Living Faith

All right. Well, we’re going to go into our message this morning. If you have your Bibles, let’s turn to James chapter 2. We have been in a study on the book of James. We’ve been going through it verse by verse, and it’s been a wonderful time together. We’re going to start in James chapter 2, and I would like to read this out loud together. We’ll just read the first verse: James chapter 2, starting at verse 14. You can follow along on screen if you don’t have your Bible this morning. Can we read this out loud together? It says this:

“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?”

The heartbeat of James

We’re going to go through this portion of Scripture, and really we’re coming into the heartbeat of the book of James. There’s been a lot of encouragement to the early church to stay the course, to count it all joy when you face trials and temptations, and really how to practically apply your faith — how to practically apply Christian living. And I don’t know about you, but I like practical books. Does anybody else like practical advice? Sometimes I get advice and it’s like, “Did you even answer my question?” The book of James really shows us what it means to live a life that is genuine, in response to what we’ve received through Jesus.

And so it comes here in verse 14, and James writes, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?” So James is directly addressing this tension that exists within the church. It existed then; it exists to this day. Really, what does it mean to receive and to walk in salvation?

Many would say about this portion of Scripture, “Well, we’re saved by grace through faith. It’s a gift.” And we hear these words of James, and it sounds like there’s this contradiction. But it’s our responsibility as believers, and especially as preachers or teachers, that we would rightly divide the word of truth, and that we would reconcile the word of truth. I think too often in church, believers will cancel out scriptures because they don’t like what it says. They don’t think it reconciles or agrees, and so they cancel out Scripture. But how many of you know that’s not the instruction? The instruction is to reconcile it. Scripture cannot disagree with itself. And so there is this reconciliation that should be taking place.

So there’s a lot of tension in this portion of the book of James, and to ease that tension, I would like to just welcome the Lord and pray. Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your Word. Holy Spirit, we ask that You would lead us, Lord, that we would receive a word from heaven, a word from You today. Lord, we don’t need the words of man. Lord, we need Your Word, Your truth, Your life. And so we receive it by faith today, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Can that kind of faith save?

And so James is addressing something. He believes it’s impossible to genuinely have saving faith but to not have works as an evidence of that faith. And so James asks the question, and it’s a valid question: can that kind of faith actually save a man? It says, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?” In other words, if our faith is in words only, but it lacks the action, if it lacks the demonstration, can that kind of faith save him? And so James is giving a clear picture of what true faith should look like.

And the title of the message today is “Living Faith.” Everybody say that: “Living faith.” What does it mean to have faith that is alive? I don’t know about you, but if I’m confessing Jesus as my Savior, if I’m saying I’m a Christian, if I’m trying to walk a life that is pleasing and honoring to Him, I don’t want to have faith that is dead. I want to have faith that is alive. Faith that is flourishing. Faith that is bringing life. And in this case, James is even saying salvation itself.

And I want us to remember who James is writing to. James is writing to an early Jewish church. In fact, it’s considered that James was one of the first New Testament books written, probably about ten years after the ascension of Jesus into heaven. He’s writing to an early Jewish church that had discovered this newfound freedom in Christ. There was this strict religious law that they were to follow — and not only was it the Ten Commandments; there were actually over thousands of laws. I think Pastor Larry could give me the exact number. Do you know it off the top of your head? Okay, there you go: 613. There were 613 laws that they had to follow. Let’s thank Pastor Larry. Thank you, buddy. That’s amazing. You’re my ChatGPT. Six hundred thirteen. Okay, that’s a lot of rules.

And so this Jewish church is coming off of that, having tried to follow every rule, every jot, every tittle, and they could not do it. And so there was this newfound grace that they had received in Jesus. And now there was almost this opposite extreme that was happening. They were saying things like, “Well, I’m saved, and I have this freedom in Jesus.” And that’s true. But there was no act or demonstration of that saving grace in their life. And so in this newfound freedom, James is saying, listen, don’t discount the place of good works, because good works should be an evidence of the faith and the grace that you have received.

Maybe you guys have seen a movie, or maybe you’ve heard a song, and you were like, “It changed me. It changed my outlook on life. It inspired me. It did something in me.” You see, when you really believe something, it changes the way you do things. It changes how you approach things. And so James is asking a very valid question. He’s saying, “You’ve received this grace. You’ve received this salvation. It should look like something.” Don’t allow this just to be in word only. Don’t allow this just to be in title only. Too many people say they’re Christians, but they’re not actually doing what Jesus did. They’re not actually following the teaching and the instruction of Jesus.

Did you know to be a Christian means to be Christlike? Did you know that’s what that means? So when we say, “I’m a Christian,” that’s a bold statement. That means I am doing everything I can. I am yielding my life to Him, and I am following Him as best I can, to become like Him. And that’s a good goal.

Saved by grace, created for good works

And so James is addressing something that is very serious. Now, as I was just mentioning, some believe that this statement is a contradiction to Paul, who clearly writes that salvation is by faith and not by works. And I actually want to pull up that scripture. Ephesians 2:8 — this is what Paul says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” Somebody say amen. Aren’t you thankful that you don’t have to earn your salvation? Thank You, Lord. None of us would measure up. None of us are good enough. There is no pastor, there is no Christian, there is no grandma who prays every night on her knees — there is no one good enough to earn their salvation.

And Paul is saying it’s by grace. It’s a free gift of God that you have been saved, through faith — through believing in that gift and believing in what Jesus has done. And it says, “and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” But notice verse 10. It says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for” — what? — “for good works.” So notice Paul is also marrying this understanding: yes, we receive salvation. It’s a free gift. It’s through faith in what Jesus has done on the cross. But it should lead to good works. Everybody say “good works.” It should lead to something.

I heard a quote, and I don’t remember where it’s from, so don’t ask me. But I remember they said, “Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone.” It has good works with it. Paul writes this in Titus 3:8. He says, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain” — what? — “good works.” And so it sounds to me like Paul is very much echoing what James is saying here. Listen: if your faith is in words alone and you aren’t actually demonstrating that faith, if that’s not something that you’re living outside of the church, if you say one thing but you do another, then you’re really contradicting yourself. Can that kind of faith actually save you? Valid question.

More than thoughts and prayers

Look at verse 15. He’s talking about the importance of living faith, and he gives us examples of dead faith. In other words, this is the kind of faith we don’t want. Verse 15, James says, “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

And so here James is not condemning salvation by faith. He’s condemning those who have a hope of salvation through dead faith. And James gives us this very practical picture of what genuine faith looks like, and he uses the example of meeting the needs of others. How many of you know that is a way to demonstrate our love for others — to meet the needs? Not just to say, “Well, you know what? T’s and P’s. I’m praying for you.” You guys know what that means? Thoughts and prayers. Okay. Yeah, T’s and P’s. That’s become this common response when someone’s going through a difficult time, or there’s some tragedy or some hurt. They’ll say, “Hey, I’m praying for you. Thoughts and prayers.”

How many of you know there’s nothing wrong with praying? You thought that was funny? There’s nothing wrong with praying for people. In fact, we should pray for people. Yes. But if we are using our prayers as a substitute for our action, there’s a problem. If we just leave it at, “I’m just praying for you,” but there is something that we could do to actually help our brothers and sisters, there’s a gap there. And too often we use our thoughts and our prayers, and we say these things because they sound nice, or it sounds like the Christian thing to do, or that’s the extent of the love that we show. But how many of you know our actions matter? And so if we fail in the most simple good works toward our brother and sister in need, James is saying we don’t have a living faith. And only a living faith in Jesus Christ can actually save us.

I love this, because James is saying that our living faith is more than just your daily habits of reading Scripture. It’s more than just prayer or spiritual things. There really is a practical side to our faith in Christ Jesus. It’s not just in words. It’s not just in spiritual disciplines — although you could say loving and meeting the needs of others is a spiritual practice — but it’s very practical. Amen.

Verse 17, James says, “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” And so a living faith is simply a real faith. As I said, if we really believe something, then we will follow through with it. We will follow up on it. If we really put our faith in Jesus, we will demonstrate it. We’ll carry it. We will care for those who are in need. We will meet the needs of others. And so what we want as believers, and as people in this church, is a real faith, a living faith, and a saving faith. Somebody say amen.

Marks of a living faith

I made this list of marks of a living or real faith. If we can put this slide up, we’ll kind of go through this. I’m a very visual person. If you just tell me a list, I can’t. But if I can read it, I’ve got it. Okay. These are marks of a living or a real faith.

Number one: it is faith that looks not to self but to Jesus Christ. Isn’t that good? That’s our starting point. We can’t look to ourselves to save ourselves. We can’t look to anything outside of Jesus to bring salvation to our lives. Somebody say amen. We can’t look to our good works. We can’t say things like, “Well, I’m better than most people,” or, “I’m a pretty good person.” That is not salvation. That’s a value. If you want salvation, look no further than Jesus, the Son of the living God. He is awesome.

Number two: it is faith that agrees with God’s Word, both inwardly and with words. Sometimes I think we’ll nod our heads in church, but are we saying the same thing when we have our conversations through the week, whether it’s in our workplace or with friends? Are we actually agreeing verbally with the Word of God?

Number three: it is faith that believes that God is true and that God speaks truth. God cannot lie. It is faith that is grounded in what Jesus did on the cross and affirmed by the empty tomb. He is risen. It is faith that will naturally be expressed in repentance and good works. If you don’t know what repentance is, repentance is, number one, acknowledging that there is sin in your life, admitting that it is sin, and bringing that to Jesus, receiving forgiveness, and saying, “I’m not going to do that anymore.” You are turning 180 degrees. It is a complete turn from my old ways, my old behavior, and going toward the things that God has for me. That’s true repentance.

Where was I? Let’s go to the next slide. It is faith that may sometimes doubt, yet the doubts are not bigger than the faith, nor are they more permanent than the faith. This faith can say, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” In other words, we may have doubts, but we say, “I am so determined in who You are. I choose to believe what You say, even though I don’t fully understand. Lord, help my unbelief.”

It is faith that wants others to come to the same faith. This is so key. How many of you know this is important? Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give.” What kind of selfishness would it be if we have received so great a salvation and we held it to ourselves? You see, true faith, living faith, wants others to receive what you have so freely been given.

It is faith that says more than “Lord, Lord,” as Jesus described in Matthew 7:21. This is one of the tough scriptures. Jesus says many will come to Him in that day, the day of judgment, and they will say, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name? Have we not done many wonders in Your name?” And what will Jesus say? “Depart from Me; I never knew you.” How many of you know Jesus is so much more interested in your heart, and in time with you, than in what you can do? It is about knowing Him.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — I said it before service in a conversation — the single greatest achievement in life is loving Jesus and growing in that love. If you can actually know what it means to know His love, to respond to His love by loving Him, everything else falls into place. You want to be a good husband or wife? Love Jesus. You want to be a good father or mother? Love Jesus. You want to be a good employee? Love Jesus. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Too often we make the emphasis everything else other than Jesus. But Jesus says, “No, I am the true vine, and those who abide in Me will bear much fruit.” He’s the ultimate. How many of you believe that today? He’s the true source.

And it is faith that not only hears the Word of God, but does it, as in Matthew 7:24–27. That’s also part of the first part of James, as we’ve gone through. So these are marks of living faith.

Even the demons believe

Look at verse 18 of James 2. It says, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’” James responds to that and says, “Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble!”

You see, James immediately goes to the argument that someone might say, “Well, I have the gift of helps. I like to do things. I like to serve people.” But another person might say, “I have the gift of faith.” And how many of you know there are real giftings? But it is the responsibility of every believer to not just be in word only, but in action, to have true demonstration. And he gives this example: you do well, but listen, even the demons believe. How many of you know it’s not enough to believe in God to have salvation? Did you know that? Because the demons believe and acknowledge that God exists, but their faith is dead. Why? Because they don’t do the things of the Father. They don’t have the love of the Father in them. They’re not doing the good works. And so it’s not just enough to believe. We must first believe and receive, and then become more like Him. You can believe in God, but every demon in hell believes in God.

Abraham and Rahab

And so what is an example of living faith? Let’s look at verse 20. It says, “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.”

This is a fascinating example, because in verse 21 it says, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?” Now, that was in Genesis 15. Many of you probably know the story. God had made a promise to Abraham: “I’m going to make you the father of many nations.” This was an impossibility, because he was well advanced in age. But he believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness. And then one day God speaks to him and He says, “I want you to take your son that I have given you, your only son Isaac, and I want you to take him up Mount Moriah, and I want you to sacrifice him to Me.” And so this was a symbolism — what is it called? Say it again. That is what I’m trying to say: a Christophany. Isaac was a representation of the Father giving Jesus, His Son, for us as a sacrifice.

And so Abraham determines in his heart — he believed God so much. Now, we just went through the book of Hebrews, and Hebrews 11 says the reason he was able to do it is because he believed that God would raise him from the dead. He said, “I know what God has said. I know what He has promised. And I believe Him so much that I will do whatever He says, and even if it doesn’t make sense, I believe that He will even raise my son from the dead.” And so Abraham goes up Mount Moriah, and Isaac is carrying the wood on his back to be sacrificed on. And as Abraham lifts the knife to sacrifice his son, God says, “Stop. Stop. Stop. What are you doing?”

But there was something in his heart that God considered full obedience. You could argue, “Well, he didn’t actually sacrifice his son. God stopped him from doing that.” And that is true. But at the same time, there was such an obedience and such a determination in his heart to be obedient to the Father that, James is saying, God considered that full obedience. Does that make sense? If I ask my son to do something and he is about to go and do it, but then I interrupt and say, “No, you don’t need to do that,” was he obedient? Yes, he was. There was a determination in his heart.

And so this is why James can say in verse 22, “Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?” Faith and works cooperated perfectly together in the life of Abraham. How many of you enjoyed some of the testimonies that we had last week — the powerful moves of God? You heard it again and again and again: God would give instruction. He would speak to His children, and as they walked it out, as they believed, as they walked in obedience, the promise came to pass. And this is what James is saying. Listen, it’s not enough just to believe. You have to do something with it. You have to walk it out. And when you marry those together, your faith is perfected. How many of you know that sounds like living faith? Amen.

If you missed those testimonies, you should go back and listen to those. The whole service was testimonies of God’s healing, of miracles, of signs and wonders. How many of you know He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever? He’s the same. And there were miracles — I know them well — miracles in their lives that they didn’t even get to, because we ran out of time. I was like, we need to follow up on that.

All right. And so Abraham’s faith was perfected. It was proven true and completed by his obedient works. He says in verse 24, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” When James says “faith only,” what he’s really saying is we’re not justified when our faith is dead. Our faith must be alive. True faith, living faith demonstrated by good works, leads to salvation.

Works must accompany genuine faith, because genuine faith is always connected with sanctification. When you make Jesus the Lord of your life — sometimes the gospel gets presented as though Jesus is going to fix all your problems, and that’s just not the way it works. Very often the things that we brought in, the things that we carry, the struggles, the stuff — when we receive Jesus, we’re reborn, but there are still some of those realities that we still face. But how many of you know there is a process of becoming more like Him, and that’s called sanctification? And a part of works is doing the things that Jesus did, to become more like Him.

And Scripture is very honest: we will never be perfect until we see Him face to face — that’s talking about when we come to Him in heaven. But there is the process in life of sanctification, where really the dead things in our lives fall off. Maybe some of the addictions, the bondages — we are able to overcome and to shed those things off, because we’re no longer dead. We are alive in Christ Jesus. And because we receive His Spirit, His Spirit gives us strength to overcome those things. Amen.

And so when you give your life to Jesus, listen, it should be life-changing. It should literally change your life. You are taking the first step into a journey of life with Him and powerful moves of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because you’re no longer dead in your sin. You’re alive in Him. And now there is something in you that can receive the things of God, hear the things of God, be led by the Holy Spirit Himself to live a life that is pleasing to Him. Does that make sense? Okay. And so there’s a quote from Spurgeon. He says this: “The grace that does not change my life will not save my soul.” The grace that does not change my life will not save my soul. And so we need to have living faith, faith that is evidenced by action in our life.

Verse 25 says, “Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” It’s funny, because Abraham was very much considered a hero of the faith to the Jewish church. He was the father of the nation. And then there’s this other end of the spectrum that James used, and it’s Rahab, who was a harlot. She was a prostitute. It was almost as though James was identifying both a Jewish example and a Gentile, non-Jewish example. And really what he’s saying is, this is for everybody. This isn’t an exclusion. This isn’t just for the super-religious. Everyone should live this way.

And so here was Rahab, who identified that the God of Israel was the true God, and she knew, “I must do something to help them get out of this mess.” And so she hides the messengers, and she covers for them, so that there could be victory in battle. She demonstrated her faith in the reality of a living God by the way she took in the spies in her own house and covered for them. And so James is giving this example that real faith, real belief, will do something. And if we really believe in God, we will do whatever He tells us to do.

A body without the spirit

And then in verse 26 he says this: “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” The body without the spirit — this is talking about a corpse, right? If there is no spirit in the body, our body is just a shell. It’s just the exterior clothing, almost, of our spirit, of who we truly are. And when the spirit leaves the body, you’re left with nothing but a corpse. And James is making the correlation: listen, if you have faith but there are no works, you have a corpse of faith.

How many of you would say, “I want to have faith that is alive in Him”? But it requires a heart of humility. It requires a heart that says, “Lord, I’m not going to just let this be in word only. I’m going to do it Your way.” That means whatever You say goes, even if I don’t fully understand, even if I don’t know. “Lord, would You help me to understand?” God is not intimidated by your questions. He’s not intimidated. He will gladly show Himself to you if you have a heart that would be humble enough to say, “Lord, I want to know You. I want to know who You are.” And then the Holy Spirit comes, and what does Scripture say about the Holy Spirit? He leads us into all truth. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Listen, this is who God is. He has great love for us. He has shown great grace and great compassion for those who receive Him. How many of you know it should look like something in our lives? Amen.

Let’s go ahead and stand, and I’m just going to pray over us as we conclude our time this morning. Let’s just bow our heads and close our eyes.

Lord, we thank You for Your Word. Lord, we thank You that Your Word is life. It shows us things; it prunes us and corrects us, Lord. It helps us stay the course, because so often in our lives we go astray in our hearts. We go astray in our minds, Lord. We are consumed by the things that we want to see, the things we want to know, and we miss the things that You are speaking to us. But Lord, we come to You today with humble hearts that say, “Yes, Lord. Lord, do what You want to do in my life.”

Lord, I pray that You would do a work in us, that You would give us clarity and an understanding of how to have a living faith, Lord Jesus. Lord, that we wouldn’t just have a faith that is in words only, but that we would humbly come to Your Word, receive it, and then go and do it, Lord Jesus. Lord, that we would hold nothing back, but that we would live lives that are fully surrendered to You. Lord, we give You the glory. We give You the honor. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.