[0:00] Good evening. I want to thank each and every one of y'all for being out here and tonight. I know how easy it could have been to stay at home in this weather and the pastor's away, but I thank you and I applaud you for your faithfulness to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then to War Trace Baptist Church. Tonight I'm going to talk with you about faith.
[0:22] As we know that Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and 9 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no man may boast.
[0:36] And also in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 it says, And without faith it is impossible to please God. In 2 Corinthians 5 verse 7, For we walk by faith, not sight.
[0:48] So you have to ask yourself, well what is this type of life-saving faith? Well, James will explain it to you in great detail. If you turn with me to James chapter 2 verse 14.
[1:01] We'll read verse 14 through 26 of James chapter 2. I'll give you a minute to turn there. But what it talks about in these verses is that James makes us examine our own personal faith and ask these three questions when we do that.
[1:17] What kind of faith really saves a person? Is it necessary to perform good works in order to be saved? And number three, how can a person tell whether or not he is exercising true saving faith?
[1:30] So we'll get in this in chapter 2 verse 14 through 26 of James. And I'll start reading real quick. James chapter 2 verse 14 through 26.
[1:41] What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? I'm sorry? Can that faith save him?
[1:54] If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to him, Go in peace, be warned and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
[2:07] Verse 17. Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. Verse 18. But someone may well say, You have faith and I have works.
[2:21] Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19. You believe that God is one? You do well. The demons also believe and shudder.
[2:32] But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
[2:46] You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
[3:02] And he was called the friend of God. Verse 24. You see that a man is justified by works, not by faith alone. In the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way.
[3:20] For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we're just so grateful, Lord, to be here tonight, Lord, to open up your word and open up our hearts, Father.
[3:34] And Father, I just pray, Lord, that your message be clear tonight. Whatever you want each and every one of us to learn tonight, Lord, I just pray that it be revealed tonight, Father. And as it is revealed that we grasp hold of your word, Father, and take it out to the streets, to the schools, to the workplace, to the community, Father.
[3:52] And I pray that the people that we come in contact this week, Father, will see Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, in a mighty way, by our actions, by our words, and by our deeds. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
[4:04] So as you see right now, James is asking the questions, what use is it if someone says they have faith but no works?
[4:15] So he drills down and shows you different types of faith in these verses. And the three types of faith that he expresses here is three very different types of faith, but only one is true saving faith.
[4:30] In verse 14 through 17, he shows you what dead faith looks like. Verse 14 through 17, What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works?
[4:42] Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to him, go in peace, be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
[5:00] Even so, faith is, it has no works, is dead, being by itself. So what he's showing you here is dead faith. And what dead faith looks like, people with dead faith, and you know who they are, they say all the right things.
[5:14] They might be in and out of church. They might know the scripture. They might be able to carry on a Christian conversation. But they overcompensate their deeds with words.
[5:24] They say all the right things. And they talk very intelligent. And they know the word of God. It's not a doubt in my mind that they don't know the word of God. They can sound off scripture better than I can.
[5:36] But their deeds, their actions, don't match up with the word. That is dead faith. That is not saving faith. And that is what he's showing you right here.
[5:47] I can see the poor, hungry man walking in the church tonight, according to this man with dead faith. No clothing and hungry. He comes in to worship, and the member with dead faith noticed the man's needs.
[6:00] And he says a few choice words to make himself feel better. He says, go in peace. That sounds very religious, right? Go in peace. And he goes on to say, go in peace, be warmed and filled.
[6:15] And he even probably smiled at the poor man when he said that to him as he walked away from him. But how was that Christian love? How was that faith in action?
[6:27] How was that the fruit of an individual's faith? How did that benefit the poor man? How did that benefit the congregation? How did that benefit the Christian?
[6:38] How did that benefit Jesus Christ? By saying, hey, go. Be in peace. I wish you well. I wish you to get filled. But didn't do anything about it.
[6:48] That, brothers and sisters, is dead faith. And that is what James is talking about in verse 14 through 17. He's coming to you, and he's letting you know that just because someone says all the right things, if they don't prove it in action, their faith is dead.
[7:09] It is not a saving faith. And it says we see people every day, even in this community, that say all the right things, but they don't do nothing. You see their lives. You see how they act.
[7:20] But you see the words they say. But yet you see some of the things that they do that totally contradicts the word of God. That is intellectual dead faith, is what James is saying right here.
[7:36] And he had no pity on the man. And he didn't even, how can he show, by saying that, how did he display the love of God? By just saying, go ahead and I wish you well.
[7:49] That faith is dead faith. The Bible says in 1 John 3, 17, if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother in need, but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
[8:04] Do you understand what I'm saying between actions and words, dead faith and real true faith? The man with the dead faith, in verse 14 through 17, said all the right things, but he didn't match up with 1 John 3, 17.
[8:22] It says, if anyone has material possessions and sees a brother in need, but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? He didn't do one thing to help his mankind out.
[8:32] He didn't do one thing to help his brother out. He didn't even say, I'll pray for you. He just said, hey, I wish you well. Go in peace. Dead faith. And as we go on to verse 18, it says, but someone may well say, you have faith and I have works.
[8:48] Show me your faith without the works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe and shudder.
[8:59] So, here's another example of demonic faith. Demonic faith. That'll get your attention, won't it? Demonic faith in verse 18 and 19.
[9:12] Now, James alarms us by using an illustration. He shocks people when they realize that demons have faith as well. In Mark chapter 3, verse 11, it says, whenever the unclean spirits, the demons, saw him, talking about Jesus Christ, they would fall down before him and shout, you are the son of God.
[9:33] Even the demons know there's a Jesus Christ. But their faith is not saving faith. So, we see a man that says all the right things but does nothing.
[9:47] That faith is no good, right? According to James. He also shows us the demonic faith where they recognize Jesus Christ. They even call him holy. They even say he's the son of God.
[9:58] But yet, that's not saving faith. Brothers and sisters, our generation and our culture have got it all wrong. They believe that Jesus Christ has an identity crisis.
[10:11] And let me tell you, he doesn't have an identity crisis. It takes more than recognizing him to be saved by faith. He knows who he is. What did he tell Moses? Tell them, I am.
[10:23] Period. I am. He knows who he is. He doesn't have an identity crisis. A lot of people in the world today believe that if they recognize God as the Savior, Christ as the Savior, they're saved.
[10:34] That ain't what my Bible reads. I don't know about yours, but my Bible doesn't read that. My Bible reads that you become a servant of Jesus Christ when you have faith like a child and he becomes your Savior.
[10:46] But they don't tell you the rest of that. They just think if you say all roads go to heaven, yes, Jesus Christ loves everyone. And that's a true statement. But not everyone chooses to serve Jesus Christ. The demons didn't choose to serve him.
[10:59] They don't have saving faith. They recognize him. They said he's the son of man in Mark 3.11. But they don't serve him. Everybody knows where they're going. Hell was built for just them.
[11:11] Demons are not atheists nor agnostic. They believe in the Trinity. They know there's a Trinity. They believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And they believe in the deity of Christ.
[11:23] But they don't follow Christ. They recognize him. But we have people walking around this community today that think if they admit that there's a Jesus Christ, they're saved. And they are deceived by Satan himself.
[11:38] And this is the message that needs to be brought out to the community and to the people if we truly love them and truly have a burden for lost souls. It is more than just recognize who God is.
[11:54] James goes on to say in verse 19, you believe that there's one God. Good. Even the demons believe that and shudder. The demons believe that there's a God and when you mention his name, they shudder in fear.
[12:07] They tremble in fear because it's emotional. They know the outcome of their decision. But they choose not to follow. But you can't say they don't have faith because they do have faith.
[12:18] But their faith is not saving faith. The man with dead faith was touched only in his intellect. But the demons were touched also in their emotions.
[12:29] They believed and trembled. That is not saving faith. A faith that is barren is not a saving faith. A faith that is barren is not a saving faith.
[12:42] So let's go on. It gets better. In these verses, James shows us two different kinds of faith that can never save a sinner. The dead faith and James showed us that one. And the demonic faith and he showed us, gave us an example of that.
[12:55] But let's look at verse 20 to 26 and let's see this faith. Let's look at this type of faith. In verse 20 he says, But you are willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless.
[13:09] Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he offered up Isaac, his son, on the altar? Verse 22, You see that faith was working with his works.
[13:22] Catch that. Faith was working with his works. And as a result of the works, faith was perfected.
[13:34] Verse 23, And the scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. And he was called the friend of God.
[13:47] Verse 24, You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And the same way was not Rahab, the harlot. Everybody understands the story of Jericho, the wall coming down, right?
[13:59] The spies went out and Rahab helped him and she said, As long as you say, my family, I'll help you in any way I can. And she did, right? Her faith was called to action.
[14:10] She believed that God, the father, the God of Israel was the only true God. And so she acted on her faith in the one and true God. And her and her family was delivered out of Jericho.
[14:23] Rahab, the harlot, was also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way. For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
[14:38] So, we saw dead faith. We saw demonic faith. I keep messing that up. Now let's look at dynamic faith.
[14:50] James describes the only kind of faith that can save a sinner is dynamic faith. And you say, Mark, what kind of faith is that? Dynamic faith is the faith that has power.
[15:02] Dynamic faith is the faith that changes lives. It changed your life and it should change the lives around you. Dynamic faith is based on the word of God.
[15:13] James 1, chapter 1, verse 21 says, Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness in humility receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls.
[15:29] But prove yourself, verse 22, doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. So what James is saying here, he says, look at Adam, I mean, look at Abraham, look at Rahab.
[15:46] Their faith caused them to action. Their faith was the root of their salvation, but their works, their action was the fruit of their salvation.
[16:03] It's like trying to swim without getting wet. You can't do it. Okay? If you have true life-saving faith, you cannot sit back and not act upon it.
[16:16] It will not allow you because with true life-saving faith, it tells you right here, with true life-saving faith, it causes you to change.
[16:30] It causes you to act. It causes you to draw a line in the sand, if you will, and say, I can't go no further. It causes you to solely rely upon God and His Word and no longer rely on popularity, no longer rely on material things or promotions, no longer rely on reputation and friendship.
[17:03] True saving faith, the only thing you rely on is God. And that's what, that's what James is saying right here about Abraham and about Rahab.
[17:17] Their true life-saving faith caused them to act for God and His glory. That's the difference between dead faith, demonic faith, and dynamic faith.
[17:39] Many people will say, I believe, I believe, I believe. But the big question is, in whom do you believe in?
[17:52] What do you believe? That's the question. we are not saved by faith in faith.
[18:04] We don't say, yeah, I got faith, so I'm saved. Faith can't save you. The only thing that can save you is faith in Jesus Christ. You can have faith in Muhammad, you can have faith in Buddha, you can have faith in your spouse, you can have faith in your parents, you can have faith in anything and everything, but it won't save you.
[18:26] Only faith in Jesus Christ will save you. Only faith in Jesus Christ will change you. Only faith in Jesus Christ will give you power.
[18:37] Only faith in Jesus Christ will cause action. True saving faith leads to action. It leads to obedience. This obedience is not an isolated event.
[18:51] You don't get saved and do right for 30 days and all of sudden go back to your old ways. Now do you always fight with temptation? Does Satan always try to remind you of your past and always try to drag you back there?
[19:03] Absolutely. I'm not saying that when you have a life-saving faith with Jesus Christ your world is going to be smooth. The Bible tells it's totally different. He said they persecuted him they will persecute us.
[19:17] We forget that right? But yeah I'm reminded all the time of my flaws before I came to know Christ. I'm reminded of all my flaws since I've met Christ.
[19:29] But I don't live in that. And that's what it is. It's about saving faith that causes obedience. It's not an isolated event. It continues throughout the whole life.
[19:40] How many people do you know that claim to be Christians and when everything is going great you don't see them at church. Everything is going great you don't see them at all. But as soon as the bottom falls out and desperation comes up they're in church.
[19:52] As soon as they go through a nasty divorce or as soon as a family member is lost or any kind of desperation or bad or something horrible happens the first thing they do is come to church.
[20:04] And I'm like if that's the only way Christ can get you to church why do you think things keep God is your Savior He is your Lord He is the man God himself in the flesh that got on the cross for you and me and if you was the only one here on earth he would have still got on that cross that's who you have your faith in that's who we serve that's who has redeemed us and that kind of faith not only requires but it calls action you have to action on that you can't sit still if you realize that if it's in your heart and if it's in your soul and you believe with all your heart you can't sit still when you believe in that Abraham Rahab along with all the others in Hebrews chapter 11 were people with faith but people of action
[21:09] God spoke and they obeyed faith is not believing in spite of evidence faith is obeying in spite of the consequences think about that faith is obeying in spite of the consequences you go out here and put your faith in action you might be called a Jesus freak I know my kids when they were in high school they were Christians they claimed to be Christians and my daughter used to come home every Friday afternoon or every Monday afternoon disappointed because all her friends were doing all this other stuff but she never got invited because they knew she was a Christian and I said baby you only see them for four years of your life you keep doing what you're doing I'm telling you when you walk with Christ you will be shunned you will be an outsider because the world is not of us we're just pilgrims in this world but that's such a small price to pay to have eternity with the
[22:21] God in human flesh to get on the cross and get beaten and mocked and ridiculed for my sins that's a very small price to pay but this is true faith in action and unfortunately we still have church members today who fit the description given in Titus listen to this this broke my heart in Titus chapter 1 verse 16 they profess that they know God but in works they deny him think about that I tell you what really breaks my heart what really I have a burden about is and I hope it doesn't happen but I can't help but wonder there's people that come on Sunday mornings that are on their way to hell Sunday Sunday after Sunday after Sunday after Sunday they're at the church because it's the right thing to do their parents go there and they never met Jesus Christ they've heard about him they recognize him they know him but it says right here they profess that they know God but in works they deny him
[23:29] Titus 1 verse 16 that breaks my heart they might as well be in a bar they might as well be out there going to concerts and living worldly and doing all this other stuff because they went up in the same place and that breaks my heart brothers and sisters we are charged with sharing that gospel we are charged of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ someone had to share that with us for us to be here tonight think about that someone was faithful enough to Jesus Christ to take the time to share the gospel with you and I and look at what it has become our names are now written in the land's book of life we are guaranteed eternal salvation with the savior Jesus Christ if we have truly God saving faith it's time for us to do the same thing to share our faith our life changing dynamic powerful faith in Jesus
[24:40] Christ it's time to share that it's time to share that with our community it's time to share that with our workplace it's time to share that with our schools and not worry about the repercussions and not worry about being shunned away or not worry about being ridiculed or not worrying about if you have all the answers or somebody might know more about the word than you do you don't have to know scripture you just tell them how God changed you everyone's got their own testimony whether it be here at the altar or out in a field somewhere everybody that has been born again has a time when they encountered Christ and they surrendered to him and they were saved everybody has their own story that's all you got to share you don't have to be a Bible scholar but we get so intimidated of what we don't know that we don't share what has happened to us and why we do what we do and I'm telling you there's someone out there longing to hear for it we live in a broken world we live in a world of desperation we live in a lonely world people are in crowds and all alone and they need the gospel of Jesus
[25:58] Christ they need someone to just say hey I don't know everything I don't know half these verses I don't even know all the books of the Bible but I can tell you what God did in my life that's all you got to be able to do is tell them what he done in your life so the question is after we looked over these three faiths what type of faith do you have do you act a certain way around certain people is your faith superficial is your faith determining who you're associated with at that time have you truly repented turned away from your sins and trusted Christ alone for your salvation do you enjoy a living relationship with Christ through the word when was the last time you sat down and read I'm talking to myself tonight guys I'm telling you right now this ain't all y'all this is me too when was the last time you went to him privately in prayer and talked to him do you enjoy a living relationship with
[27:05] Christ has there been a change in your life if there's been no change there's been no Christ now understand some people got saved earlier in life I got saved at 26 years old and I was a man of this world and I was very good at being a man of this world and I had a dark life so when I the word of God now and not off the world or off of popularity or off of friends you you base your decisions off of what God says that's the change we're talking about you don't go with the flow you go with God can you say your life's been changed because that is powerful saving faith can others tell that you have been with
[28:17] Jesus faith is the only way we can please God says it in scripture you can't please God without faith faith is the root of your salvation it is the root of your salvation you won't receive salvation without faith I can tell you that let's get that over with without faith in Jesus Christ there is no salvation salvation but works is the proof or the fruit of your salvation does that make sense I hope I'm making sense your name will never be written on you can't work your way onto the land's book of life your faith in Jesus Christ alone will get your name written in the land's book of life but once that happens you can't sit!
[29:10] still your actions must be the fruit of your salvation you can't have it either other way it's a package deal if you walk with Christ the things you do will glorify Christ if you don't walk with Christ the things you do will not glorify Christ it's that simple so I ask you right now does your actions glorify your Savior like I said earlier so many people will try to wiggle it to where faith compliments them and they got it all wrong your faith should be complimenting Christ your faith should be expressing the things of Christ your faith should be lifting him up and the way we lift him up is by loving others is by serving others by putting ourselves last we don't have to worry about ourselves like
[30:22] Billy Joe says so many times and he says it so brilliantly we don't have to worry about us God's got us so we don't have to worry about what's going to happen to us he's already it's his responsibility we have to worry about those around us we have to worry about those that we come in contact with you might be the only person due to your relationship with somebody that can actually reach someone for Jesus Christ but if you don't have that dynamic powerful life changing faith you're going to fail and so is the people around you they're going to fail so I challenge you tonight brothers and sisters if you don't have that faith don't leave tonight without it please because there's members here that will love on you there's members here that will rejoice with you the Bible tells me that angels in heaven rejoice when a sinner comes to the saving knowledge of
[31:25] Jesus Christ everybody is on your side so don't be ashamed or afraid to come to Christ you just throw Satan behind your back and say get away from me I'm moving forward because I remember when I was back there and I was being called by the Holy Spirit to come forward I was like I'll be so embarrassed but then my wife looked at me I was crying she looked at me I wasn't raised in church she was she looked at me and said it's okay so she said it's okay she didn't say what's wrong with you she said it's okay and I took my first step by myself but I can tell you I haven't walked another step by myself since Jesus Christ has been with me every step of the way and he will be there for you every step of the way as well but you got to get that faith that draws action that faith that says he is everything and I am nothing that's the faith that's the powerful life changing saving faith that
[32:33] James is talking about in chapter 2 verse 14 through 26 these questions tonight that were asked they're personal questions only you can make those decisions only you know the answers to those questions and only you should know the answers to those questions but I'm telling you tonight if you don't have that personal life changing faith in Jesus Christ please tonight don't leave without it do not leave without it told you we get out here early that's what I do I say what I got to say and I get out of the way let Jesus Christ take over so we're going to go ahead and stand Trish is going to have the altar call and brothers and sisters please come to this altar for anything and everything Christ is waiting on you he's waiting!
[33:27] on you and He wants to! be with!! If you're able would you stand and turn to page 644 count your blessings 644 When upon life's billows you are tempted to cost when you are discouraged thinking all is lost count your many blessings name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done count your blessings name them one by one count your blessings see what
[34:30] God hath done count your blessings name them one by one count your many blessings see what God hath done are you ever burdened with a load of care does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear count your many blessings every doubt will fly and you will be singing as the days go by count your blessings name them one by one count your blessings see what God hath done count your blessings name them one by one count your many blessings see what
[35:34] God hath done yeah yeah each and one of y'all to be a thanks for being here tonight for the time I actually pray to pray to pray to a good day today father pray all of you thanks to us come together in your house father to celebrate your good day today father and your heart!
[36:03] father heart and let him if he asked what door to the jail your friend that they travel down through burning and ask him to all the knowledge he can bring back and share the look father we thank you let us be here as Christians together and those that are not walking in and know!
[36:26] We ask you to lead us to those! us be able to prophesy to them let them know how good and how great it is to be a Christian and to know that one day we will get the life of this father yes you go with us now who is sweet who goes with every right factory once tonight and any of our other brothers sisters that are traveling and not here father!
[36:57] He asked!!!! you're going to ask all things to thank you for all things to you daddy Thank you.
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