(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we're here in James chapter 2, and we're going to be preaching two sermons on this topic, Faith Without Works is Dead. And let me just explain to you what the difference is going to be in the sermons. The first sermon is going to be defending salvation, because whenever you talk about James chapter 2, because this is such a big topic people bring up to try to bring in works to salvation, or say that works is evidence of salvation, or works are required to stay safe, you kind of have to talk about salvation because of the fact there's so many false views on it. However, generally people don't really explain what is James 2 actually talking about. So the second sermon I'm going to go verse by verse and explain verses 10 through 26, every word, every phrase, everything. The first sermon though is really just defending salvation. So honestly the first sermon we're not going to be in James 2 that much, but what we're going to be doing is going against this idea of people saying, well if you're really saved you're going to have good works, if you don't have good works you must not be saved, and if you don't have good works you're going to lose your salvation. Obviously that's not what we believe, that's not what the Bible teaches, so I do want to defend that in this first sermon. We're here in James chapter 2, and the general idea people have when they have this phrase, faith without works is dead, they'll look at verses like verse 14 where it says, can faith save him, and they'll say, well see, in the Bible it's saying you have to have faith in works if God is going to save you. Now of course I'm going to talk about that during the second sermon, what is that exactly saying, but this is what people say, well faith is not enough to save you, you have to have good works also, and if you say you believe, but there's no good works to follow, then you must not have gotten saved, because if you really got saved, you would have good works, right, that's what people say. And then they'll look at verses like verse 19, the devils also believe and tremble, see, believing is not enough, I mean the devils are afraid, and so if you just believe, you better be fearful that you might be cast into hell, and hear those words, I never knew you, right. And they'll say, well see in verse 20, faith without works is dead, so you cannot have faith without works, and if you don't have works, you must not have faith, because faith and works are always side by side together. That is what people say. Well go to Romans chapter 4, Romans chapter 4, Romans 4, and honestly this is not that complicated of a sermon, we just have three points, and the first point is very simple, good works do not always follow faith. Good works are not a guarantee just because you believe. Notice what the Bible says in Romans 4 verse 4, Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. Verse number 5, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. So the Bible is mentioning somebody who believes. He believes on him that justifieth the ungodly, but he does not have works. So the exact person the Bible is bringing up is a person that believes without good works. Does this verse say, well that doesn't exist because good works always accompany faith? Is that what it says? Does this verse say your faith is not good enough, it's not counted for righteousness, and you go to hell? Is that what it says? No, the Bible says you can have faith without works, and guess where you go? You go to heaven, because the Bible says whosoever believeth. Anybody that believes regardless of what they do will go to heaven, and Romans 4 verse 5 is very clear, it is possible to believe and not have good works. It is possible to believe and not do the works, not obey God, not go to church, not read the Bible. Well, you guys say that you have thousands of salvations this year. I mean if you have thousands of salvations, why aren't you a megachurch? Because you can believe without having good works. Go to John chapter 3, John 3, John chapter 3, and I know these are very common verses we're going to be looking at during this first sermon, and here's what I want you to understand. When I go soul winning and people bring up James 2, or they kind of reference how if you're really saved you're going to have good works, and they're kind of referencing here in James chapter 2, what I do not do is go to a complicated in-depth explanation like I will in the second sermon, because the gospel is meant to be simple and that's just not going to do any good. What I do is pretty much what I'm saying in this sermon. I just show them some verses that say, well, wait a minute, we already saw in John chapter 3 that it's just by believing, and so maybe you have the wrong interpretation of what it says here in James chapter 2, right? So I always will say that, hey, when you go soul winning and people bring up questions, you want to make things as simple as possible. You know, for example, another famous passage is Hebrew 6. When people bring up Hebrew 6, you know what I don't do? I don't go into a 15-minute explanation of what I believe that's referring to. Now, I know what I believe about Hebrew 6, and I'm very confident, but I don't bring that up soul winning. You say, why? Because it doesn't do any good. It's just going to confuse a person that's already unsaved. When people bring up James 2, I do not explain every single verse in-depth. I just look at what the hang-up is and try to answer that, because when we're going soul winning, it's the faith of a child that saves. We're explaining a gift. We're explaining being born again. We don't want to complicate the Gospel by bringing up every possible scenario or just spending 20 minutes on one passage. We don't have hours and hours to spend with one person out soul winning, right? So we want to make sure that we try to do it as simply as clear and as simple as possible, right? We want to be in-depth, but we also don't want to make it overly complicated. John 3, verse 15, That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. Why? Because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. When you're looking at verses 15 through 18, what is the big thing you see? What's the big word? Believe, believe, believe. Nothing about going to church, nothing about being baptized, nothing about living a good life, nothing about obeying the commandments, nothing about repenting of your sins. It's believe, it's believe. And why is it people are condemned? Because they've never believed. It's that simple. It comes down to this word believe. And whosoever believeth, that means if you believe and you do not have good works, guess where you go? You go to heaven. And there's nothing in these verses that say that if you believe, you're automatically going to do what's right. Where does it say that? And ask yourself this question. When you got saved, did you just automatically give up all your sins? When you got saved, did you just immediately never listen to bad music ever again? Never watch anything bad on TV ever again? I mean, you don't have to raise your hands, but if people are being honest, there's a lot of people that raise their hands and say, Yeah, I still listen to the rock music. I still watch Vice Pong eat on TV or whatever. It's like just because you believe does not mean you're going to do what's right. Because we have free will, and the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. So there is no guarantee that just because you believe, you're going to start to clean up your life and make changes. If a person believes and they start to go to church and start to read the Bible, then they will start to make some changes. But even still, it is a slow and steady and oftentimes bumpy road getting close to God, isn't it? Because I'm on that path right now. I'm trying to get closer to God each and every day, but if I'm honest with you, I still have plenty of areas in my life where, guess what? I don't have the works, even though I say I believe something, and yet I'm still struggling to do what I know is correct. Right? Go in your Bible to John 1. John 1. John chapter 1. Now, John chapter 3 is also famous not just for John 3.16, but, you know, of course, here in the Philippines, the famous religion is the born-again religion. Right? And that comes from Jesus saying in John 3, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. You know, the Catholic Church teaches we're all children of God. That's not true, because the Bible says he must be born again, meaning born into God's family. The spiritual birth must take place. But realize God is giving us an example that we can understand. So think of a physical birth to understand the spiritual birth. And when a physical birth takes place, and that baby is born, and that child grows up, does that child always obey mom and dad? No. In fact, I would say in today's world, most children are actually pretty disrespectful and don't really listen to their mom and dad. That doesn't mean that they're not children. I mean, if you see one of my kids disobeying me, I'm not even sure if that's Pastor Stuckey's son, because he told him to do something and he didn't do it. Well, I mean, I'm pretty sure you can look at all three of my kids and you can probably see a resemblance to me, but it's like, guess what? All kids disobey their parents sometimes. All kids are muckled eat sometimes. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. Does that mean that that child is no longer a child of their parents? That is ridiculous. It doesn't make any sense. And guess what? When you believe on Christ and you're born into God's family, that is not a guarantee that you're going to do everything that God says. That is not a guarantee you're going to start going to church. It is not a guarantee you're going to get baptized. It is not a guarantee you're going to read the Bible. And in fact, I would say most people that get saved really don't make many changes at all in their life. And what I would say is the reason why people like us are making changes, because here's the mistake you can make. You can look at your life and see that you got saved and you started to serve God. That doesn't mean that's everybody, though. That just means that's what you did. Pastor, right? Right. That's the way it works. Really? I mean, you can believe and guess what? Not even be that glad about it. Not that happy about it. Salvation comes down to what you believe. There's nothing in the Bible that says if you really believe, you're going to have works. John, chapter one, verse 12. And you know, when people bring up James 2, when we're out soul winning, a lot of times they're not trying to be argumentative. It's just something they've heard a million times and it's this hang up. And so, you know, we're not talking about someone who wants to argue because if they want to argue with you, just move on to the next door. We're talking about someone who just has a hang up. I've heard them say faith without works is dead. Honestly, usually I don't even turn to James 2. Usually I just say, well, I mean, I've showed you like all these verses say just believe. And, you know, I'll explain later on what I exactly say to them about faith without works is dead. But usually it's just kind of a small hang up that you can simply answer by showing them just by believing. It's by faith alone. There's verses that say the gift of God, not of works. So once again, you can believe without having those works. John 1, 12. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name. How do we become a son of God? How do we get born into God's family? By believing on the name of Jesus. Nothing about living a good life. Nothing about going to church. I get it. We understand salvation. We preach it every week. You know that. We know what we believe. But this is a hot button issue. Faith without works is dead. We need to be able to defend. I mean, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. And the Bible says to become a son of God, to become a daughter of God, to become a child of God, you believe on his name. Believing is used interchangeably with receiving in this verse. Do you see that? Now it is true, when we go soul winning, many people say things like, you've got to receive Jesus as your savior, or you've got to accept Jesus as your savior. That's not really wrong, but usually how they define that is wrong. Because then you might ask, well, how do you receive Jesus? Well, by getting baptized. By going to church. Or, I mean, I'm Catholic, so every week I receive Jesus into my mouth, right? That's what they might say. That's what they might think. And it's like, no, it's by believing on his name. That's how we receive Jesus as our savior. That's how we accept Jesus. That's how we receive the gift of eternal life. Notice this verse 13, which were born, and that means which were born into God's family. Born again, not of blood. So here's the thing. In a physical family, how are you born into that family? I mean, you're born, your mom and your father, your mom and your dad are your parents, and just by blood, you're their child. That's just the way it works. But you're not born physically and immediately born spiritually into God's family. Here's what I mean. My kids, I mean, my son Zeph is saved. He does believe on Jesus Christ. But my other kids are just too young at this point to understand this. They don't automatically get a pass into heaven because their dad's a preacher. And here's the thing. Maybe your parents don't believe on Christ. You don't automatically get condemned to hell because of the fact your parents don't believe. It comes down to what do you believe? It's not about your bloodline. It doesn't matter what your relatives believe. It's like, hey, just believe on Christ and forget about what your relatives believe. I mean, I've given the gospel to people, and they don't want to get saved because of their family having another religion. It's like, man, forget about your family. What about you? You will answer to God for what you believe, so why don't you believe on Christ today and then try to get them saved? Rather than just saying, well, I was born a Catholic. I was raised a Catholic. I'll die a Catholic. And you're going to die and go straight to hell. That's the reality, right? Which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, so it's not the will of the flesh. It's not your works or what you're trying to do, nor of the will of man but of God. It's not the will of man. Man cannot make it a creed to just force everybody to get saved. It's not that, well, the government makes this law that you have to believe on Christ. It doesn't work that way. It's an individual choice that you make to believe on Christ, and you're born into God's family. Once again, does every child obey their parents? No. Does any child perfectly obey? No. Look, I believe my kids are good kids, but I'll be the first to admit there are plenty of times they disobey me, and it's like, hey, obey right away with a smile on your face. They obey, but then they got that look on their face, like, wait a minute, with a smile on your face. Now you have to hug me, right? It's like, just because your kids are your kids doesn't mean they're going to do what you say. Why would God have to command kids to honor their parents if it was automatic? It's not automatic. There's free will. I mean, you can believe something. You can believe they're your parents. It doesn't mean you're going to do what they say, though, right? Now, the Bible did say in John 1, receive Him. Now go to Acts 2, and keep that in mind. To believe on Christ is the same as receiving Him, okay? Because there's an important distinction made in the Bible about receiving Jesus versus gladly receiving Jesus or receiving with joy, okay? Receiving with joy or gladly receiving, those are basically synonyms representing the same thing where there's a thankfulness, a gratitude. Kind of like, think of the 10 lepers. One came back to give Jesus thanks, to say He was thankful. But you saw in the other nine that they were cleansed, right? I mean, they're no longer lepers. It's obvious. Everybody sees that. But that doesn't mean that they went back. Well, I don't believe that they're healed of their leprosy because they didn't go back to thank Jesus. I mean, you can look at them, and they don't have leprosy, right? No guarantee that just because you believe, you're going to be that thankful about it. The Bible says in Acts 2, verse 41, Then they that gladly received His word. Is gladly receiving the same as receiving? No. There's an extra word added for a reason. Because when it said receive Jesus in John 1, it didn't mention anything about going to church afterwards or getting baptized or cleaning up your life because you can receive Jesus and make no changes. But when it says they gladly receive His word, what happens? They're baptized. So someone who's actually very appreciative of their salvation, yeah, there's going to be works to show that they're very thankful. Right. But you can receive the word of Jesus or receive Jesus without being that thankful, without being that appreciative. And in fact, some people receive salvation, and they don't really show any gratitude until five years later when their life is a mess, and then they're like, you know what? I need to start going to church. Look, in this room, I believe this room is filled full of people that believe on Christ. I'm not preaching this sermon because I feel like I need to get a lot of you saved here today. I mean, you believe on Christ. But I'm sure there's plenty of people in this room that when you first got saved, you didn't really make any changes in your life. You were resistant. You're happy to be saved, but not that happy. Why? Because there's no works. Now, some people, probably you did get saved, and then you did start to grow immediately. But that's not everybody. That's some people. A lot of people get saved as a child. And guess what? When you're a child, you're not going to have this massive growth that takes place as a child, right? And so just because you believe is not a guarantee that there's going to be works associated. Turn your Bible to John 14. John 14. I mean, there's obviously the example where somebody can believe that their parents are their parents. It doesn't mean they're going to do what their parents say. But look at other examples. And these are the sorts of things I bring up so many. They'll say, well, if you really believe, you're going to have works. I say, okay, well, let me ask you this question. Do you believe that drinking Coca-Cola is unhealthy? Everybody always says yes. Do you drink Coca-Cola? Everybody always says yes. Personally, I prefer Pepsi, but that's just me. But every time I've ever asked that question, they've said yes. And then do you drink Coca-Cola? It's like, yeah. Now, if they specifically have something in their hand or chips, I'll say, do you think those chips are healthy to eat? No. But you're eating them. And then oftentimes you're just like, yeah, okay, I guess you don't always do. I mean, everybody believes that exercise is healthy, right? Does that mean you exercise every day? Everybody believes that eating junk food is bad for you. Does that mean that you never eat junk food? Everybody believes they should spend time reading rather than playing video games. Does that mean that everybody reads books to learn and educate themselves? There's a million things we believe and don't do. Because you can believe something, and you still have free will whether you're going to do it or not. I wish that everything I believed I automatically did. I wish it was easy to do everything that I believed. But the reality is there's plenty of things that I believe and I know I should do. It doesn't mean I do them. Do you really believe that most people that smoke think that smoking is healthy? I mean, people are addicted to smoking, and they know it's destroying them. They know it's expensive. They know it's horrible. They know it's destroying their relationship with their family and people they know because they're so addicted they've got to go outside and smoke a cigarette every 15 minutes. But guess what? They can't stop. Why? Because you can believe things without having works associated. And guess what? You can believe on Christ and not do what He says. The Bible says in John 14, verse 15, If ye love me, keep my commandments. I mean, sometimes you have conversations with people about this topic, and they will bring up this verse. It's like, well, no, wait a minute. Commandments. I mean, doing good works always comes because if ye love me, keep my commandments. Where does that say to go to heaven, keep the commandments of Jesus? It doesn't say that. And news flash, Jesus is preaching to people that are already saved. So it's not about trying to get somebody saved. He's not preaching the gospel. He's telling people, hey, I want you to love me. Here's what I would say. If somebody believes on Christ and they say they believe on Christ and they're a drunk, I will not question their salvation. What I will question is whether or not they love God. Because if you really love something, there will be works associated. But you don't have to love God to go to heaven. Where does the Bible ever say that? And people might hear that statement and be shocked, but where does the Bible say you have to love God to be saved? What Jesus said is, if ye love me, keep my commandments. And here's the thing. Your works are evidence of whether or not you love God. It's just like with anything. I mean, if you say you love exercising, guess what? That means you must exercise. Well, I love it, but I don't really get around to it. You don't love exercising. Because there'd be works associated. You say, well, you know what? I love to, you know, whatever. I love to play basketball. But you don't know how to dribble basketball. No, you don't love basketball. I mean, you say, I love my wife, or I love my husband, and yet you're the worst husband or worst wife ever. No, you don't. Now, here's the thing. It doesn't mean you're not married to your spouse, though. Because many people are married, and they don't show much love at all for their spouse. Many people are married, they don't show much love at all. Or many people, they don't show much love at all for their parents. They don't show much love at all for their children. That doesn't mean that the relationship is not there, though. Because whether or not you show love as a husband or as a wife, it does not change the fact that, you know what? You already signed the contract, my friend. It doesn't matter what this government says, stay married forever. For better or worse, you made a vow before God, till death do us part. That's what the Bible says. But here's what I'm saying. Not living a good life does not mean that you're not saved. What it means is you don't love God. That's what the Bible actually teaches. Go to Galatians chapter 5. Now, here's what's interesting about this. Everybody says they love God. Everybody thinks they love God. You say, well, pastor, who are you to judge someone? Well, here's why I can judge whether or not somebody loves God. Because I can look at their works to see whether or not they love God. If someone never reads the Bible, they do not love God. Right? Because if you love God, you're going to keep his commandments. And that's kind of just floor level of loving God. Reading the Bible, praying, going to church. These are kind of the basics that everybody knows. Right? If you're not doing those things, you don't love God or you have a very small love for God. But that doesn't mean that you're not saved because if you love me, keep my commandments. It does not say to go to heaven, keep my commandments. Another confusion people have is this difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of the Christian. Because there are a lot of verses that say things like the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that win its souls is wise, and it's referencing salvation. But then you come to the fruit of the Spirit, and people get confused. Things like, if you're really saved, there's going to be fruit. There's going to be evidence. There's going to be works. Right? They'll say, well, you know, you're going to have these things like being good and showing love and joy and all these things. Well, let's look at what it says here in Galatians 5. Galatians 5, verse 16. This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Now, let me ask you a question. If Paul is commanding saved people to walk in the Spirit, is it automatic? No. Why does Paul always command people to do what's right? Why does God command people to do what's right if it's automatic? There'd be no point. He says walk in the Spirit because it's not automatic. But here's what you find. If you walk in the Spirit, you know what you're not going to find yourself doing fulfilling the lust of the flesh? You say, what do you mean? I mean that if you make a habit to spend your personal time with God every day setting aside distractions and reading the Bible and praying and going to church, you know what you're going to find? You just don't have that much of a desire to do the things that are wrong that you do in your life. Isn't that true? Because you're deadening or killing the flesh. It's like this. Let's say somebody is addicted to smoking cigarettes, and they smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. Now, I've never smoked a cigarette, but everybody says it's like the hardest thing to get over. It's like a really hard vice. It's very addictive. Well, let's say somebody makes a decision, I'm going to quit smoking today, and they've been smoking for 10 years, and they stop smoking today. You know what I guarantee you? They have a strong desire to smoke today, and they'll have a strong desire tomorrow, and they'll have a strong desire the next day. Now, here's the thing. That desire will never completely go away, but you're weakening it. You're killing off the flesh. You're deadening it. Why? Because you're not feeding it. Sin is like a virus that you feed, and if you quit feeding it, it dies off. Just think of whatever area you struggle with. When I got saved, I loved listening to Aerosmith and Guns N' Roses and The Hard Rock from that sort of genre and that generation. I used to love listening, but here's the thing. I haven't listened to Aerosmith for over a decade other than when a grab driver was playing it or it's at Robinson's or whatever, so I don't really have a desire to listen to Sweet Emotion today, but that's because I've slowly deadened that desire inside my body. Now, here's the reality, though. If I were to go to a public place and that song came back on, though, and I heard it, I would know every word, and yeah, there'd be that sort of small desire inside of my flesh that I would feel because I had heard that song a million times when I was younger, but what I'm saying is you can actually slowly weaken the flesh and strengthen the spirit, so it's definitely possible to draw closer to God every day as you weaken the flesh and strengthen the spirit, but you're never always going to win the battles in your life. There's going to be battles. It's going to be difficult, right? Go to Genesis chapter 9. Actually, let me just show you here in Galatians 5. Hold on. Galatians 5. So he says that, Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, and then it says here in verse number 22, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law, and people say, well, you know, here we go. If you're really saved, you're going to have love and joy and peace. Look, this is the fruit of the spirit, and what that means is when you're walking in the spirit, that's the context. You know what you're going to find? You're going to be filled full of love and joy and peace. This is why people that are serving God are the happiest people in the world. They're filled full of joy. I mean, if you were to tell people what your life is about, they would be like, what a boring life. Remember my coworkers at my old job? They say, hey, what are you doing this weekend? I said, well, you know, we're driving up to Ohio. We're going to go soul winning. We're going to knock on the doors and tell people about Jesus. They're just like, what? It's like, wow, that's your thing. They didn't get it. But actually, serving God is the happiest thing that you can do in your life. You'll be filled full of joy, and you're going to find your person that's filled full of the peace of God. You're going to be filled full of love. You're going to be long suffering. You're going to be forgiving and gentle and good in faith and having strong faith and meek and temper. I mean, you're going to see these things in your life if you're walking in the spirit. What if you are walking in the flesh, though? What if you listen to all the wrong music, you watch all the wrong things on TV, and you fill your eyes and your ears with all this garbage? What else are you going to find in your life that you're just going to be walking in the flesh and sinning and doing wrong? You're going to be short tempered. You're going to get angry very easily. You're not going to have much joy. You're going to be miserable. All these things are going to take place. But this has nothing to do with being saved because we get saved. We have the choice to walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh. And if you walk in the spirit, you're not going to fulfill the lust of the flesh. If you walk in the flesh, you're not going to fulfill the things of the spirit. I mean, if you're living a sinful life, isn't it hard to read the Bible? Isn't it hard to go to church? I mean, if you're living a sinful life, you're almost embarrassed or ashamed to walk into church, right? It's almost hard to just put on clothes and dress up. It's like, man, I feel ashamed. I feel embarrassed. I feel not worthy. It's hard to open up the Bible if you know you're not right with God. This has nothing to do with getting to heaven because you get saved instantly, but serving God and drawing close to God is something that's going to take a lifetime, right? Genesis nine, turn to Genesis nine. And so point number one, good works do not always follow faith. And honestly, that's the end of the argument right there because they say works always accompany faith. Well, we just saw. No, they don't. But point number two, saved people in the Bible don't always live good lives because if works always accompany faith, I mean, people want to criticize. They're like, well, that's your interpretation of the verses. Well, let's just look at stories. Let's just look at stories of saved people and see whether or not they always do what's right. Genesis nine, verse 20. And Noah began to be in husbandmen, and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine. It was drunken, and he was uncovered within his tent. I mean, Noah gets so drunk that he's declothed. He's not wearing any clothes. I mean, he's naked and drunk. Does anybody want to stand up here and say, well, I don't know if Noah was saved when he got drunk. That's ridiculous. Of course Noah's saved. I mean, he's the one that God chose, him and his family, but he spared the family specifically, it said, because of Noah. And yet, here's a saved man who, guess what, is doing something really wrong, right? Go to Genesis 16. Genesis 16. Now, that's never happened to me, but I do want to say this. I do like to give Noah leeway because he did live nine times as long as us, so he basically has nine times as many opportunities to commit sin, so it's probably a lot harder to live a clean and holy life for 900 years than just making it 100. But we're seeing a saved man that obviously did something really wrong, right? And here's what I would say. I think common sense would say if he gets drunk here in Genesis nine, I'm sure during that time of his life, he wasn't living that close to God. He was making a lot of mistakes during that time of his life. But he's still saved. Genesis 16, verse one. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bear him no children, and she had in hand made an Egyptian whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee, go in on unto my maid, it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid the Egyptian after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. Now, I do want to clarify in the story that this is not adultery and it's not fornication because of the fact Abram marries Hagar, says to be his wife. So he gets married. This is what would be polygamy. And polygamy is not adultery, but it's still a major sin. I mean, the Bible says, Do not multiply wives unto yourselves. Of course, we see people throughout the Bible that are doing this, and of course, in our own lives, and of course, in our Old Testament law, there's a death penalty in the Mosaic law for committing adultery, and yet many people commit polygamy and they don't get the death penalty. It's not adultery, but it's still a big sin. I'm not condoning this at all. It's still a big sin marrying another woman, and yet here's the thing. I'm showing you Abraham, but couldn't I show you a lot of characters in the Old Testament? Couldn't I show you a lot? Especially in Genesis, there's a lot of characters. And it's like, didn't you learn from the mistake of your granddad, Jacob? Why are you marrying several women? It's not going to turn out good for you, and yet many people do this. You know why? Because you can believe without doing what God says, right? Go to 2 Peter 2. You know, for the sake of time, I'm not going to turn to the most obvious example, and I believe that's King David. Now, I think King Saul is a very obvious example as well, except people want to question the salvation, and Saul was a saved man and Samuel said, Tomorrow shall thou and thy sons be with me. And you look at how Saul ended his life. I mean, he's just trying to kill David over and over again, just attempting to commit murder over and over and over again, right? Not even just a fit of rage. I mean, it's planned out what he's planning to do over and over and over again. David, though, is the most obvious example. I mean, you're looking at the guy who was spared by Saul. He's a man after God's own heart, and then he commits adultery, and then Bathsheba gets pregnant. He tries to cover it up by getting Uriah drunk and getting him to sleep with his wife, so you're getting another man drunk, and then all of a sudden you're putting him to death, and the Bible holds him responsible for murder because he put him on a kamikaze mission, and the Bible says you're the man that killed him. So he's guilty of adultery and murder, and yet he was saved. Now, here's what you have to realize. Some of these people that try to attach works to salvation, they will say that David was not saved when he committed adultery. That's what Ray Comfort says. The famous Christian evangelist, it's like, well, he wasn't really saved because if he was really saved, he wouldn't commit adultery because faith without works is dead. What about all the other people in the Bible? Well, Noah wasn't saved, so God spared Noah from the worldwide flood, but he wasn't saved until after the flood. So are you kidding me? I'm pretty sure David knew the message of salvation for decades, and he didn't receive the message of salvation until the end of his life. That's ridiculous. No, it's called that you can believe and not do what's right. And the thing is, these people are hypocrites because they try to claim that they're not doing all these sins, and yet, look, I'm not looking for a show of hands, but any one of us could be honest and say, you know what, there's plenty of things I should not do and I still do them. And there might be things that you've gotten victory in in your life, but it was not automatic when you got saved. It's not like right when you got saved, you never desired anything wrong ever again. All I do is desire to read the Bible and to pray and go soul winning. I never desire anything worldly or sinful. That's not the way it works. You've got free will, and guess what, when I got saved, you know what, I realized, and I was very glad for my salvation. I was very thankful, started going to church, started going soul winning, got baptized, all those things, but you know what I found? I still struggle with the same sins I was struggling with for a long time. And a lot of people get this idea that once you get saved, things are going to get really easy. That's not the way it works. If you're going to live a godly life, it's going to be difficult. 2 Peter 2, one last example of this, of saved people not always doing what's right. 2 Peter 2, verse 6, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly, and delivered just lot, vexed with a filthy conversation of the wicked. The Bible's saying that if you're going to live a godly life, the Bible's saying that Lot, as he was living in Sodom and Gomorrah, every day he was vexed with a filthy conversation. Now, conversation is not just the words, it's your lifestyle. But I'm sure the words as well would vex him every single day. I mean, look, I worked in his secular office, and I heard people just audibly talking about committing adultery on their spouse like it was no big deal. How much more for a community filled full of the LGBT where there's no rules? What kind of garbage would Lot be hearing every day? It's kind of like, for example, when you watch something sinful and you're watching, you're laughing, you enjoy it, and then they make that joke that's offensive. They mock God, they use the Lord's name in vain, they talk about something sinful, and all of a sudden you feel that guilt. I probably shouldn't be watching this. I probably shouldn't be listening to this. How much more with Lot that was living in Sodom and Gomorrah, and every day he saw the way they were dressed and the way they spoke, and he knew the actions. I mean, because realize, Lot, when the angels come to town, he is scared that they're going to get defiled by the Sodomites. You know what that tells us? That Lot knew of plenty of cases of the Sodomites defiling people in Sodom and Gomorrah, right? I mean, use some common sense. Yeah, it's going to vex you, and it's like, Lot, get out of there! What can I do? My wife loves Sodom and Gomorrah. My kids love it. Yeah, maybe you shouldn't have moved somewhere specifically for the purpose of money, Lot, but he was saved. For that righteous man dwelling among them and seeing and hearing vexes his righteous soul from day to day with your unlawful deeds. You know what? You're going to vex your righteous soul as well if you allow yourself to see and hear all the trash that's coming from the world. Right? Go in your Bible to Acts chapter 10, Acts 10, Acts 10. You can do whatever you want, but we already saw in Galatians 5 that if you want to be a happy person, you would get rid of that garbage, and you would find yourself being a much happier person. That's what you see. Or you can just vex your righteous soul every single day because you know, you don't need me to preach this. You know that garbage that you're watching on TV and that garbage music you're hearing, you know it's wrong. The Holy Spirit's the one that's getting you, and the Holy Spirit's going to get you a lot more than me, right? The word of God's going to get you a lot more than me. You already know this, right? If you want to be a happy person, put away the trash and start serving God. And look, I don't preach this to sit here and say that I live a perfect life because I struggle with a lot of things. But you know what? Everything that we're struggling with, if we would get rid of it and be more righteous for God, we would be a happier person. We'd be a joyful person. Point number one, why is it that works are not evidence of salvation? They do not always... Well, because number one, good works do not always follow faith according to the Bible. We saw many examples where you can believe without having good works. Number two, because saved people in the Bible do not always live good lives. You see them do a lot of bad things. Number three, lastly, unsaved people don't always live bad lives. And we're going to see that in the Word of God as well because there's this general idea good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. Now, of course, in the evangelical world, they'll say, well, that's wrong. That's heresy to say that because we're not saved by works. But usually, they still believe that, guess what? If you really believe, you're going to become a good person. So once again, good people go to heaven and bad go to hell is what they really believe. But wait a minute. We saw saved people that are not living good lives. Right? Quite frankly, a lot of the sins that we looked at are things that I hope that us in this room never commit. I mean, a lot of those are very grievous. David committed murder. That's a pretty big sin. But unsaved people don't always live bad lives. Acts 10, verse one, There is a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. So here's a devout man. He's very devoted. He fears God. Sounds pretty good. He gave alms to the people. This is a man that has money and he's giving alms. He's helping financially other people out. And he's praying all the time. He's praying without ceasing. There's only one major problem with this guy. He doesn't believe. He doesn't believe on Christ. He doesn't know the truth of salvation. What you have is a man with a conscience that believes in God that is just trying to do what's right. And I want you to realize there are people like Cornelius in every country under the sun except Vatican City. Right? Every country. I promise you, in Saudi Arabia, in every Muslim country, there are people and they might say they're Muslim, but they're just trying to do what's right. And if they heard the gospel, they would believe. I promise you that. There's people in North Korea, there's people in Hindu and Buddhist countries, and guess what? They have the wrong religion. They believe the wrong things. They're not safe. But they're trying to do what's right. They do have a fear of God. I mean, Cornelius is living a better life than most people that are actually saved. He's praying all the time. And look, I would say this, that with people in this room, I mean, obviously, you're striving to serve God if you come to a church like this. Probably for most of us, before we were saved, we could look at our lives and say, I was trying to do what was right. I wasn't doing a lot of the things that other people were doing. And you were living a better life than a lot of people that are saved. But that doesn't make you safe because salvation has nothing to do with worse. And here's a man who is striving to do what's right. Let me just prove to you this man was unsafe. Go to Acts 11. Acts 11. Acts 11. Acts 11, verse 13. And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa and call for Simon whose surname is Peter. This is Peter retelling the story when Cornelius has a man sent to him, has Peter sent to him. And in Acts 10, we see the story, but then in Acts 11, Peter is recounting the story and it adds this very specific detail. Who shall tell thee words, this is Peter saying these words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. What does that mean? It means Cornelius was not saved in Acts chapter 10. But wait a minute, he feared God. Yeah, you can fear God without being saved. Isn't that what we just learned? You can fear God without being saved. And I would say that, you know, probably for most of us before we were saved, there's a lot of things we were never doing. We didn't do certain things because we knew it was wrong. Because we had a fear of God. We had a conscience. We knew that, hey, God doesn't want me to do this and if I do this, I feel guilty, so we were trying to do what was right. That doesn't mean that you're saved though. Because what do you believe? And on the other side, what if someone gets saved, there's no guarantee they're going to do what's right. Just because you in this room are making changes does not mean that everybody does. How do you expect people to make changes if they're never feeding the spirits? If they're never going to church, if they're never reading the Bible, I mean, because you grow by the Word of God. As newborn babies desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby. What's going to happen to a newborn baby that does not drink milk? It's going to die. And guess what? A spiritual babe in Christ that never feeds the spirit and never reads the Bible, they're not going to make much changes at all in their lives. If any. Because of the fact they're not feeding the spirit. And if they're not walking in the spirit, they're going to fulfill the lust of the flesh. That's what the Bible says. Now turn to James 2. We're going to close up here. James 2. James 2. And look, those are not the only examples. I mean, another one I have in my notes is about the Ethiopian eunuch who obviously is trying to do what's right and he's not saved. But in your own personal life, isn't it true that you probably know people that are not saved, but you would say, you know what, they're a good person. Now we understand there's none righteous, no, not one. But there's certain people that from a man's standards you'd say, yeah, by any stretch of the imagination that's a kind person, hardworking, they're a good person, but they're not saved. And guess what? You probably know people that do believe in Christ that aren't that good of people. Because there's free will. Just because you're saved doesn't mean you're automatically going to do what's right. There's no guarantee. We have plenty of examples in the Bible of this. Plenty of verses that clearly say that you can believe without having works. There's no guarantee that your works are going to be there just because you believe. Right? So we all better take heed because of the fact that if we're not constantly filling our spirit, we could commit some of these sins that these other saved people are committing. We better make sure we're feeding the spirit. We better make sure it's like, well, you know, I don't know. I'm not learning as much in church as I used to. Of course you're not learning as much because you know more about the Bible now. You still need to be fed with the same things, though, so you don't go down this road. I get it. The first time you read the Bible, everything was new and exciting. Yeah, keep reading it every day. You say, why? If you're not feeding the spirit, you're going to start going down the road of the flesh. You're going to destroy your life. You better just by habit, not based on excitement, but by habit, just wake up and read the Bible because it's what you do. Just like when your alarm goes off, you go to work because you got to make money. Well, guess what? What's more important than your physical food, according to Job? I've esteemed the words of God more than my necessary food. If you make it a point to wake up to make sure you don't miss work, you better make sure you make it a point not to miss your personal time with God as well. Now, in James 2, as I said, I'm not really explaining James 2 in this sermon. I'll do that in the second sermon because I do want to see exactly what it's referring to, but I want to show you this example to close out. It says in James 2, verse 20, But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? And people quote this to say, well, it's not possible to have faith without works because the Bible says faith without works is dead. Wait a minute. It's certainly possible to have faith without works because you just quoted faith without works. You just quoted it. It doesn't say faith without works does not exist. It says it's dead. Now, we'll talk about exactly what that means in the second sermon, but I want to give you this illustration that makes it very simple. This here is my cell phone. If I were to pour water on my cell phone, what's going to take place to this phone? It's going to magically disappear. Is that what's going to take place? No, it's going to die. Isn't that what you say? It's dead. But does it exist? Yes. And guess what? A faith that does not produce works is dead. But it exists. It doesn't say faith without works sends you to hell. It doesn't say faith without works doesn't exist. It just says it's dead. Now, we'll talk about that in the second sermon, but we saw in Romans 4 that you can have faith without works, and your faith is counted for righteousness, so it certainly exists. In fact, I would say most saved people do not really have works, because most saved people don't read the Bible. Most saved people aren't serving God. And here's what I will also say. When people are coming at you with James 2, it's like, are you saved? Right? When people are saying, well, if you're really saved, you're going to have good works. It's kind of like, are you saved? I mean, I'm not questioning that drunk over there, but I am questioning you, because your belief seems to be wrong. And I get it. This is so commonly repeated in churches that you might start to subtly think some of these things, but it's completely wrong. The Bible does not teach this at all. Plenty of people get saved, and they never make any changes in their life. There's no reason to question their salvation. The only time I would question someone's salvation is if what they say about salvation is wrong. We go soul winning. I mean, I'll give you an example. We go soul winning today, and then you run into someone that's got a bottle of Red Horse in his hand, and then you ask them about salvation, and they say, you know what? It's by faith alone. You can never lose your salvation. It's a gift. You don't have to make any changes. That person's saved. But we go soul winning today, and somebody is dressed nice. They got a King James Bible in their hands. They're listening to Pastor Stuckey preach on YouTube, but they think that you have to live a good life to go to heaven. They're not saved. I don't care how much they like me. They're not saved, right? Because salvation comes down to what you believe. You believe the right thing. I mean, he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth him. Nothing about living a good life. Nothing about a guarantee you're going to live a good life. The only guarantee the Bible gives is that you realize you should live soberly, righteously, and godly, according to Titus 2, verse 12. You realize you should. It's not a guarantee that you will, though. You have the free will, whether or not you're going to do what's right or whether you're not going to do what's right. Let's close in with a prayer. Your Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and to just see this and help us always be ready to answer those that are unsaved or those that are maybe confused on salvation, about salvation. God, help us to be able to explain just very simply as we go on soul winning, as we talk to people in our lives, that salvation is by faith alone. Works are not part of it, God. Help us to remember this and be ready to give an answer to every man. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.