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I am with thee, peace be still, in all of life's ebb and flow. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know, fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go. All my life was wrecked by sin and strife. Discord filled my heart with pain. Jesus, what the cost of breath and strength? Stir the slumbering chords again. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know, fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go. Feasting on the riches of... I heard their sweet song and the captain's kind ear, ever ready to hear, caught my wail of distress as I cried out in fear. Ship ahoy, ship ahoy! Going 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. Be in 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. Ms. Janelle Gonzalez 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'd like for you to take when you go out zoning or take home and hand out to your friends, family, coworkers, people that you know. And the goal would be to just pack out the house. It's pretty packed right now, but we could do more than this. And so our previous record attendance was 218. We're hoping to hit about 235, maybe 240 this coming Easter. And so be in 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. Be in prayer over our Easter service. It's 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, they're more mindful about coming to church. And we wanna 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. One announcement that's not on the bulletin that I like to read here. It says in light of Friday's park day or lack thereof, should we say, because 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. Mejia, my wife, if you have any questions about that. Hope the kids can make it tonight for the craft meet up 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. Song, oh, I'm sorry, 106 Abide With Me. Song number 106, Abide With Me. All together, nice and strong on that first verse. 106 Abide with me, fast flows the eventide, the darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide, when other helpers fail and comforts flee. Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me, swim to its close ebbs, out lies little dame, earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away, change and decay in, all around I see, oh, thou who changest not, abide with me, I need thy presence, every blessing out. What but thy grace can foil the tempter's power, who, like thyself, might guide and stay, can be, through cloud and sunshine, oh, abide with me. Oh, thou thy cross, before my closing eyes, shine through the gloom and point me to the skies, as morning breaks and earth's faint shadows flee, in life, in death, oh, Lord, abide with me. Amen. 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. Good morning. We're in James chapter number 2. James chapter 2. The Bible reads, My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if they're coming as 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 thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren. Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 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 scripture, and 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. 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, 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 you shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy, and mercy rejoiceeth against judgment. What doth it profit, my brethren, though men say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, men 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. Thou believeth that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Is ye used to 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. Ye 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 had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Let's pray, dear Lord God. Thank you again for this opportunity to be in your house. Decide that you would meet with us here now this morning, and please bless Pastor Marie with the Holy Spirit as he preaches your word, and in Jesus' name we 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 title of my sermon this morning is 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 it's always under attack. 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, 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 the book of Ecclesiastes, or first and second 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 gonna see this today. By the way, in order for us to even understand the Bible, we have to read it in faith, right? 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 to base the one scripture that we're not interpreting correctly off of the 10 that essentially coincide with one another, okay? And so this morning, we're just gonna go through the entire chapter and explain the interpretation thereof. Now, the first thing we're gonna 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. 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 safe. 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. So here he's specifically saying, don't have the faith of Jesus Christ with partiality. What does that imply? It's implying that you can 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 of 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 of people, partiality, this is why he has to command them not to. In fact, look at verse two. It says, for if there come unto you an assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, he's not necessarily dressed the best, he doesn't wear name brand clothing or whatever you consider to be vile raiment. Verse three says, and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing. Now let me just clarify that, okay? He's not talking about queer stuff, okay? He's not coming into church with a rainbow flag, wrapped in a rainbow flag or something like that, or in daisy dukes or something, I don't know, whatever. Some queer stuff. Gay clothing in the Bible is referring to happy clothing. The homos have perverted 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 to say happy, because the connotation that it has is sodomite, okay? And so I'm just kind of commentating and clarifying what it means here. So he says you have respect to him that weareth 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 respecting that individual because of how they dress. He says, and 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 have 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 that's poor. And he's saying, you know, you tell the rich guy, hey, here's the best seat in the house, you know, come sit 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 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 two, if you would, chapter two, I'm gonna read to you from 1 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 five, verse five says, Harken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love him? But you 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? Now, what is he saying? He's saying really what you should be doing is favoring the poor. 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 affluent, who have money. 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 who's not financially well off, that person is 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 a ghetto. I grew up in the ghetto. I can call a 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. And most of you know if you've gone sowing in Anaheim Hills or these areas, 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 and I witnessed to a blood, 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 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 six that the rich men whom they're favoring, the rich men whom they're being 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 seven, do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which they are called? And what does Revelation two and three 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, come sit right here, don't get your robe all dirty, you know? And then they tell the 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 beeline 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 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. 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 knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin, you understand? So if you're a person who is not, you're like, well, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't run with those that 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 themselves 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 sinned 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 sinneth 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, is 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 10, which is more than 10 commandments, but let's just narrow it down to those 10 commandments. If you keep nine of those 10, according to God, you're guilty of all 10. Just because you violated that one. It sounds like God's standard is perfection. And this is why we, 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 sowing. 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 in one point, you're guilty of all. And you know, every once in a while you run into an arrogant, prideful person who just says they've never sinned, or something like that. And then you can just tell them like, well you just sinned 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's 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, and you know, and by the way, in the day and age in which we live, that's probably going to happen more often, and I'm using gay the way we would use it today. You know, because a lot of kids, they're just being influenced by a lot of sodomite stuff. I might go out. And they're going to 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 think 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 would never get saved or something. I'm not going to talk because they would never get saved. And when you're out sowing, 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 going to 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 hath 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 going to save you from that. So in other words, yeah, you could 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 could 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 saved and 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 going to go to hell. And if you're saved, God's going to chastise you for your transgressions here on this earth. Now go to Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews 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 in red 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 going to pick up a Bible and read it. They rely on you, right, to tell them about the word of God. And the Bible says, let your light 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, well, I'm saved, and so therefore I'm not going to really care what my testimony is like. I'm not going to 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, Now, why do we do that? Why do we live a holy life? Is it to maintain our salvation? No, because that was taken 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. That's why 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? But 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 24-7, like every single day, just constant barbecue, constant burnt offerings, because people sin all the time. So if you're sinning all the time, you're always going to have animal sacrifices, right? Because 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, people in Israel understood that they're sinners and that their sin needed 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 atone for that transgression of the day. There remain 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 is 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 they're Israelites, even though they believed in 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 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, and God has no issue with killing you. 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, though? You know, last time I checked, the Bible says not to tempt the Lord our God. And in fact, look what 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 trotted under the foot of the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified in unholy thing, and hath done despite into the spirit of grace, for we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith 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, saith 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, because 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 under two or three witnesses, well, guess what? You get a worse punishment because we're in the New Testament. We have both Old and New Testament. We have a Bible. We have church. We have so much knowledge of the things of God. And to whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required. You say, what is the finishing? Give me the closing thought on that point, Pastor. Okay, look at verse 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a 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, it 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 sowing, 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 set up, they're like, you guys got to get out of here. You guys can't be here anymore. We got to 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 it was just like a lot of hard work. Brother Kevin, right here. Right here, brother Kevin. So then, you know, 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. 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. Literally two months after that, the man was brutally murdered. He was bludgeoned to death. Okay. He was bludgeoned to death. And by the way, 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 harass churches and all these things. He was brutally murdered. And they end up trying to pin the murder on like me. And so I'm like, I prayed. I prayed. I didn't have 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? I prayed according to his will. 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. The 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, to 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 are 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 know what? 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 side 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 side 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. 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. That's what the Bible says. And you know what? He's worthy to be feared because he does stuff like that. Look at 1 John 5 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 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 know, 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 Hebrew chapter 12, Hebrew 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 wasn't spared that judgment. Right. 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 heart, soul, mind and strength. Because again, God is not up in heaven just waiting to bring 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 unto 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 speaketh 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? What's the word? I can't believe I forgot it. What is it? What's the Spanish word? Castigar. That is a different word, though. It's a word my mom used 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, you know, 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. Now, obviously, he tells us through his word. No, don't. Right. And what the Bible is telling us here is that God deals with us as unto children, meaning that he actually spanks his children, unlike some parents. Right. 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? Because 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 weren't spanked. But hold on a second. You got to change, though. You have to change, and you got to make up for lost time, and you got to 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 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 verse six says, For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every someone whom he receiveth. So God's not whooping you because he hates you. He does it because he loves you. Because if God never chastise 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, 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 yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness. It says in verse seven, If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Now, that's a good question for this society. Like, you're the dad, why aren't you spanking him? Because the Bible says, what son is there that doesn't have a dad who whoops him? That's like the natural course of things. He says in verse eight, But if ye be without chastisement were of all our partakers, listen to this, then are ye bastards and not sons. So what's a bastard? It's someone who is an illegitimate child. And what the Bible is saying here is that if a Christian claims to be a Christian, they claim to be saved, 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 know, 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 going to tell you that they're being chastised of God. Right. They're going to be like, oh, no, it's going great. Everything is going fantastic. 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 repeated. 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 want to 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 want to clear myself with you. Just 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 that 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 death. 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 say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled. Notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what does it profit? Even so, faith that hath not works is dead, being alone. So what is dead used synonymously with in verse 16? Profit. Now, 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, we would have our building already. People will say, you know, we tell them, hey, the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. The Bible says, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. The Bible says, you know, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth 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 is dead negate all the verses that I just showed you? Should we just, oh, okay, I'm sorry, my bad. All right, I didn't think of that. Let me just cross out every single verse in the Bible that says not of works. My bad, let me just, you know what, 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 needful 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 faith. So 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. Or adding bad works to our faith doesn't profit you because 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 is 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 two is all about. So he says, if you don't have works, meaning you don't give your brother or sister food and clothing, raiment, then you being saved is like a dead faith because it's not working at all. For example, you know, if I had a vehicle, but my vehicle does not have gas, does not have oil, does not have the necessary, you know, functions in order to like go from point A to point B, does that negate the fact that it's a car? Still a car. It just doesn't work. Right? You know, there's a bunch of people out there who like their hobbies, like constructing vehicles, classic cars, and they just sit in their garage. They don't go anywhere. Some of them might not 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? 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 because 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. It's talking 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 there like, hey, if you believe you have faith and you're saved, that's great, but you got to make sure you remind people to maintain good works because that's profitable for other people. Sounds to me like God wants us 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 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 his Christians. Look at verse 18. Yea, 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 works. 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 will knock on the 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? And we base, whether we're going to 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, oh, this person's a Christian. They're a saved individual. Right? So they showed me 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 it 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 into 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 like, Pastor, I'm hungry. I haven't eaten in three days. I'm out of money. And if I told them, like, well, I have faith that God will provide for you. And in fact, let me bless you. Be warmed and filled. I'm not really displaying my faith there by my 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 or cracking a Red Bull, you know, I'm just eating. I'm like, well, God's going to 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 going to provide for you. The Bible says it, you know, seek first the kingdom of God. These things shall be added unto you. If any man and if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally. I can quote all kinds of verses, tell them that God's going to provide. But if I don't if I'm not the conduit of that answer to the prayer, my faith is dead. It's unprofitable. Because if I 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, I know God will provide for you in a special way. I know he's not going to let you go hungry. I know he's going to 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 that's going to 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. OK, and so what is the 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. Right. Like if we tell them like, hey, I believe God's going to provide, you know, we would have to believe them. But a stronger case for the faith that we have is if we actually do something about. OK, so let me give you another example. You know, if you say, you know, let's say you don't have a job. OK, you're like, I believe God's going to, you know, provide me a job and he's going to 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 you know, how many applications did you put in this week, though? None, because I know that God is just going to I'm looking for the right job. I know that it's coming. The heavens shall open. He shall pour me out a blessing. And I'm just like, no, you just need to go put in some applications. You're 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 want to 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 going to 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. You're looking for that job that pays you on. Yeah, McDonald's pays. Little Caesar's pays. 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 that the naked and hungry brother or sister didn't get fed or clothed. OK, 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, you know, 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 going to tell you right now, people who typically do that, they're stubborn. They don't want to 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 before we run out of time. Look at verse 19. It says, Thou believeth 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 believeth there is one God. Thou doest 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 believeth that there is one God. And it doesn't say thou believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ. 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 is one God, that's great and 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 the 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 automatically means it's referring to salvation. Thou believeth that there is one God, thou doest 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, 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 unto 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 not I placed my faith in Jesus for salvation? And not only only I trusting in Jesus for salvation? No, he lists all the good things that he did. And if you look at that list, it's not a bad list. Casting out devils, preaching in his name, doing many wonderful works, and what did 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, I believe 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, you know, 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 two that proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that their interpretation is wrong. Okay, verse 21 says, was not Abraham our father justified by works? Here's the 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 he offered up Isaac his son. Okay, well go to Romans chapter four. And this is why it's important to just study the Bible. You know, study it to show thyself, approve them to God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, wryly dividing the word of truth. Because really what we have to do is study James two in light of Romans four. 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 four, one in James two. And how do we know he's talking about two different events? Because James two went out of its way to tell us when he was justified by works. And when was that? When he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar. Look at Romans four, verse one. What shall we say then that Abraham, our father, is pertaining to the flesh hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. So James two literally said that he's justified by works. Romans four says that he's not justified by works. Look what verse three says. For what sayeth the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Verse five. But to him that worketh not, but believeth 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 unto him for righteousness, according to Romans four, in Genesis 15. 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 unto 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 four, look at verse number 11. It says, And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith which he had yet been uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believe, 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 does it say? It's saying that he received the 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? 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 church 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, cannonballed right into it, right? There's people like that. They're like, I don't even care if there's water. 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? 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 or 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 just awaken something, they're 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, it says, See as thou 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. Says in verse 22, And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, 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, Ye 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. It says, Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way. Now I don't have time to develop this, but go to Hebrews chapter 11 if you would. Hebrews 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 harlot and her household, right? Well in James 2 25, 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. It says, By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab perished 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 believed not, what is that implying about Rahab? That she believed. So she believed, therefore she didn't perish with them that believed not, and then her faith was justified before the messengers when she received them into her house. Because what would it look like if Rahab's 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 warm and filled though, you know? I hope it all works out for you guys, and I hope you guys get Jericho. I'm praying for you. God's going to use you in a great way, you know? Good luck. You guys will be like, this lady, what is she, you know? But obviously she exercised her faith by receiving the messengers, okay? And lastly, verse 26 of James 2 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 my spirit is in heaven, you would still say this is Pastor versus me here. Even though my spirit is no longer there, 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 has 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 going to happen. The finished work of Christ is 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 live 2000 years ago, it wouldn't age you anything because you are eternally in debt in 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, now that we're saved, I mean, I got saved. July 22nd, 2007 is 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 two, a powerful chapter here. It's a powerful chapter that refutes our 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. Bless us as we go on our way. We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Please turn your song books to song number 152. Song number 152, Security. All together, nice and strong on that first verse. More secure is no one ever than the loved ones of the Savior. Not your star on high abiding, nor the bird in coldness hiding. God, His own doth tend and nourish 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 from the Lord His children sever. For His love and compassion comfort them in tribulation. Little flaw to joy that yield me, Jacob's God will never shield me. Press secure with His defender and His will all folks surrender. What He takes or what He gives us shows the Father's love so precious. We may trust His purpose only, His His children's welfare solely. Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed.