I am with thee, peace be still
In all of life's ebb and flow
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
Sweet as name I know
Fills my every longing
Keeps me singing as I go
All my life was wrecked by sin and strife
the slumbering chords again.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
sweetest name I know
fills my every longing.
Kings be singing as I go,
feasting on the riches of
I heard their sweet song
But it's kind here, ever ready to hear
God, my well of distress, as I cried out in fear
Ship ahoy, ship ahoy
twice this month and so one time will be on a Saturday the second time will be on
a Monday if you'd like to participate also on a Monday maybe you're not able
to come on that Saturday just coordinate with brother Hernandez and he'll give
you details about that being prayer that we get a lot of people saved in TJ and
then the ladies prayer breakfast is on Saturday April 5th meeting at the
building at 10 a.m. Mr. Noganzala's heads that up and so ladies if you'd like to
participate in that or help in any way you can see her for more details
The big thing coming up is our Easter service, amen.
That's coming up on Sunday, April 20th.
And we have invites in the back that we like for you to take
when you go out soloing or take home and hand out
to your friends, family, coworkers.
People do you know and the goal would be to just pack out the house of it's pretty packed right now
Well, but we could do more than this and so the our previous
Record attendance was 218 we're hoping to hit about 235 maybe 240 this coming Easter and so being prayer over that
But we're gonna have a breakfast at 945 and so be here nice and early with your visitors to get some breakfast
And then there will also be an Easter egg hunt after the service for the little ones.
And so we're excited about that.
Being prayer over our Easter service is always an exciting time of the year
when we exalt the resurrection of Christ.
And it's just a good time to invite people to church because they're just more mindful.
If they're not going to church, it's more mindful about coming to church
and we want to take advantage and invite them here to first works, amen.
And so that's exciting.
We have the science meetup also on Sunday, April 27th, after the evening service.
On the bulletin that I like to read here. It says in light of Friday's Park Day or lack thereof should we say you know?
Because it was it was raining we will have a homeschool craft meet up tonight after the 5 p.m.. Service for the kids
So please see mrs.
Mahia my wife if you have any questions about that
Hope the kids can make it tonight for the craft meetup there.
And then lastly, please make sure you silence your phones
during the preaching so as to not be a distraction
during the service.
That is it for our announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing our next song, 105,
Abide With Me.
Oh, I'm sorry, 106, Abide With Me.
["106 Abide With Me"]
Song number 106, Abide With Me.
All together nice and strong on that first verse.
What?
wonderful singing at this time the ushers will come forward to receive the
offering. You can turn your bibles to James chapter 2. James chapter number 2.
we're in James chapter number two, James chapter two, the Bible reads, my
brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with
respective persons for if they're coming to your assembly a man with a gold ring
and goodly apparel and they're coming also a poor man in vile remit and you
have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing and say it to him sit thou here
in a good place and say to the poor stand down there or sit here under my
footstool are you not then partial in yourselves and become judges of evil
Hark, and my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom
Which hath promised to them that love them, but ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats?
Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?
If you fulfill the royal law according to the according to the scripture that shall love thy neighbor as thyself, you do well.
But if you have respect to persons, you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
But whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
For he that said, do not commit adultery, said also, and do not kill.
Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
So speak ye in so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
For ye shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy.
And mercy rejoiceeth against judgment.
What does it profit my brethren though man say he has faith and have not works can faith save him
If a brother or sister be naked in destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them
Depart in peace be warmed and filled not with standing you give them not those things which are needful to the body
What does it profit?
Even so faith if it has not works is dead being alone. Yeah, man may say thou has faith and I have works
Show me thy faith without thy works, and I'll show thee my faith by my works
Thou believest that there is one God. Thou doest well.
The devils also believe in tremble.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works
when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
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 imputed unto him for righteousness,
and he was called the friend of God.
You see, then, how that by works a man is justified,
and not by faith only.
Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works which have received the messengers and had sent them out another way
Burst the body without the spirit is dead. So faith without works is dead. Also
Spray dear Lord God. I think again for this opportunity to be in your house
Decides that you will meet with us here now this morning and please bless Pastor
Me with the Holy Spirit as he pictures your word and inducing me pray amen
Amen. Okay, we're in James chapter 2 and look down at your Bibles at verse 20. It says,
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead. And the time of my sermon this
morning is an exposition on James chapter 2, an exposition on James chapter 2. It's important for
us as Christians to familiarize ourselves with this particular chapter because of the fact that
And often when you talk to people about the right salvation, about what the Bible says
about the Gospel, that it's by faith alone, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, that
you can't lose your salvation, they'll often come back with, well, James chapter 2 says
that faith without works is dead.
And this is actually a very popular chapter amongst false prophets because of the wording.
Now let me say this is that the way you're supposed to study the Bible.
in regards to a particular topic,
is that you need to go to the book of the Bible
that majors on a specific topic.
a doctrine that you are studying.
For example, if we wanted to study the subject of salvation,
you don't go to the book of Proverbs, right?
You don't go to the book of Psalms
or to the book of Ecclesiastes
or 1st and 2nd Kings.
What do you go to?
Well, first of all, you go to the New Testament,
but specifically there is a book that's laid out for us
that explicitly and clearly communicates
what it means to be saved and that's the book of John.
And if you want to get down deep into the doctrine of justification, you go to the book of Romans, right?
You say, well, what about the book of James because isn't this talking about salvation? Well, no, actually, it's not
And in fact the book of James is being written to believers and the importance of believers doing works coupled with their faith in order to profit others.
And we'll get into that in just a bit.
But I love the book of James and I think it's a great book.
I'm not like Martin Luther of the Protestant Reformation that said that the book of James is the epistle of straw.
He actually despised the book of James and he didn't like it because he felt like it
contradicted the narrative of the book of Romans and the Gospels, but I believe it works perfectly
in conjunction. And a person only walks away thinking that it contradicts the Bible if they
don't know the Bible, right? But we see that it's actually in complete harmony with the rest of
Scripture and we're going to see this today. By the way, in order for us to even understand the Bible,
And what does it mean to read it in faith?
It means that we know that it doesn't contradict itself.
So if you have one passage that says one thing and another passage that seems to say something completely different
We're just misinterpreting it because the Bible does not contradict itself. It's written by God. It's in complete harmony
We need a base the one scripture that we're not interpreting correctly off of the ten that essentially coincide with one another
Okay, and so this morning we're just going to go through the entire chapter and
Explain the interpretation thereof now the first thing we're going to look at this morning is the sin
of partiality.
What is the sin of partiality?
It's when you prefer someone over another
because of the fact that maybe they're wealthy,
they have clout, maybe they're famous,
they have something, a possession that you value
and therefore you prefer them over someone who doesn't.
That is a sin according to the Bible
and that's the first thing that we see in the book of James.
Now, people will claim that verses 17 and 20,
mean that if you claim to have faith,
but it's not coupled with works,
it means that you're not safe, right?
And I'm sure many of us,
many of you have heard that interpretation,
we're like, well, if you don't have works with your faith,
then you're not really safe, okay?
But here's the thing is that the opposite would be true as well, wouldn't it?
For example, if you claim to have faith and you have bad works, that also means that you're not safe.
So if you believe that if you don't have good works coupled with your faith,
then you also have to believe that if you have bad works with your faith, then you're also not saved.
But I want you to notice verse number one of James 2.
It says, my brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
Don't have the faith of Jesus Christ with partiality.
What is that implying?
It's implying that you can't have it with partiality,
which is why he has to command them not to.
The mere fact that the commandment is in the Bible, not to be a respecter of people, not to couple that with your faith is an indication that we as Christians have the tendency or have the temptation to do such a thing, right?
We can have respect to people with our faith. It's not right to do, which is why he's commanding against it.
So it's showing us that it's actually possible to have faith with discrimination.
Okay, respect the people partiality. This is why he has to command not to do it
In fact look at verse 2 it says for if they're come unto you and assembly a man with the gold ring and
Goodly apparel and they're come in also a poor man in vile Raymond
You know, he's not necessarily dressed the best he doesn't wear
Name-brand clothing or whatever you consider to be vile Raymond verse 3 says and you have respect him that weareth the gay clothing
Now let me just clarify that
He's not talking about queer stuff, okay?
He's not coming into church with like a rainbow flag,
you know, wrapped in a rainbow flag or something like that.
Or like in Daisy Dukes or something.
I don't know, you know, whatever.
Some queer stuff, you know gay clothing in the Bible is referring to happy clothing
You know the the homos have perverted that that word to mean something that it's not gay simply means happy
And I'm not saying that you should start using the word gay
You know to say happy because the connotation that it has is you know, sodomy, okay?
And so I'm just I'm just kind of commentating and clarifying what it means here
So he says you have respect to him that we're at the gay clothing. Who's the one with the gay clothing?
It's not the LGBT. It's referring to the person who has a gold ring, goodly apparel.
And he's like, oh man, this guy is nicely dressed.
This person is dressed to impress.
He has expensive clothing.
And the people in the church are respected in that individual
because of how they dress.
He says, in saying to him, sit thou here in a good place
and say to the poor, stand thou there,
or sit here under my footstool.
Are you not then partial in yourselves
and are become judges of evil thoughts?
So he's given this example.
And apparently this is taking place in a church
where maybe the pastor, the church leaders,
they view two people coming in,
one is evidently poor,
the other is evidently rich or wealthy,
and then more attention is given to the person
who is actually wealthy, he's rich,
he has possessions, he looks affluent,
rather than actually paying any attention
or giving any favor to the person who is poor.
And he's saying, you tell the rich guy,
hey, here's the best seat in the house,
come and stay here.
But then you don't give that same attention,
that same favor to the poor.
He's saying you're judges of evil thoughts.
You're being partial.
Why?
Because the house of God should be without discrimination.
In regards to race, right?
in regards to economic status obviously we're partial when it comes to false
religions I mean this the house this is the house of God where we worship the
Lord Jesus Christ we're not gonna you know tolerate Hinduism Buddhism Islam
Mormonism Catholicism you know we're not gonna tolerate things that are
outside of the word of God right this is obviously referring to
the fact that people are partial with others
or favor others based upon their financial status,
their economic status.
And he's saying that it's a sin
because you're judges of evil thoughts,
valuing people over their financial wealth
because they're affluent.
And in fact, look at chapter three, if you would.
Look at chapter three.
And look at verse 17, it says,
but the wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated,
full of mercy and good fruits.
Listen to this, without partiality,
and without hypocrisy.
So obviously the wisdom of God teaches us
That when a person comes through the church doors, they come to hear the Word of God,
they should be treated kindly, that we should be gracious with them,
we should seek to win them to Christ. If they're already won to Christ,
we should seek to teach them the Word of God, and we should not be partial based upon how they dress,
how they look, how rich they are, right? Or how poor they are.
Okay, why because the wisdom from above is without partiality look at go back to chapter 2 if you would
Chapter 2 I'm going to read to you from 1st Timothy 5 21
It says I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that thou observe these things without
Preferring one before another doing nothing by partiality again showing us that we are not to be a respecter of people look at verse 5
Verse 5 says,
Now, why does the New Testament teach that we should go to the poor or favor the poor
in regards to the message of God?
I'll tell you why, because poverty creates humility and humility is necessary in order
to be saved.
You know the hardest people to get saved are rich people.
The hardest people to win to Christ are people who are fluent who have money why because they're trusting in their riches
They have covetousness in their heart. It's hard to get them saved
They feel like they have everything that they need whereas the person who's poor the person is not financially well off
That person's more open to the gospel thinking they ain't got nothing
They're willing to give you their time. They're willing to give you their attention and they're humble enough to recognize
I need salvation because they don't have anything. Okay, and by the way side note
This is why when we go and preach the gospel we go to the poor neighborhoods also known as the ghettos
You shouldn't call it ghetto. I grew up in the ghetto. I could call it ghetto
You know we go to the ghetto areas and guess what that's where we see the majority of people saved
100% of the time
You know, and most of you know if you've gone
souling in Anaheim Hills or these areas,
you know, it's not very fruitful, okay?
People here are very affluent, they have money,
and typically they're not interested
in listening to the gospel.
So we like to go to Compton,
we like to go to South Central,
we like to go to East LA,
we like to, now we need to start going to San Bernardino,
you know, all these other areas
because they are very receptive in those areas.
And a lot of those people are near death anyways.
I remember going to South Central
You know he was a gang member and he was flamed out from head to toe and he ended up getting saved and he was like ready for the
Gospel and he was in tears thereafter and I'm thinking to myself like you were a blood before but now though
You're washing the blood of the lamb
But it could be that this man was just near death all the time
You know and I've witnessed to many gang members who are very you know
They're about that life and they're extremely receptive to the gospel and you kind of have to ask yourself
Maybe it's because in the environment that they're in it's not conducive to just living
But it is conducive to the gospel. Okay, so this is why he's telling them that the poor of this world are actually rich in faith
They're actually willing to listen to the gospel more readily than those who are actually rich in this world.
And he's specifically rebuking them because he says in verse 6 that the rich men whom they're favoring,
the rich men whom they're being a respecter of people of,
these same men are those who are oppressing them and drawing them before the judgment seats.
Now, the implication here that he's referring to
is that he's talking about the Jews, okay?
And specifically the Pharisees.
So, like, you have Pharisees and Jews
coming into the house of God,
and they have goodly apparel,
they have the long robes, the phylacteries,
and they're rich, you're like, how do you know they're rich?
Oh, because they devour widows' houses, that's why.
You know, just read Matthew 23, these people are covetous, they're greedy, they're wicked
of that manner, and they're coming into the house of God, they're expecting Christians
to give them favor and to worship before their feet, right?
Even though they're the ones who are guilty of arresting these same Christians, bringing
them before the judgment seats and persecuting the righteous.
And in fact, you say, how do you know that that's what he's referring to?
Look at verse 7.
And what does Revelation 2 and 3 talk about?
It talks about those who say they're Jews and are not,
but are the synagogue of Satan.
And he says that they blaspheme, right?
They're blasphemous.
They blaspheme the Lord Jesus Christ.
And look, you can study who the adversaries were
of the New Testament.
You'll see that it was the Jews and the Pharisees.
They're the ones who are persecuting the righteous.
They're bringing people before the judgment seats.
They are persecuting them.
So these guys are coming into the church
and the pastors of those churches,
the leaders are just like, oh, you know, rabbi, you know.
You know, it comes here right here.
Well, don't get your robe all dirty, you know?
And then they tell the Gentile believer,
go sit in the back or something.
Now here we have families go sit in the back,
but that's because we're actually favoring them, okay?
Because that way they can make a B line
into the mother-baby room if they have to.
Look at verse eight if you would.
He says, if you fulfill the royal law
according to the scripture,
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
You do well.
But if you have respect to persons you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors
So I want you to notice two things here number one is that the Bible obviously commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves
And he says if you do that you're doing well
However, if you're not doing that then by default you're being a respecter of people
So we know that being a person of partiality is a sin
Therefore not completing the royal law is also a sin because he that know what to do good and do with it not to him
It is sin
You understand?
So if you're a person who is, you're like,
well, I don't drink, I don't smoke,
I don't run with those to do,
I don't commit those particular sins.
Yeah, but then there's a bunch of other sins
you have to worry about, which are the sins of omission.
Meaning you omit actually obeying the law,
obeying the commandments of God,
loving your neighbor as yourself, okay?
So this is showing us that it's possible,
listen to this, to be saved
and still be guilty of sin and be saved.
because does anyone here love their neighbor
as their selves 100% of the time?
And here's often what people will tell me
when I ask them that, they're like,
yeah, but you gotta do it sometimes though.
Oh, I'm sorry, the standard in the Bible is not sometimes.
I don't know where you get this sometimes standard.
They say, yeah, but you should do that,
you should be doing it, yeah, but when do you do it all
100% of the time?
You know, the greatest command is to love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Do you know anybody who does that 100% of the time?
Yeah, but we should love God.
Hold on a second.
Yeah, but the standard that you have for loving God
is not the same standard of the Bible,
which is why all have sin and come short of the glory of God.
There's none righteous, no, not one.
And listen to this, there's not a just man upon earth
that doeth good and sin is not.
So what is James 2 telling us here?
It's telling us that we can have faith with partiality.
We shouldn't, but it's possible to have that.
And even if you strive not to have partiality,
not to have bad works with your faith, eventually you will.
You say, well, how do you know?
Well, look at verse 10.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law,
yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all.
So hold on a second if you are an outstanding Christian who obeys that one law
What about the rest of the laws though?
Because according to the Bible if you've kept nine of the ten which there's more than ten commandments
But let's just narrow it down to those ten commandments if you keep nine of those ten according to God you're guilty of all ten
Just because you violated that one it sounds like God's standard is perfection
And this is why, in order to be saved,
we have to what?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why?
Because Jesus, no one's gonna deny this,
Jesus is the only one who's able to keep
all of God's commandments perfectly,
because he is God.
We don't enter into heaven.
We don't get eternal life based upon our works
and our capability of keeping God's commands.
Why?
Because no one's been able to do that.
You've offended the law.
I've offended the law.
The law was meant to show us that we need a savior.
Whereas because Jesus Christ has kept the law perfectly
because he's a perfect man, a sinless man,
when we believe on him,
the Bible tells us that his righteousness,
his perfection is imputed unto us.
It's given to us.
Therefore, when God sees us, he doesn't see us through our righteousness because they're
as filthy rags according to the Bible.
He sees us through the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
So verse 10 is a powerful verse to use when you're out soul-warning.
When you're out preaching the gospel to essentially convince people that they're sinners and that
doesn't matter how many laws you keep, how many commandments you're able to do, at the
end of the day, if you've offended at one point, you're guilty of all.
And, you know, every once in a while you're running to an arrogant, prideful person
who just says they never sin or something like that.
And then you can just tell them, like, well, you're just sinning right now by lying.
So, there you go.
And by the way, the Bible says that the thought of foolishness is sin.
And no one's going to say they've never thought of a stupid thought,
a foolish thought we've all had.
And so, obviously the Bible is constantly showing us God's standard of perfection to essentially show us that we're not worthy of eternal life, our works cannot merit salvation, we need it through Jesus Christ.
So partiality is a sin.
And let me just remind us as a church, we should never be partial with anybody who comes to our church.
You know, if someone comes into our church with gay clothing, okay?
And by the way, in the day and age in which we live,
that's probably gonna happen more often,
and I'm using gay the way we would use it today,
because a lot of kids, they're just being influenced
by a lot of sodomite stuff.
My mic go out.
And they're gonna come in here,
and they might look a little weird.
They just look like they're a part of the world.
Maybe they're tatted from head to toe.
Maybe they have piercings all over their face or whatever.
They just look different.
The attitude should never be like,
well, I'm not going to talk to this person.
I'm not going to try to reach out to this person.
What's this person thinking doing coming
to a fundamental Baptist church?
I'll tell you what they're thinking.
They're thinking they're going to find the truth.
Now look, folks.
If that person comes, rejects the gospel,
doesn't want to get saved, hates the church,
then there's the door, right?
We don't force people to stay, but hold on a second.
If a person is looking for the truth,
they come to the right place, though.
And we should not be partial and think to ourselves,
well, this person will never get saved or something.
I'm not gonna talk because they will never get saved.
And when you're out zoning,
you should also have that same attitude.
You know, you see some biker out there,
some gangster, someone who doesn't look
like a fundamental Baptist,
they're probably the most likely person
to get saved on that route.
And so look at people through the lens of scripture
and recognize that they're a soul in need of salvation.
Okay, look beyond what they look like on the outward.
Look at verse 11.
So we see the sin of partiality,
but we also are gonna see here that saving faith,
and when I say saving faith,
I'm referring to faith that is placed
in Jesus Christ for salvation.
Saving faith can save the spirit,
but it cannot save the flesh.
That's important to note there.
Saving faith can save your spirit, but it cannot save the flesh.
Now look at verse 11.
It says, for he that said, do not commit adultery, said also do not kill.
Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
So speak ye and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
For he shall have judgment without mercy, that had showed no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
What doth it profit my brethren, though a man may say he have faith, and have not works, can faith save him?
So in its context, it's referring to those who are transgressors of the law, and the specific laws that it's highlighting,
is murder and adultery, which according to the Bible, are worthy of death, right?
They're capital crimes worthy of death.
And so if a Christian is guilty of these things, guess what?
Your faith in Jesus Christ is not going to save your hide from dying.
That's what it's saying.
Because can faith save you from the mistakes that you make this side of eternity?
Can faith save you from, you know, dying a horrible physical death?
From being punished by the consequences of your actions?
Absolutely not.
Faith saves you from hell, right?
And obviously we know that ultimately it does save your flesh
through the resurrection long into the future,
but the immediate consequences to your actions,
it's not gonna save you for that.
So in other words, yeah, you can be saved,
but no, you can't live however you want without consequence.
And this is the accusation that sometimes people present,
they're like, oh, you're saying you can be saved
and just live however you want.
And it's just like, well, you live however you want.
What are you talking about?
Every person who says that lives however they want.
Like you're saying that I could be saved and live however you want. Well, you're not even saying you're saving you still live however you want
You live however you want no matter what what we're saying is that if you're saved you're not gonna go to hell
And if you're saved God's gonna chastise you for your transgressions here on this earth
Now go to Hebrew chapter 10 Hebrew chapter 10
So he says have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect to people. Don't be a partial person
Don't have bad works with your faith. Don't be a bad testimony to this world
Don't be a person who says that they're saved, but then you're smoking pot on the weekends
You're drinking you're smoking you're living a godless life style. You know, what are you doing?
You are adding bad works to your faith
You're like a troubled fountain, a troubled spring
that is a bad testimony to this world.
You know, the Bible says,
ye are our epistles written in our hearts,
known and read of all men.
And it's true, sometimes you will be the only Bible
that people will ever read.
That is true.
You know because people see you they know that you're a Christian
They're not gonna pick up a Bible and read it they were they rely on you right to tell them about the word of God
And the Bible says let your lights so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father
Which is in heaven so we never want to have this attitude while I'm saved and so therefore
I'm not gonna really care what my testimony is like. I'm not gonna really care about my behavior
Hold on a second the New Testament also emphasizes the importance of having good conduct
And in fact the last time I checked the Bible says be holy for I am holy
Now, why do we do that?
Why do we live a holy life?
Is it to maintain our salvation?
No, because that was taking care of long ago
when we believed on Jesus Christ.
We live righteously.
We live holy.
We live with proper conduct.
Number one, because we want to please the Lord.
Number two, we don't want to suffer the consequences
of having bad conduct.
And number three, we don't want to give Christianity
a bad name.
Right? We want to be a good testimony to those around us in hopes that they would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ
They're willing to talk to us about the gospel because they see that there's something different about us
So it's important not to be a worldly, carnal, fleshly Christian
It's impossible not to be 100% of the time, but you can strive to be you can endeavor to be and not have bad works with your faith, right?
The point that I'm making here is that as a Christian if you sin and you're unrepentant of that sin
Guess what? God will punish you not with eternal damnation
Because the Bible says I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand
But hold on a second. He can severely punish you here on this earth
Look at verse 26 of Hebrews 10
Here's another passage that people will try to use in conjunction with James 2 to try to teach that you can lose your salvation
It says, for if we sin willfully, after that we receive the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
So let me give you some context of what he's talking about here,
because people only want to focus on that if we sin willfully.
After that we receive the knowledge of the truth there remain no more sacrifice for sins
Well, let me just clarify something here. The sacrifice for sins is actually not talking about Jesus
Which is what people think it's referring to
The context of Hebrews chapter 10
is the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament.
So when people would commit sins, transgressions
in the Old Testament, they had the system
whereby they would offer an animal sacrifice
in the morning or in the evening
in order to atone for those transgressions.
And this is something that was happening
like 24 seven, like every single day.
There's constant barbecue, constant burnt offerings,
like, because people sin all the time.
So if you're sinning all the time,
you're always gonna have animal sacrifices, right?
Cause it's just like, oh man,
I transgress against my brother,
let me offer a lamb,
I transgress against my neighbor,
let me offer this, you know,
I did something, you know,
people in Israel understood that there are sinners
and that their sin needs to be atoned for
for that particular transgression, okay?
Well, in the New Testament,
the system of animal sacrifices no longer exists.
It's been done away with.
Why? Because Jesus Christ is the ultimate official sacrifice for the sins of the world.
He is the Lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world.
He is essentially the perfect offering whereby no more offerings need to be made, right?
So when he says here that if someone sins willfully just as in the Old Testament,
well, you're not under that Old Testament system whereby you can offer an animal sacrifice to a tone for that transgression of the day.
There remained no more sacrifice for sins.
Jesus Christ has already been sacrificed,
but hold on a second.
Now you've committed a sin willfully,
and a punishment needs to be instituted.
And he says in verse 27,
a certain fearful looking for of judgment,
fire and indignation.
Verse 28,
he that despised Moses' law died without mercy
under two or three witnesses.
So let me just remind you that in the Old Testament,
if a person committed a transgression such as murder,
guess what?
An animal sacrifice could not atone for that.
Why, because in the Old Testament,
murder was punishable by death, right?
Adultery was punishable by death.
So even if they had animals to sacrifice,
that wasn't enough,
they had to pay the ultimate price, which is death.
So what is he talking about specifically?
He's saying if there was someone in the Old Testament
that was committing a transgression,
they committed a capital crime worthy of death,
guess what, they died under two or three witnesses.
So what are we talking about specifically here?
We're talking about people who physically died.
So even though there are Israelites,
even though they believed on the Lord, guess what?
That didn't exempt them from suffering the punishment
of certain transgressions that essentially called
for them dying physically on this earth.
Now what does this teach us in the New Testament?
It teaches us, folks, if you commit murder,
you commit a grievous sin, a grievous crime,
you being saved doesn't save you from that,
from the consequences of it.
Plain and simple, you know if you are a criminal if you're a murderer if you're an adulterer if you are if you
participate in any types of crimes
That our country for example would deem as punishable by death, which I don't even know if we put people to death anymore
You're gonna suffer the consequences of your actions
And let me just say this.
In my experience, I've learned that even though
the country does not institute the death penalty
speedily for a particular crime, God will.
So you commit a particular crime that maybe is not worthy
of death in the United States of America.
It's still worthy of death in God's eyes.
God has no issue with killing you.
And let me just repeat that again.
God has no issue with killing you.
If you commit some sort of crime that is worthy of death,
you say, I don't think that'll happen.
Do you want to roll the dice on that phone?
You know, last time I checked,
the Bible says not to tempt the Lord our God.
And in fact, look at verse 29 says
of how much sore punishment,
man, what do you mean sore punishment?
This guy died under two or three witnesses.
Meaning they're being stoned by two or three witnesses.
And he's like, of how much sore punishment,
meaning how much worse of a punishment.
Suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under the foot of the Son of God,
and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace, for we know him that hath said, Vengeance
belongeth unto me, I will recompense it the Lord, and again the Lord shall judge his people."
So this is interesting because we often quote that regarding our enemies.
Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord, I will repay.
And that's definitely applicable in the Bible
to the enemies of God.
But hold on a second,
apparently it's applicable to us too.
Cause the Bible ends the verse in verse 30
with saying, the Lord shall judge who?
His people.
He will strike vengeance upon you.
He's willing to destroy you and just as the person who died with under two or three witnesses
Well, guess what you get a worse punishment because we're in the New Testament. We have both older New Testament
We have a Bible. We have her we have so much knowledge of the things of God and to whom server much is given of him
Shall be much required
You say what it what is the finishing giving the closing thought on that point pastor
Okay, look at verse 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God
That's a fact.
What keeps us right with God?
There's a lot of things that keeps us right with God.
Being rewarded of God, being blessed of God.
But I'll tell you one thing that keeps us right with God.
I don't want to fall into the hands of a living God to be punished by him.
And by the way, this applies across the board to everyone, not just Christians.
God will punish unsafe people as well.
You know, there's people that have attacked us, have attacked me in times past.
and God smote them.
You know, back, I don't know,
Brother Mark was 2019, 2018 or something like that.
We held a conference out in Ohio,
and it was called the Fundamentalist Conference.
And it was just a conference about soul winning,
preaching the Bible.
We're trying to reach the people who are there,
give them a conference.
And it was great, we go there,
but there's this enemy of ours,
an online enemy that made it his agenda
to just shut us down every single venue we went to.
So, brother Marcus and I, we went,
we set up all the live stream, we purchased the venue,
and as soon as everything's set up,
they're like, you guys gotta get out of here,
you guys can't be here anymore, we gotta call.
The guy had infiltrators come and harass us.
We literally went to like three different venues.
So we started in Ohio, we had to finish the conference
in Kentucky.
No joke.
And this guy would make videos rejoicing
how he shut us down, and I'm thinking, man,
this is so evil.
We're not even preaching anything controversial.
We're literally just winning people to Christ.
We're preaching the gospel.
We're talking about the fundamentals of the faith.
And this guy is just constantly attacking us,
shutting us down, protesting, harassing us,
sending people to the venue.
And I'll be honest with you, I was upset.
Because, you know, it was just like a lot of hard work.
Brother Kevin, right here, right here, brother Kevin.
I get home and I'm mad and I strongly believe in imprecatory prayers because the Bible
teaches it.
So one way to relieve that stress is through those imprecatory prayers and I was like Lord
smite that person.
They try to stop us from preaching the Gospel like that's the most evil thing you can do
is try to stop someone from getting another person saved.
And I'm like smite that person and we prayed as a church.
He was bludgeoned to death
Okay
He's bludgeoned to death and by the way, he we weren't the only ones he attacked he attacked many churches
His job like that he took upon himself is to just judge
You know to to harass churches and all these things
He was brutally murdered and they end up trying to pin them the murderer like me and so I'm like I didn't I prayed
I prayed I had another new thing
You say why would you share a story like that to show you that vengeance belongs into God and he will repay
And you said well you shouldn't have prayed that well God answered it though
So let me if I shouldn't have prayed that then why did God answer it?
Prayed according to his will if it was a if it was a wrong thing to pray then he would be here with us today
But he's not and you know what this is happening again by the way
There's another guy who sued me for preaching against him.
He attacked all types of churches.
He did all types of wickedness against churches.
And now this same man has six months to live because he has an incurable disease that doctors
don't know what to do.
An incurable disease that's killing him slowly and painfully.
And this man was evil.
I'm talking about I'm in a church service and he's literally causing people to come into our church service to serve me
Papers on the pulpit just shame me in front of the internet and everyone else and rebuke me and he's filming it
He's passing the footage around. They're stealing money from churches. They're hijacking churches. They're harassing churches
Well, now he has this incurable disease and doctors like we don't know what to do
You have six months to live
lesions on his body that are bursting and turning into gangrene
It's called the judgment of God.
Hey, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.
You say, why do you serve God? Because, like...
I got a better question. Why don't you serve God? You're crazy.
I want to be on God's good side.
And by the way, let me just clarify,
I don't believe God's in heaven,
just looking for a chance to just smite us.
The Lord loves us.
He's our heavenly Father, we're His children.
And let me just say this, God is very gracious.
He's slow to anger.
He's merciful.
He's patient with all of us.
I mean, we could all attest to that, right?
But let me just say this, there comes a time
when you can push God too far.
Let me read to you from 1 Corinthians 3, 15.
It says, if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss.
Go to 1 John chapter 5, but he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire.
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and the spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, listen to this.
Him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
So, you know, I know we hear a lot about the love of God and the grace of God,
but we also need to know about the judgment of God.
You know, God is judgmental, he is righteous,
and you want, don't mess with God.
Don't mess with God, don't mess with his people,
don't mess with his church, don't mess with his ministry,
don't mess with the gospel, because he's vengeful.
He can smite you with the botch
that no doctor can cure you of.
It's an incurable disease.
I don't want that, and you know what?
There's people in the Bible who were saved
who got those same things.
You're like, I've never seen that sight of God.
Probably because you just never read the Bible though.
There's a lot of positive in the Bible,
but can I get a witness that there's like
a lot of negative in the Bible too?
A lot of people that die,
a lot of people that God just destroys and smites.
And it's a sight of God that many churches today
don't want to highlight at all.
because they want to think that he's just up in heaven,
and he's happy with everyone,
he's not angry with anybody.
Folks, the Bible says that the Lord is angry
with the wicked every day, so the Bible says.
And you know what, he's worthy to be feared
because he does stuff like that.
Look at 1 John chapter five verse 16,
if any man see his brother verse 16,
if any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death,
he shall ask and he shall give him life for them
that's sin not unto death.
There is a sin unto death.
I do not say that he shall pray for it.
So, according to the Bible, there's certain people that can cross the line and die because
of their sin.
This doesn't mean that their salvation would be taken away, it doesn't mean they'll lose
eternal life because you can't lose eternal life, but they can just die.
You're like, well, you know, if they die, they just go to heaven.
Yeah, of course they will because they're saved, but hold on a second, what about leaving
a legacy of being a byword and a proverb of someone who God judged?
That's not fun.
Look at Hebrews chapter 12.
So look folks your faith can save you from hell, but your faith cannot save you from your bad decisions
Your faith cannot save you from your unrepentant sin
Your faith cannot save you from
Nonsensical things that you do if you're being rebellious against God you're fighting against God you're being stubborn against God
God can't save you from that. How about Saul?
You know he was saved but he was inspired that judgment
So this should motivate us to keep us in line with God,
to strive to do our best to serve the Lord,
to love the Lord our God with all our hearts,
mind and strength.
Because again, God is not up in heaven
just waiting to rain down the hammer on us.
In fact, the complete opposite,
he's up in heaven wanting to bless us.
He wants to show himself strong on the behalf of them
whose heart is perfect with them, right?
He wants us to call upon him and to pray into him
and ask him to show us miracles and to use us greatly,
to bless our families, our marriages, our children,
our church, he wants all that.
But hold on a second, there's also this other side
where he will chastise you if you get involved in sin
and you're unrepentant of it, he will and can destroy you.
Look at Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number five.
It says,
And yet forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you
as unto children, my son despise not thou the chastening
of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.
Now what does it mean to be chastened?
It means to be spanked.
Okay, it's a whooping, a chastening,
what do you call it in Spanish?
It's, what's the word?
I can't believe I forgot it.
What is it?
What's the Spanish word?
Castigar, that's a different word, though.
It's the word my mom used to use on me,
I can't remember what it was.
And what is it saying here?
It's saying you forgot, you forget,
that God deals with you as unto children.
Now, I don't know if you know this,
but God doesn't do like this helicopter parenting,
or this time-out parenting.
No, no, no, don't do that.
No, no, no, stop.
No, no, oh, you're bad.
He's like, pshh.
Now obviously, he tells us through his word, no, don't.
And what the Bible's telling us here is that God deals
with us as unto children, meaning that he actually
spanks his children, unlike some parents.
And we all know, we've all seen in this society,
parents who don't spank their children.
You know what happens when children don't get spanked?
They become spoiled brats, disrespectful spoiled brats
who are a thorn in this society.
They have no problem with disrespecting their elders,
disrespecting their parents.
They're brazen in their sin.
And many of them go to prison too.
You know why?
Because they're never whooped.
You say, why are you a pastor?
Because I got whooped.
That's why.
Why aren't you in jail?
Because I got whooped.
Why aren't you in drugs and a gang member?
Cause I got whooped.
My mom whooped me.
And I'm thankful that my mom whooped me.
You know, because it deters you from a lot of bad decisions.
Punishment is necessary for us to make sure we get right.
Okay.
And I know some of you didn't grow up getting spanked,
I get it, you know.
Some of you are just like,
well, my mom never spanked me.
We know.
My dad never spanked me.
I know.
You're an epistle, known in red of all men.
We know you were in space.
But hold on a second, you gotta change though.
You have to change, and you gotta make up for lost time,
and you gotta make up for discipline
that maybe you didn't get as a child,
now that you're a Christian.
And by the way, it's okay if your parents didn't,
if you're an adult now and your parents didn't whoop you,
that's okay, God's gonna whoop you if you get out of line.
Okay, because that's what the Bible says.
Look at what verse six says,
and scourged at every someone who he receives it.
So God's not whooping you because he hates you,
he does it because he loves you.
Because if God never chastises you,
you just be making all kinds of bad decisions,
get involved in all kinds of sin,
with no consequence you destroy your life.
But when we are punished, when we are chastised,
it causes us to be humble and get back on the right track.
And the Lord loves us and you know obviously we don't feel that way when we're getting chastised by our parents or by God
All right, we don't think like man. God loves me
Finances are destroyed God loves me man everything's going horrible in my life the love of Christ
No one thinks that immediately, but we know that later it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness
It says in verse 7 if you endure chastening God deals with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasing is not
Now that's a good question for this society. Like you're the dad. Why aren't you spanking them?
Because the Bible says what son is there that doesn't have a dad who whoops them
That's like the natural course of things
He says the first thing,
but if you be without chastisement,
we're of all our partakers, listen to this,
then are you bastards and not sons?
So what's a bastard?
It's someone who is an illegitimate child.
And what the Bible's saying here is that
if a Christian claims to be a Christian,
they claim to be safe,
but they're just never chastised by God for their sin,
according to the Bible, they're probably not even saved.
They're an illegitimate child of God.
They're not a child of God, they're illegitimate.
And that's an indicator of that is the fact
that they're not being chastised by God.
Now I don't think it's our job to go around
and go to backslidden people and be like,
hey, if you're not getting chastised,
you're a bastard, you're just illegitimate.
I don't think you're safe.
Because let's just be honest,
people who are saved, who are out there in sin,
and who are in the world,
they're not gonna tell you
that they're being chastised by God.
They're going to be like, oh, no, it's going great.
Everything's going fantastic.
You know, God's good.
But inwardly, they're just dying.
You don't know what's going on behind the scenes.
The point is here is that God can punish you.
And you know what?
You being saved does not save you from God's hand
of chastisement, even to the point where He might kill you.
And look, it's repeat, go back to James.
We see this over and over again in the Bible
that God has killed people over and over and over again.
He's not to be trifled with.
He's not to be messed with.
He's not to be tempted.
He's not to be disobeyed.
And this is why it's important that, you know,
at the beginning of your day, at the end of your day,
you just get right with the Lord,
and you examine your heart and say,
Lord, search me, see if there be any wicked way in me,
like I wanna be right with you, forgive me for my sin.
You know, I want to make sure that I'm living a life
that's pleasing unto you.
I wanna clear myself with you.
Keep a clean heart before God.
Look at verse 15. So we see here that James 2 is teaching that partiality is a sin
It's also teaching us the saving faith cannot save the spirit
Or excuse me can save the spirit, but not the flesh and then we see that faith without works is
Unprofitable which also means that it's used interchangeably actually look at verse 15
If a brother or sister be naked in destitute of daily food
And one of you saying to them,
depart in peace, be warmed and filled.
Not what's standing, give them not those things
which are needful to the body, what does it profit?
Even so, faith, the path not works, is dead, being alone.
So what is dead used synonymously with in verse 16?
Profit.
Now what is the, what are these passages teaching?
Well, before I tell you what it teaches,
let me tell you what it's not teaching.
Because I've heard this if I had a dime for every time someone said this to me. I'll be here. We would have our building already
People will say, you know, we tell them hey the Bible says for by grace are you safe through faith and that not of yourselves
It is the gift of God not of works less than any man should boast
The Bible says, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us.
The Bible says, but to Him that worketh not, but believe it on Him to justify it the ungodly, His faith is counted for righteousness.
The Bible says, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
And they're like, yeah, but faith without works is dead though.
So it's like, so does faith without works as dead negate all the verses that I just showed you?
The dead should we just oh, okay. I'm sorry. I'm my bad. All right. I didn't think of that
Let me just let me just cross out every single verse in the Bible that says not of works
My bad, let me just you know, you're right
And what they're implying is that they contradict
Now look logically we would say we know the Bible doesn't contradict but logically we would say if five verses are saying the same exact thing and
One doesn't seem to fit the narrative of that five. We still go with the five
But here's the logical reasonable explanation is if five verses are saying the same exact thing and one seems to not fit that narrative
We're misinterpreting that one
Because the Bible doesn't contradict itself
Yeah, but James 2 says can you find James 2 though?
If I handed you a Bible without you going to the table of contents
Can you just pull up James chapter 2 for me? No because most of them are just parroting what other preachers are saying
So what's the context of this? He's saying that if you claim to have faith
But a brother or sister comes to you in need
and you don't give them those things
that are needed for the body,
your faith is dead, in other words,
your faith is unprofitable for that person.
You being saved doesn't help a person get fed,
doesn't help a person get clothed
if you don't do something about it.
That's what it's saying.
Because he says even so faith if it hath not works is dead being alone
And again, what is the context of James 2 have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons?
And then we see here that we should have faith with works, but in both cases we always have
So what is what is the theme of this chapter the theme is we all have faith because we're saved
But some of us have bad works with our faith
sin and some of us don't even have works
And the goal would be to not have partiality,
not have sin, but to have good works.
Why?
To profit other people.
Not, or adding bad works to our faith
doesn't profit you cause it might kill you.
If you're saved, guess what?
If you do the wrong things, being saved
does not save you from God's hand of chastisement.
You can still die from it.
But let me also say this, you know,
having faith and not having works
doesn't profit anybody else.
Don't be a selfish, self-centered Christian.
That's what it's saying.
I mean, there's no other way we can interpret these three verses here.
And in fact, there's literally nothing about salvation here.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing about salvation in these three verses.
It's all about clothing and food.
And let me just remind everyone here that not everything in the Bible is about salvation.
Now, there's a good chunk dedicated to explaining salvation,
but let me just remind you, not everything's about salvation,
because guess what?
Once you get saved, there's a bunch of other stuff to learn.
Every page in the Bible is not about salvation,
because God wants you to learn how to be a good Christian.
He wants you to learn how to live out the Christian life.
And that's what James chapter 2 is all about.
So he says, if you don't have works,
meaning you don't give your brother or sister food
and clothing, Raymond, then you being saved
is like a dead faith because it's not working at all.
For example, if I had a vehicle,
but my vehicle does not have gas, does not have oil,
does not have the necessary functions
in order to go from point A to point B,
does that negate the fact that it's a car?
Still a car.
Work
Right, you know, there's a bunch of people out there who like
They their hobbies like
Constructing vehicles classic cars and they just sit in their garage
Don't go anywhere
Some of them might even have a motor to go inside
But it's still a car like you wouldn't look at it and say there's no car here
You wouldn't go to that garage and say you want to see my car what car?
But all I see is an object.
Well, no, it's a car, it's just not running right now,
because I haven't really fixed it
to go from point A to point B.
That's not a car, then.
A car goes from point A to point B.
And you know what, there's some truth to that,
but here's the thing though, it's still a car, though.
It's still a car!
And you know what, the same thing goes with us as Christians.
We're saved if we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the second question is,
are you a working Christian, though?
If you're not, you're just a safe person.
Cause you're not profiting anybody else.
So saving faith profits you, but a working faith
saves other people, profits other people.
Look at verse 18.
Actually let me read to you from Titus chapter three
and verse seven before we read on here.
It says that being justified by his grace. We should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life
Let's talk about salvation. It says this is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly
That they which have believed in God
Might be careful to maintain good works
So it's like if you're saved you got to make sure that you maintain good works
Why these things are good and profitable unto men?
So he's saying they're like, hey, if you believe you
have faith and you're saved, that's great,
but you gotta make sure you remind people
to maintain good works because that's profitable
for other people.
Sounds to me like God wants this to be
like a functioning Christian, right?
A profitable Christian, not an unprofitable servant,
but a profitable servant, someone who benefits others
through the gospel, through being a blessing to others, right?
That's what it's saying.
He goes on to say in verse 14 let us let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses that they be not
unfruitful so to profit means to be
Beneficial to benefit others God wants people to benefit from us as being as Christians look at verse 18
Yay, a man may say thou hast faith and I have works
Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works now. What is this referring to here?
Well, he says you know a person can say they have faith. I have works show me your faith without your work
So how do you show someone that you believe without works? I'll tell you how by your words
right
Like when we go knock on doors, we don't knock on a door and say hey, can you show me that you're a Christian real quick?
Right, what do we tell them like what do you believe about salvation like and
We base whether we're gonna give them the gospel or not based upon what they tell us that they believe
Right. Oh, I'm a Christian. I believe it's by salvation by grace through faith and at that point we determine all this person's a Christian
They're a safe individual right so they showed me but their faith without their works
Purely by their words, right?
So obviously this could be referring to that particular case as far as salvation is concerned or could just be referring to having faith in God
For other
Uses other things in life because I don't know if you know this but the Bible tells us that we need to live faith to faith
Meaning that we need faith not only to be saved,
but we also need faith just to live the Christian life.
Like we need to depend on God,
pray unto God for our needs, protection,
you know, for other people, for health issues,
financial issues, we need to have faith.
He that cometh to God must believe that he is
and that he's a rewarder of them to diligently seek him.
Without faith, it is impossible
to please him, the Bible says, right?
So if a person says they have that faith,
but they don't have works,
we just have to take their word for it.
But he's saying here, I'll show you my faith by my works.
Now, if I told a brother or sister,
you know, they come to me to like pastor,
I'm hungry, you know, I haven't eaten like in three days,
I'm out of money.
And if I told them like, well, I have faith,
that God will like provide for you.
And in fact, let me bless you, be warmed and filled.
I'm not really a displaying works,
All right, I'm like God will be there for you
He will
feed you
You know as I'm like as I'm like eating your zone to crack in a Red Bull, you know, I'm just eating I'm like well
God's gonna take care of you. Don't worry about it. You know man. This is good, you know
Anyways be warmed and filled. I hope you get a meal just as good as this or something, you know
And if I tell that person like,
hey, I believe that God's gonna provide freedom.
The Bible says it, you know,
seek you first the kingdom of God.
These things shall be added unto you.
If any man, and if any of you lack wisdom,
let them ask of God who give it to all men liberally.
I can quote all kinds of verses,
tell them that God's gonna provide.
But if I'm not the conduit of that answer to the prayer,
my faith is dead.
It's unprofitable.
Because if I'm able to meet that need,
In a special way if I have it in my power to help this person and I don't then I have an unprofitable faith
So what should be done as a Christian is like you know what? I know God will provide for you in a special way
I know he's not gonna let you go hungry
I know he's gonna provide for you and you know what? Let me help you as well
Let me let me let me get first dibs on helping. Let me show you the God
It's gonna help you and here is you know a gift card to in and out or here is you know
Here's your rent or whatever. Here's the bill that you need to be paid or here's the need that you specifically have or whatever
That is a working faith
Okay, and
So what is it teaching here? It's teaching us that we can tell people we have faith with our words without our works
And some people just have to believe it
If we tell them, hey, I believe God's gonna provide,
we would have to believe them,
but a stronger case for the faith that we have
is if we actually do something about it.
So let me give you another example.
If you say, let's say you don't have a job, okay?
You're like, I believe God's gonna provide me a job
and he's gonna do this or whatever,
but you don't have works where you're actually looking
for a job?
You know, you sound real spiritual and all,
but how many applications did you put in this week though?
None, because I know that God is just gonna,
I'm looking for the right job.
I know that it's coming.
The heaven shall open.
He shall pour me out a blessing.
And I'm just like,
now you just need to go put in some applications.
You have a dead faith.
Because look, we believe what the Bible says.
We believe that God will provide.
We believe that God will sustain.
We believe that God will bless.
But you know what?
We also wanna make sure that we're doing our part
in that action, right?
Now thankfully, when it comes to salvation,
God doesn't need our part.
You know, we don't participate in our salvation.
Because all we're gonna do is mess it up.
Because we're sinners.
That's why salvation is called a gift.
Not an exchange like I'll do this if you do this no all we have to do is ask him for salvation
We can have it. It's a free gift
So the Bible says but everything after salvation though requires our works though to be profitable and
So, you know if you believe down deep in your heart that God will provide you a job
Well show me your faith by your works
and get your lazy rear end to the application
and fill out an application and actually go get a job.
And look, Target, that's a job.
Pizza Hut, Little Caesars, McDonald's.
Yeah, but I'm looking for that one job though.
You're looking for that job that pays you, huh?
Yeah, McDonald's Pace, Little Caesar's Pace.
No, but I'm looking for that one job though.
You're not even looking though and so at the end of the day, you know
We need to make sure that we recognize that a dead faith is a faith that doesn't profit others as
Proven by the example of the naked and hungry brother sister didn't get fed or clothed
Okay, and so we need to be able to profit others by showing them
With our works you notice how you see how this has nothing to do with salvation
Nothing to do with salvation.
And the next time someone says faith without works is dead,
say what if I just showed you 10 verses
that says that we don't have works?
Because look, Romans four or five should just do it, right?
But I'm gonna tell you right now,
people who typically do that, they're stubborn,
they don't wanna adhere to the scriptures.
Because if you really love the truth,
you just admit like, oh, I guess I was wrong.
Because there's 10 verses right here.
Let's move on here before we run out of time.
Look at verse 19 it says thou believest that there is one God
Thou doest well the devils also believe and tremble now here's another verse
Because you know you'll tell people like oh believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, you know
Thou believest there's one God. I'll do as well the devils believe and tremble
You know well, there's two things wrong with that statement that you're making number one
The verse says thou believest that there's one God
and it doesn't say thou believest in the Lord Jesus Christ,
thou hast placed your faith in it.
And number two, devils can't get saved.
I don't know if you know that.
Demons and devils are damned eternally.
So this isn't referring to them, you know,
believing for salvation, believing for eternal life.
What's actually being referred to here is the mental assent
that they have of their faith in God.
Right like devils also know that God exists you believe that there's one God that's great in all
But again, you need to have works coupled with your faith in order to profit someone else
Because you have the same understanding that a devil has that God exists because again, there's nothing in here about salvation
Just because you see the word believe
Doesn't mean that it's automatically means is referring to salvation
Now believe it's that there's one God. I'll do as well. Well, actually I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
for salvation
Okay, and by the way, this is often also coupled with Matthew chapter 7
You say you have to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation. Well, many will say to me that day Lord Lord
I'm like, okay, and finish finish up the passage finish it up
Because the guy who's saying that says Lord have not I prophesied in your name done many wonderful works
You know cast out devils, and I will profess into them
I never knew you depart from me that work iniquity, you know, it's funny
You're promoting a workspace salvation, which is exactly what this guy said
Like when he goes there, he's not like have not I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ have done
I place my faith in Jesus for salvation and not only only I trust thing in Jesus for salvation
No, he lists all the good things that he did and if you look at that list is not a bad list
casting out devils
preaching in his name
Doing many wonderful works and what a god call it works of iniquity
Because he's not saved
And so no, sorry, you know, it doesn't say anything here about believing in Jesus Christ. It just says now believe is that there's one God
The devils also believe and tremble. It doesn't say the devils also believe and are saved
Or the devils also believe and you know faith alone didn't do anything for them
It's just referring to the fact that devils also have the same mental capacity to understand
that there's one God, it doesn't do him any good.
Just like it doesn't do you any good if you don't actually do something about it, it's
not going to profit someone else.
But without no vain man that faith without works is dead.
So on.
Look at verse 21.
Now here is the coup de gras of James chapter 2 that proves to be on a shadow of a doubt
Verse 21 says was not Abraham our father justified by works
Here's an important part when
when
When he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar and people were like checkmate
See he's justified by works. Yeah, but when was he justified by works? Oh when you offered up Isaac his son
Okay, we'll go to Roman chapter 4
And this is why it's important to just study the Bible.
You know, study to show that I self-approved them
to God and work man, the need not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
Because really what we have to do is study James 2
in light of Romans 4.
Do you know why?
Because both of them are talking about
Abraham being justified.
And again, they don't contradict.
They're actually talking about two different instances though.
Two separate events in the life of Abraham.
One in Romans 4, one in James 2.
And how do we know he's talking about two different events?
Because James 2 went out of its way to tell us
when he was justified by works
and when he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar.
Look at Romans 4, verse one.
Which shall we say then that Abraham,
our father's pertaining to the flesh hath found?
For if Abraham were justified by works,
he hath weareth to glory, but not before God.
So James 2 literally said that he's justified by works.
Romans 4 says that he's not justified by works.
Look what verse 3 says for what say at the scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for
Righteousness verse 5 but to him that worketh not but believe it on him to justify at the ungodly
His faith is counted for righteousness now. What's important about this well?
Abraham offered up his son Isaac if you know the chronology in Genesis chapter 22, okay?
Abraham believed God and it was counted into him for righteousness according to Romans 4 in Genesis 15
huh
So what happened first? He got saved first and then years later
In Genesis 22 he offered up his son Isaac upon the altar
Justifying him before God. No justifying him before man
Now, doesn't that fit the context of James chapter two?
Because James two is basically promoting the importance
of being justified before others.
Oh, you say you have faith, show me your faith by your works.
Give me clothing and food if you claim to have faith.
Well, they use Abraham as an example
because Abraham believed God in Genesis 15
and it was counted into him for righteousness,
meaning he was saved.
But in Genesis 22 is when he actually offered up
Isaac upon the altar.
Justifying him before others and in fact look at you're in Romans 4
Look at verse number 11. It says and he received the sign of circumcision a
Seal of the righteousness of faith which he had he had been uncircumcised that he might be the father of all them
That believed though they be not circumcised that righteousness might be imputed unto them also and the father of circumcision to them
who are not of the circumcision only,
but who also walk in the steps of that faith
of our Father Abraham,
which he had yet been uncircumcised.
So what is the same?
It's saying that he received a seal of circumcision
before he was circumcised.
So before the physical action of circumcision took place,
he got that seal.
Now when was that?
Genesis 17.
That's when he was given the command to circumcise,
whereas he received the promise or the seal in Genesis 15.
being yet uncircumcised.
What's the point that I'm making here?
The point that I'm making is,
salvation came first before anything else.
And you know, he got saved in Genesis 15.
He received the seal of circumcision in Genesis 17.
He offered up his son Isaac upon the altar in Genesis 22.
What does that tell us?
It tells us sometimes people get saved
and they don't really start working
or serving God until later on in life.
Now there's some who just jump right in.
We got people in our chairs that got saved,
and they're just like,
they don't even test to see if the water's cold, hot.
They're just like, cannonball right into it, right?
There's people like that.
They're like, I don't even care if there's water.
And they're just like, yeah.
And that's great.
But there's other people,
they're, you know, they're just,
you know, they're just kind of,
you've been at pools with people like that, right?
They're just,
And sometimes you just need to shove them in, though, you know?
But, you know, sometimes people get saved, right?
And literally, they don't start serving God
doing any works until years later.
That's a fact.
Maybe some of you are like that.
There's nothing wrong with that.
It's just, that's just the way of man sometimes.
You know, they get saved and they don't really think
about the things of God for a long time.
And then it's not until maybe they hear a sermon,
they have a conversation, or it just awakens something.
It's just like, you know what,
I need to start serving God.
And then they get serious about the things of God.
You're not alone.
Abraham was the same way.
He got saved, a bunch of stuff happened between that,
and then he started doing works thereafter.
Okay?
So it says when.
Go back to James chapter two, we're almost done.
Look at verse 22, speaking of Abraham.
Says, see us now how faith wrought with his works,
and by works faith was made perfect.
Meaning, and what does perfect mean in the Bible?
It means complete.
So in order for him to be a complete Christian,
he needed these works to be coupled with his faith.
Faith justified him before God.
His works justified him before man.
It says in verse 22, in the scripture was fulfilled,
which says Abraham believed God
and it was imputed into him for righteousness
as he was called a friend of God.
So literally in James 2 it says
that Abraham was justified by believing, okay?
Look at verse 24 you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only so again
You're justified by faith before God, but you're justified before others by your works. Look at verse 25
Here's the last example says likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works
When she had received the messengers and had sent them away at symptom out another way now
I don't have time to develop this but go to Hebrew chapter 11 if you would Hebrew chapter 11
So this is when the spies came in to take over Jericho
and the only one who got physically rescued
was Rahab the Harley and her household, right?
Well, in James 225 it says that she was justified by works
when she received the messengers, okay?
And let me just explain to you that this doesn't mean
that she got saved because she received the messengers.
But,
The messengers believed her that she believed in the God of the Bible
when she received the messengers
Now how do we know that she got saved that she believed by faith look at Hebrews 11 verse 30
This is by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days by faith the harlot Rahab
Parished not with them listen to this that believed not
when she had received the spies with peace.
So if it's saying that she didn't perish with them
that believe not, what is that implying about Rahab
that she believed?
So she believed, therefore she didn't perish with them
that believe not, and then her faith was justified
before the messengers when she received them
into her house.
Cause what would it look like if Rahab was like,
she believes and she's like, yeah,
but I can't really hide you guys and I really want to help.
You know be warmed and filled though, you know hope it all works out for you guys, and I hope you guys get Jericho
You know I'm praying for you
God's gonna use you in a great way, you know good luck
You guys will be like this lady's what is she you know?
But obviously she exercised her faith
by
Receiving the messengers okay, and lastly verse 26 of James 2 it says for as the body without the spirit is dead
So faith without works is dead also now just like the car illustration
If you look at a dead person if I died right now
Preaching the way I want to go
And I just fall to the ground, you know and and my spirit is in heaven you would still say this is person
This is Pastor person here
Even though my spirit is no longer there. It's it's gone home to be with the Lord. That is still my body
The difference is that it's dead
But it doesn't take away the fact that the body is still mine
So what is the main emphasis of James 2 the main emphasis is for Christians who are already saved to get to work
because we are as workmanship created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, which God had before ordained
that we should walk in them.
But let me just remind you,
is that you need to balance out that doctrine
with understanding that salvation is not of works.
Because if you believe it is by works,
then you're not saved.
Why? Because that means you're trying
to participate in your salvation still.
And you know what?
There's no amount of works that you could ever do
to pay for eternal life.
It's not gonna happen.
The finished work of Christ, it's all that's necessary
for us to be saved.
He's already purchased salvation, and sorry,
you're 2000 years too late,
and even if you lived 2000 years ago,
it wouldn't aid you anything,
because you are eternally in debt and your sin.
Yeah, but we should do the right,
yeah, but you know what, sorry,
that should is not a standard of God.
The standard of God is perfection,
and no one's perfect.
Therefore, we need the salvation of Jesus Christ.
But you know what, now that we're saved,
I mean, I gotta say,
July 22nd 2007 when I got saved thereafter start working for the Lord
Start doing works, right? Why so I could profit others
Amen, let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word. Thank you for James chapter 2 a powerful chapter here
It's a powerful chapter that refutes a workspace salvation in
spite of what the workspace salvation is trying to do with it
But it's also a powerful passage just to motivate us to serve you by serving others
To love you by loving others and to profit others Lord through our Christian life and conduct
I pray that you'd help us to take these things to heart
Blessings as we go on our way. We love you. We thank you pray this things in Jesus name. Amen
Please turn your song books to song number 152
Song number one hundred and fifty-two security
All together nice strong on that first verse
More secure is no one ever
Than the loved ones of the Savior
Not your star on high above
In his holy courts they flourish Like a father kind he spares them
In his loving arms he bears them Neither life nor death can ever
comes God will never shield thee.
Press secure with this defender
and his will all full surrender.
What he takes or what he gives us
shows the Father's love so precious
Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed.