was justified by works.
Now, people will try to find ways to explain this.
The dispensationalist will try to say,
oh, back then they were saved by works.
Wrong.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever.
Abraham was saved the same way that I'm saved,
the same way that you're saved, the same way that David was saved,
the same way the Apostle Paul was saved, through faith alone.
But you say, wait a minute, Pastor Anderson,
it says right there that he was justified by works.
Okay, keep your finger there and go to Romans 4.
Keep your finger there.
Go back to Romans 4 where we're at, but keep your finger in James 2.
Let's start in verse number 1 of Romans 4.
It says in Romans 4, 1,
What shall we say then that Abraham our father,
as pertaining to the flesh, has found?
For if, you're on verse 2 of Romans 4,
if Abraham were justified by works,
he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.
For what sayeth the scripture, Abraham believed God,
and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace,
but of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
So, what does that say there?
In James 2, it said, when Abraham,
go back to James 2 if you would, James 2 21,
it says, Was not Abraham our father justified by works
when? When he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar.
So when was Abraham justified by works?
When he offered Isaac his son upon the altar, right?
And then it says, Seeest thou how faith wrought with his works,
and by works was faith made perfect?
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith,
Abraham believed God, and it was computed unto him for righteousness,
and he was called a friend of God.
You see then how that by works a man is justified,
and not by faith only.
Back in Romans 4, it says in verse 2,
For if Abraham were justified by works,
he hath were of the glory, but not before God.
So look, Abraham was not justified by works before God.
He was justified by works before man.
He hath were of the glory, but not before God.
Because him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
You see, man looketh on the outward appearance,
but God looketh on the heart.
You see, if a man say he has faith,
he says people are going to look at him and say,
Okay, show me your works.
And when Abraham did the works of offering Isaac his son upon the altar,
that justified him in the eyes of man.
But did that justify him in the eyes of God?
No.
Because by faith alone is justification in the eyes of God.
Now let me, you say, well Pastor Anderson, I don't believe that.
Okay, well let me prove that to you.
When was he justified by works?
When he offered Isaac his son upon the altar, right?
Look at Romans 4, starting in verse number 9.
Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only?
Or upon the uncircumcision also?
For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
How was it then reckoned?
When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision?
Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
So let me ask you this.
When did Abraham believe God and it was counted unto him for righteousness?
When he was uncircumcised or when he was circumcised?
Uncircumcised.
Uncircumcised, right?
It says it was when he was in uncircumcision that he was justified by faith.
Look at Genesis, and we're going to turn to Genesis chapter number 21.
Genesis chapter 21.
I'm sorry, I forgot to finish reading this in Romans 4.
It says, not in circumcision but in uncircumcision,
and he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had being yet uncircumcised.
So it says he got saved, he believed, he had faith when he was uncircumcision,
and the sign of circumcision just was a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised.
So he already had righteousness imputed unto him when he was uncircumcised.
He already had the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed unto him.
He already had his sins forgiven.
He already had his iniquities covered.
It was done when he got circumcised.
So the question is, how old was Abraham when he got circumcised?
Well, let's look in the Bible here.
The Bible has all the answers.
Look at Genesis 17 verse 23.
And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house,
this is Genesis 17, 23,
and all that were bought with his money,
every male among the men of Abraham's house,
and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day as God had sent him.
And Abraham was ninety years old and nine when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
So how old was Abraham when he got circumcised?
Ninety-nine.
Did he get saved before he was ninety-nine or after he was ninety-nine?
Before.
Because it said clearly he was already saved before he got circumcised.
Right?
When did Abraham get saved?
We'll go back to Genesis 12.
In Genesis chapter 12, the Bible talks about Abraham when he was first called by God,
and he's told to go into the land of Canaan and so forth.
Actually, look at chapter 13.
I have the wrong thing written down, so I've got to play this by ear here.
Let's see here.
The Bible says in verse number 4 of chapter 13,
or let's start at verse 3.
It says,
And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel,
unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning,
between Bethel and Haai,
unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first,
and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
So I lost my place in chapter 12, but in chapter 12 and in chapter 13,
the Bible tells us twice, and it refers to the same event,
this one specific event, and it refers back to it years later
as being a significant event of the place where Abraham called upon the name of the Lord.
By faith, and Abraham believed God,
and it was imputed unto them for righteousness long before he was circumcised.
When he was about 65 years old is when he called upon the name of the Lord.
But we know for a fact that he was saved before he was 99,
because at 99 he got circumcised,
and the Bible makes it clear that he was saved long before that.
He got saved in chapter 12 of Genesis, okay?
Look, if you would, at Genesis 21.
Genesis chapter 21.
So in Genesis 17, we saw Abraham get circumcised at age 99.
In Genesis 21, the Bible says in verse 4,
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had mended.
And Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born unto him.
And Abraham sojourned, I'm sorry, look at verse 34.
Jump down to Genesis 21, 34.
It says, And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines land many days.
So, when Abraham was circumcised, he was 99.
When Isaac was born, he was 100.
At the end of chapter 21, it says that he sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.
We don't know exactly how long that was, but it was many days.
It was an extended period of time.
Chapter 22 is the story where Abraham offered Isaac his son upon the altar, okay?
And according to James 2, that's when he was justified by works,
when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar.
Now, look at chapter 23, verse 1.
It says, And Sarah was 107 and 20 years old.
These were the years of life of Sarah, and Sarah died.
So, when Sarah died, she was 127.
Which means that Abraham was 137, because Abraham was 10 years older than Sarah.
So, when Sarah died, he was 137.
So, in chapter 21, he's 100, his son Isaac's born, many days go by.
Chapter 22, he's offering Isaac his son upon the altar.
Chapter 23, boom, he's 137 years old.
So, chapter 22 happened between the time that he was 100 and 137.
Is everybody following this?
How old was Isaac when he offered him upon the altar?
Well, we don't know exactly. The Bible calls him a lad, okay?
Look at the interesting thing that Abraham says in chapter 22,
when he's going to take Isaac up the hill to do a burnt offering.
It says in verse 5, And Abraham said unto his young men,
Abide here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
So, basically, he's saying that I and the lad are going to go worship,
and then he uses the come there as referring to I and the lad will come back.
He's saying I and the lad will go worship and come again.
So, he's saying we'll both come back.
Because in Hebrews 11, I'll quote it for you, you don't have to turn there.
By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac.
And he which had received the promises, offered up his only begotten son,
of whom it was said that an Isaac shall by seed be called,
accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead,
from whence also he received him in a figure.
So, basically, when Abraham was told by God to offer up Isaac his son as a sacrifice,
Abraham took the lad, bound him, put him upon the altar,
put him upon the wood on the altar, lifted up a knife,
and was about to plunge the knife into his own son,
because God had told him to offer Isaac his son upon the altar as a sacrifice.
And, of course, right when he was about to do it, the angel yelled,
Abraham, Abraham, and stopped him and said, hey, don't do it.
And there was a substitute found.
He looked over in the thicket, and at that moment,
there was a ram with its horns caught in the thorny thicket.
And that ram was taken as a substitute for Isaac.
Now, there's a lot of symbolism here about the Gospel.
Jesus Christ is our substitute.
The thorns that the ram was caught in represent the crown of thorns that Jesus wore on his head.
Isaac here pictured the only begotten son,
because he was told to offer Isaac his only begotten son.
Isaac represented the only begotten son being laid upon the wood,
which represented the cross.
So how old was Isaac?
Well, we know that Isaac is talking, so he was definitely older.
He was a lad.
Look at what the Bible says in verse number 7.
And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, my father,
and he said, here am I, my son.
And he said, behold the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
He looks at Dad and says, Dad, where's the offering?
I mean, we've got the wood, we've got the fire, where's the lamb?
He doesn't realize that he's the one that's being sacrificed at this point.
But watch what Abraham says to him.
And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.
So they lent both of them together.
So basically, when he said God will provide himself a lamb,
this is basically prophetic of Jesus Christ.
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering,
so they lent both of them together.
Abraham believed that if he would have killed his son Isaac,
that God would have resurrected him.
Because he knew that he was acting out the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And so because he knew that this was a picture,
that the sacrifice was a picture of Jesus Christ that would come one day,
he believed that if he were going to kill his son,
it says, and Hebrews 11 said, you're making out.
No, Hebrews 11 said, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead.
From whence also he received him in a figure, figuratively speaking,
you know, his life was saved and he came back alive.
And so he was going to kill his own son because he believed that God would resurrect him.
But of course he didn't have to do it.
The angel stopped him and the ram became symbolic of Jesus Christ stepping in
and taking our place and dying for our sins.
So you say, okay, Pastor Abraham, that's all, you know, very interesting.
And this is a great story.
But the key here, the key here is that Abraham,
if he was 100 when this kid was born,
and my personal opinion is that Isaac was probably 33 years old here.
If he's representing Jesus Christ, that's how old Jesus Christ was, you know,
when he was sacrificed.
But we don't really know how old he was.
You say, well, why would he call it the lad?
But you remember David was called the lad in 1 Samuel 17.
And in 1 Samuel 16, David was called a man of war.
So he was a man, he was a grown man, but just a young man was known as a lad.
Perhaps Isaac was 17 years old.
Perhaps he was 12 years old.
Perhaps he was 21 years old.
Perhaps, like I would guess, he was probably 33 years old.
Hey, he was talking, so he wasn't a baby.
He was carrying stuff.
I mean, he was helping with the load.
The bottom line is that when Abraham offered Isaac his son upon the altar,
he was 100 and something years old, somewhere between 110 and 130 years old.
When was Abraham saved, according to Romans 4?
Way before he was even 99.
When was he justified by works?
When he offered Isaac his son upon the altar.
So Abraham was saved decades before the illustration of James chapter 2.
When was righteousness imputed unto Abraham?
When were Abraham's sins forgiven?
When were his iniquities covered?
When he was circumcised at age 130?
When he offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
No!
He was already saved decades before that.
He'd already been saved.
Look, if you would, at Romans chapter 4 once again.
Romans chapter 4.
So in Romans chapter 4, the Bible says this.
Verse 2, For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.
For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward, not reckon of grace, but of debt.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Cometh this blessedness.
What blessedness?
The blessedness of your sins being forgiven.
The blessedness of your iniquities being covered.
The blessedness of having the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed unto you on the circumcision only,
or upon the uncircumcision also.
For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
How was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision?
Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised.
Go to James chapter 2.
James chapter 2.
So we see here that James cannot be talking about being justified before God,
cannot be talking about being saved and on your way to heaven and you're standing with God.
He's talking about from the perspective of other people looking at you,
are you going to be justified in the eyes of man?
Abraham was justified in the eyes of man when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar.
That's why we look back at him and say, wow, look at the faith of Abraham.
To have the faith to take the son that he's been praying for and longed for and waited decades for,
that son is finally born.
And then God says, okay, now offer him as a sacrifice.
And he had the faith to obey that.
Unbelievable faith.
That justifies him before man.
But is that what saved his soul?
His soul was saved already approximately 60 or 70 years before that point.
I mean, back in chapter 12, he was already saved.
He's already a believer.
Okay, way back in chapter 12.
So let's go through this in James 2.
It says, was not Abraham our father, verse 21, justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Now look at this key.
See as thou, what's the next word after see as thou?
How? What does how mean?
In what way?
See as thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect.
Do you see how, do you see how he was justified by works in the sense of, look, keep reading.
The scripture was fulfilled would say if Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him that he was righteous, he was called a friend of God.
Verse 24.
You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only.
Now, he did not say, you see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only.
That's not what it says.
But if you have one of these modern phony Bibles, that is what it says.
Like let me get out the NIV for example.
You see, if you omit one word from the Bible, you totally change the meaning.
And this is one of those examples where you change the meaning.
You can add a word or take away a word and change the meaning.
You look down at your King James Bible at James 2.24.
It says, you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only.
Let me read for you from the non-inspired version of the NIV.
You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
Now, that's not what God is saying.
God is saying, do you see how?
Do you see how a man is justified by works and not by faith only?
And the how is in the eyes of man before others.
Other people are going to look at you and they can't see your faith.
I mean, can you see my faith right now?
Who in here believes that Pastor Anderson has faith?
Put up your hand if you believe that I have my faith in Jesus Christ.
How in the world do you know that?
You go soloing all week.
Okay, is that works?
Yep.
Thank you.
Do you see what I'm saying?
Can you see my faith?
Can anybody see my faith?
No.
But can you see my works?
Yep.
So look, if I'm going to be justified in your sight,
if I'm going to be justified in the sight of man, it can't be by faith
because nobody can see my faith.
Man can see our works.
God does not look at your works when it comes to salvation.
He's just looking for one thing.
Believeth.
Whosoever believeth.
That's salvation.
But you see how the NIV has just created heresy here?
By just spelling out right here,
you see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
You know, Harry Mitchell's going to love that.
And the thing is, in the King James Bible in Romans chapter 3,
it says,
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith and not by the deeds of the law.
Not by the deeds of the law.
But by faith alone.
The NIV has changed that.
Now here's another change that people have made in these scriptures.
Go to James 2.14.
Here's another key verse.
James 2.14 says,
What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works?
What are the last four words?
Can faith save him?
The NIV has changed this, as well as many other modern versions.
I'm just using the NIV as an example.
The NIV changes them to,
Can such faith save him?
Okay.
Now, who's ever heard of the Schofield Reference Bible?
I grew up with the Schofield Reference Bible.
It's a King James Bible that's filled with notes from a man named Schofield.
Well, if you look in Schofield's notes for James 2.14,
what this is actually saying is,
Can that kind of faith save him?
Same thing that the NIV is saying.
Can such faith save him?
Can that kind of faith save him?
Now they've created a heresy that there's different kinds of faith.
And if you don't have the right kind, you're not going to be saved.
And the only right kind is the one that has works.
That's what the NIV is teaching.
The NIV is teaching that faith that doesn't have works
is a different kind of faith that can't save you
when Romans chapter 4 said that if you believe and work not, you're still saved.
Amen.
Oh, but I thought that's the wrong kind of faith.
Do you see how this can change?
You see just tiny changes.
Most people would read these too and say,
Oh, they're pretty much saying the same thing.
But you just change a few words, my friend,
and you've dramatically altered the meaning.
Here, look this up for me, would you?
Look up those two verses, James 2.14 and also James 2.24.
Look these up for me, would you?
2.14 and 2.24.
James 2.14 and James 2.24.
You guys can look that up. I'll talk about something else.
But the point here is that we are saved by faith alone.
But it doesn't profit our fellow man unless we're doing any works.
And in fact, people can't even really tell what we believe
if we don't have any works.
So our justification before man is by works,
just like Abraham was justified decades after he got saved.
Okay, before man, but not before God.
Look at the next example. It says in verse 25,
Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works
when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way,
for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
You see, Rahab the harlot, she was a harlot.
Does that sound like a righteous lifestyle or a righteous occupation?
No.
Was she justified because she stopped being a harlot? Is that even mentioned?
No.
The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11,
By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not
when she had received the spies for peace,
when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way.
Notice, the harlot, Rahab the harlot perished not with them that believed not.
So Rahab the harlot believed,
and Rahab the harlot perished not with them that believed not,
because she believed.
But, how did they know that she believed?
How did the soldiers of Israel know that she believed?
They told her, they said, look,
because before they even got there,
she already believed on the Lord,
as far as we know, because when they got there,
she said, hey, we know what your God has done.
We've already heard about it.
We've already heard what he did.
We heard what he did when you came out of Egypt.
We heard what he did.
You know, we don't know when she got saved.
She was probably already saved because right when they got there,
she's already saying, hey, I already know all about your God.
I already believe in him.
I already know what he's done here,
and we know it, and everybody's scared
because we know that you guys are coming.
And they said to her, okay, we'll spare your life physically.
Okay?
They couldn't save her soul.
They're just human beings.
Only God can save, right?
But they said, we will spare you physically,
but here's what you have to do.
You have to come all, anyone who wants to live here,
who doesn't want to die,
because we're going to come in and kill everybody,
has to get inside your house,
and her house was right on the wall,
and she had to run a scarlet thread out the window,
a red cloth out the window,
and he said, put this red cloth out the window,
and you have to be in the house, shut the door,
don't leave the house,
and whoever's in the house, we won't kill,
but if you come out of the house,
we can't promise anything.
So what happened?
The walls of Jericho fell down.
The children of Israel invaded.
They killed the men of the city.
They killed everybody,
and everybody who was in that house with Harlot,
the Rahab, survived.
Now look, that scarlet thread was not a sign to God.
God can see inside the heart.
He knows who believes.
He knows who's saved.
He knows what the truth is,
but that scarlet thread was an outward sign
to show other people,
hey, I believe this,
therefore I'm putting this out as an outward sign.
What did that scarlet thread represent?
Why was it red?
Because it represents the blood of Jesus Christ.
That's why he chose the color red,
and then there's a lot of symbolism there,
but the point is,
it doesn't say that Harlot Rahab was justified,
and people try to use James 2, won't they,
to try to say salvation is by repenting of your sins
and turning over your life
and doing works and joining the church.
Look, he didn't say they were justified
because they lived a good life.
He said Abraham was justified
because they knew he believed God
when he was willing to offer his son.
We know he believed God.
We can read that story.
We know that Rahab believed God
because she hid the spies.
She sent him out with peace.
She put out the scarlet thread,
and she showed that she truly believed
what God's word was
because she risked her life
by getting them out of line
because if they would have found out
that she was lying,
they probably would have killed her
because she would have been a traitor.
So we see then how
that by works a man is justified,
not by faith only.
What do you got there?
Has it changed like the NIV or what?
Do you want me to read it?
Yeah, give us the New American Santa victory.
See, can that faith save him?
The NIV said, can such faith save him?
The Scofield Bible said,
can this kind of faith save him?
Creating a new strange doctrine
that now there are certain types of faith
that can save you.
So now it's like,
we had to sort of believe it,
but you know,
you got to have the right kind of belief
and it's the belief that includes works.
Then why does he say
you're saved by faith,
not of works?
If faith includes works.
People will tell us,
well of course,
but if you believe,
of course you're going to do the works.
Wrong.
Because faith without works is dead.
So that means it's possible
to have faith without having works.
Or else how can faith without works be dead?
And not only that,
but Pastor Stephen L. Anderson
standing up here tonight,
got saved when he was six years old.
Okay.
Tonight I'm 29 years old.
So how long have I been saved for approximately?
Twenty-three.
Twenty-three years.
Now let me ask you something.
If I stop doing the works tonight,
for the last 12 years,
every week of my life pretty much
I've knocked doors
and preached the gospel of soul winning.
Pretty much every week for the last 12 years.
What if I stop doing that tonight?
What if I quit soul winning?
What if I quit serving God?
What if I quit coming to church?
What if I quit reading the Bible?
Let me ask you something.
If I'm no longer doing the works,
is my faith alive or dead according to the Bible?
If I have no works,
is my faith alive or dead?
It's dead.
Because faith without works is dead.
But let me ask you something.
Am I still saved
or am I going to lose my salvation?
Can't you lose your salvation?
It's eternal life.
So that's why it doesn't make any sense to say,
well that kind of faith can't save you
because what do you have to do to do the works?
You only get saved in a moment
and twinkling of an eye.
Do you have to be doing works at that moment
to make sure that your faith is really alive?
You know, it's like,
oh God save me.
You know, you've got to be doing something.
You've got to be working.
Think about this.
The only work that you have to do,
they said, what might we do?
May I work the works of God?
He said, believe!
That's all you have to do to be saved.
Just call upon Him.
Just believe.
Oh, but the works follow.
And what if they don't?
And what if they don't follow?
What if you just believe and got saved
and then you just didn't do any works?
God said,
you'll get to the judgment seat of Christ
and there will be some people there
who everything that they did
was wood, hay and stubble.
Everything.
None of what they did was gold, silver
and precious stones
and He said their works will be burnt up
because they didn't do anything of eternal life
but He Himself shall be saved.
Yes, so is by fire.
You could be saved with no works.
That's what Romans 4-5 says.
But you're never going to be justified
before your fellow man
without works
because that's the only thing
that's ever going to help anybody.
You can believe all day long
but if you don't do works
it is not profitable at all.
And James is saying,
to whom?
In verse 14.
What are the first words?
What are the prophets?
My brethren.
He's talking to saved Christians saying,
look,
what good is it that you believe
if you don't do anything?
What good is it?
What does it profit?
What's the point?
And you know,
I understand where He was coming from.
Because you look at so many Christians today
who are true believers in Jesus Christ.
They know they're going to heaven.
They believe that heaven is real.
They believe hell is real.
But I want to say to some of you right now,
if you never go soul winning
and you never care about giving somebody the gospel
and you never care to do anything for God,
do you even believe that hell is real?
Because I can't see it.
Now you might believe that hell is real
from the top of your head
to the bottom of your feet
but if you don't go soul winning,
I don't see it.
You see,
the people that can really show me
that they believe in hell
are the people who are out there
knocking doors in the heat.
Hey, I know they believe in hell.
I know they believe it.
And I'm not questioning the salvation
of those who don't go.
Because I'm not that guy
who says,
well, you know,
show me your faith about your work.
I don't think you really say it
because you don't do the work.
I'm not going to question somebody's salvation
because they don't do works.
But you know what?
Your belief that hell is real,
that faith that you have
that hell and heaven are real places,
it's dead because you're not doing the works.
It's not profiting anybody.
It's not helping anybody.
And you know what?
I can't see.
You see,
different people have different levels of faith
is what I'm trying to say.
Jesus said,
if you have faith of a grain of mustard seed,
you know,
you can remove mountains.
They said that Jesus increased our faith.
Some people have more faith than others.
And faith is measured
outwardly by what people can see.
I can see somebody and say,
well, there's a guy of great faith
because look at all of his works.
I mean, look,
when I see somebody start a church
in Sacramento, California
from scratch,
I say,
there's a person of faith.
You know,
he started a Bible preaching church.
I say,
there's faith.
Right?
See a guy out soul winning every day.
You say,
I got faith.
You see somebody out serving God.
It's faith.
You see faith.
You see someone who's,
who's,
who's a godly,
righteous Christian.
And you say,
there's a person of great faith.
You see somebody who's saved,
but they don't do anything.
And you know,
you think,
you know,
okay,
they're proud.
They said they're saved.
I believe them.
But you know what?
Their faith is weak.
Jesus said to the disciples,
oh,
you have little faith.
It's possible to have just
little faith
or to have great faith
like Elijah did.
Where he prayed and it didn't rain
for three and a half years.
And he prayed again
and the heaven gave rain
and the earth brought forth
their fruit.
So we see here
that the James chapter 2
is not teaching a work of salvation.
If it's teaching work of salvation,
then that means Abraham got saved
when he was 130 years old.
If it's teaching work of salvation,
why didn't this harlot
have to quit being a harlot?
Was Abraham justified by his good life?
The man committed adultery.
Did he not?
I don't think his good life
is earning his way to heaven.
No,
he went to heaven
because he's a believer.
The same reason I'm going to heaven
and the same reason you're going to heaven
if you're saved.
So you see how
there's a few things
working against us
as we try to preach
the truth of the gospel.
One of those things
that's working against us
is these false Bible verses.
Anybody got another one
that twists it or changes it?
Did it change 24?
It took out the how.
They all take out the how
in verse 24.
How about the New King James?
It takes out the how in verse 24.
Did you hear that?
The New King James.
Let me see that.
The New King James version
says in verse number 24,
You see then
that a man is justified by works
and not by faith only.
You know,
it's misleading
because the King James,
it says you see how.
You see in what way
a man is justified by works
and not by faith only.
The New King James
has perverted that.
You know,
the New American Standard
has changed that.
Right?
Has the New American Standard
as well?
Same change?
Who's got the New American Standard?
Okay, we already got that.
What do you got here?
What's this?
The New World.
The New World translation
to Jehovah's Witness Bible?
What is it?
24 and 14.
Both.
Both?
Okay.
Just the end of 14
and the whole 24.
That faith cannot save him,
can it?
See?
That faith can't save him,
can it?
You know?
And then in 24,
you see that a man is to be,
you see that a man
is to be declared righteous
by works
and not by faith alone.
Yeah,
so it takes out the how.
They all take out the word how
and what's funny is
that in verse 14,
the Jehovah's Witness Bible
changes it from a question
to a statement.
Instead of saying
can faith save him,
it changes it to a statement.
That faith can't save him.
There's not different
kinds of faith.
Everybody has faith.
Atheists have faith
in what some idiot professor
taught them that they came
from a monkey.
They didn't see that monkey.
They did not look into the
whites and the eyes
of that monkey and say
you gave birth to me!
I came from you!
No!
They believed that they were
told that they came
from that monkey
because an atheist professor
told them that
and I have faith in this book
and they have faith
in the book
of Charles Darwin
and we both believe a book.
Oh, you just believe
what you read in a book.
Well, so do you, atheist.
You believe what you read
in the origin of the species
and the continuance
of favored races.
I believe what you read
in the Holy Bible.
That's what I believe.
We both have faith in a book
and there's not
different kinds of faith.
There's belief.
There's faith in your faith,
whatever kind of faith,
whatever amount of faith,
whether it's big or small
or a mustard seed,
if it's on Jesus,
you're going to heaven.
And if it's on your works,
you're going to hell.
And if it's on Jesus Christ alone,
I don't care if it's smaller
than a grain of a mustard seed,
if you put all of that faith
on Jesus Christ,
you'll be in heaven, my friend.
But if you're trusting in
repent of your sins
and live a good life
and get baptized,
it's funny,
I get so sick of this
repent of your sins garbage
coming from Baptist creatures.
We gave the gospel
to a Muslim today
and he said,
Did he not say that?
We gave the gospel
to a Mormon today
and he said,
Hey, why are these
Baptists teaching
the same garbage
that the Muslims are teaching,
that the Mormons are teaching,
that the Catholics are teaching?
It works.
But the Bible says
we're saved by faith alone.
Repenting of your sins is works.
If you have to sit there
and repent of this sin,
hey, the only thing
you have to repent of
to be saved
is whatever's stopping you
from believing in Jesus Christ.
And if your Catholic religion
is damning you,
you need to repent of that
garbage and believe on Christ.
You don't have to repent of sin.
If you have to repent of sin,
none of us is saved.
We are all sinners.
We die daily.
We have to repent every day
from the bad things that we do
or the wrong thoughts
that we think.
We have to die daily
as Paul said.
We've got to take up
the cross daily.
But salvation is one time,
and it happened for Abraham
70 years approximately
before he offered Isaac
his son upon the altar.
So we see then in James 2,
this doesn't contradict the Bible.
It's just when you twist it
and make it say something
that it didn't say,
that's where you get confused.
There's no mention here
of quitting your sins.
There's no mention here
that says well you'll know
that people are really saved.
You should test them with this.
He just said no,
that's what some people will do.
People are going to judge you.
Whether it's right or wrong,
people are going to judge
your salvation by your works.
It's just a fact.
And so he says hey,
have faith and it works.
And I'm all for having
faith that works.
But salvation is by faith alone.
Let's bow our heads
and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you
so much for your word, dear God.
And Father, I thank you
that I got saved
as a six year old boy
and that's why I'm going to heaven.
God, I thank you
that all these years, dear God,
all these years I've known
salvation was by faith.
And God, I'll be honest,
the first time I read
James 2, it was being shown to me
by an unbeliever
and they were twisting it to me
and I'll be honest with you, God,
I was confused the first time I saw it
because I had somebody
twisting it to me.
But God, thank you so much
for the other 100 and 200
and 300 verses that say so clearly
that it's by faith alone
that it just didn't really bother me.
And that upon further study, dear God,
you revealed the simple answers
in the Bible in Romans 4
and Genesis 17 and Genesis 21.
Help us, dear God,
to use your word
to fight against this lie
of the devil, dear God.
Help us to go out
and to put our faith into practice
and preach the gospel
and not just to be hearers of the word
but to be doers of the word.
Dear God, fill us with your spirit
as we go through the week
and help us to serve you and work.