Vincent Ball 0:32

Hello there. Today's message is called The Saying and It's Doing. And it's based upon James 2, 14-26 from the NIV version. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has not got but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, Go in peace, keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, You have faith, I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You will believe that there is one God, good, even the demons believe that and shudder. You foolish per person. Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scriptures are fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. In the same way was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in different directions. As a body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. I have titled my many sermon There's Saying and This Doing. I have got a cockerel and a ball tattooed on my shoulder, the result of a bottle of rum, a need a needle, Indian ink and a drunken friend with myself. I wasn't a Christian at the time. This silly mistake shows my so-called lasting allegiance to my granddad and my brother's football team, Tottenham Otsper. I've tagged along to a couple of Spurs matches during my lifetime, rarely watched them on TV and have brought no Spurs merchandise. Some would have faith in them, I don't know if I do. I have the tattoo, but do I really follow them? I profess to follow them, but where's my faithful deeds? Do some Christians in a vertical commons measure up in this way? The headings for my talk are unfaithfulness, faithless faithful. My first heading is unfaithful. This is a tricky passage. Everything in it cries out justification by works. I can see how some false religions interpret it as so, especially in the light of verse twenty four. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. Firstly, to address the balance, I want to draw attention to these verses elsewhere that speak clearly and concisely to justification by faith alone. Romans three twenty seven to twenty eight says Where then is boasting? It is excluded because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Ephesians two eight to nine says for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. So what does Scripture actually say then? Consider James two fourteen which says What good is it my brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? So what does scripture actually say then? Consider James two fourteen which says, What good is it my brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? I want to pick up on the word claim here. Some translations say declare or say. I think I can I claim I can claim to be a spurs follower, but most would probably call me unfaithful. Ask yourself what does faith look like? The Greek word for faith here is pistis. It means to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance, to believe in, to have confidence in, to have faith in, to trust. And this is what we must have in the Lord Jesus Christ. True faith, not a false claim, looks like a total reliance upon God, and it will manifest itself in various ways because we trust him. It will be a disciple. We want to read and apply the word, pray, be with other true believers, and act as they do. Feed and keep warm our own poverty brothers and sisters and deeds such like it will emulate Jesus. James in context is speaking to believers, the twelve tribes scattered scattered, seen in chapter one. Although we are to do good deeds for all, there's an emphasis on believers. Galatians six ten says therefore as we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Anyone who has true faith will recognise that prompting by the Holy Spirit to do a good work. Christ is the driving force for our good works. We shouldn't take credit. God should be glorified through them, not us. After all, as we have read, he gave us the faith in the first place. Left our own devices would we do them? Sometimes yes, used it our own edification. Without that prompting probably no. Sometimes we like to offer what is easy to offer, but when it comes to sacrifice, no that's a different thing. That's what Christ's death on the cross looked like, the ultimate selfless sacrifice, practicing what he preached and laying one's life down for another. It's quite possible that those who claim to have a faith simply don't have one. That's all it is, just a claim. It's dead, useless faith, faithless. As scripture teaches us in James 2 26, as a body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. But this is not saying deeds will save you. We will understand why later. My second heading is Faithless. Pharisees praying and babbling like the pagans for men to see and giving out their wealth for the acclamation before men. Even non-believers can produce good deeds, but are faithless in the Lord Jesus Christ. The distinctive difference between a non-believer and a believer producing good deeds is a believer gives all the glory to God and takes none for himself. Obedient total reliance in Christ and understanding our best efforts are not good enough in everything we do. This is saving faith and which will produce the deeds he yearns to see from us. This will produce faith by deeds, said in James 2 18. James showed that faith is faithless in reality without deeds and compares a faithless person to a demon who is truly faithless. And my last heading faithful. So what does true faith look like? Consider Genesis 15 verse 6. Abraham believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteous. And Hebrew 11 31. By faith the prostitute Rahab because she welcomed the spies, was not killed, with those who were disobedient. Both these examples show a tangible faith of trust, obedience and no self-reliance. Abraham believed and Rahab had faith, which produced righteous deeds. Consider James 2 24 again. We see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. Sounds just like justification by work, doesn't it? The Greek word for righteousness in James two twenty three is not the same as the word written in James two twenty four, where it says righteous. One speaks of being saved by God by faith, and the other vindication before men. Elsewhere in Scripture it clearly states that Abraham was justified before God by grace alone, through faith alone, and this does not contradict Paul's clear teaching for several reasons. James cannot mean that Abraham was made righteous before God because of his own good works. The reasons why one says James had already emphasized that salvation is a gracious gift in James 1 17. Two, in the midst of debatable passage of this debatable passage, verse 23, James quote Genesis 15, verse 6, which says that God create credited righteousness to Abraham just because of faith. 3. The justific justified work that James says Abraham did was offering up Isaac, which was an event that happened many years after he first exercised faith and was called righteous before God. Abraham's offering showed the authenticity of his faith and the reality of his justification before God. James is emphasizing the vindication before others of a person's claim to salvation. James' teaching complements Paul's writing. Salvation is determined by faith alone and demonstrated by faithfulness to obey God's will alone. So James is not saying you need works as well as faith to be saved, saved. He is saying it is a show of proof to others, not God, that you are real in your claim of faith. Think of it this way. How many good deeds must you do to gain salvation? Where is the cut off point? How many good deeds is enough? This thinking makes salvation so fragile. The quote John McArthur If you could lose your salvation you would. And who was the one who epitomized good deeds? The one who loved God and his neighbour perfectly, the Lord Jesus Christ, who showed the ultimate expression of deeds in action, was obedient unto God the Father by dying of death on the cross for us whilst we were still sinners, so that we may be justified by faith alone in Him alone, being made righteous by His perfect righteousness and being set free from sin. Going on to produce the works he has planned for us before creation, giving proof of our faith before others. So please, Christian, make your claim to faith real. Be faithful and full of deeds that glorify our Christ Jesus. Let us be good ambassadors for his namesake.