Transcript

Well, grab your Bibles and let’s go back to James. We’ve been looking at the, ah, New Testament book of James for a long time now on Sunday night and, ah, I can’t stop looking at it, alright? So we’re gonna keep looking at it and, um, a little song, a little chorus said to make me more like Christ. Well, what’s Christ like? People talk about, “I want to love the way Jesus loves.” Well, how does he love? “I want to care like Jesus cares.” Well, how does he care? “I want to have compassion the way Jesus has compassion.” Well, how does he have compassion? Be careful, be careful that you let your natural, um, conclusions about what Jesus is like be the definition for what Jesus is like. Um, all through the New Testament Gospels as we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, he continues to do shocking unexpected things. He’s, he’s just not your pet Jesus. He’s not up to, um, being subjective to our feelings and our viewpoints. I, I’ve met people throughout my life in ministry who had these deep sentimental feelings about Jesus because they’ve created this, ah, ah, human sense of how Jesus is, how he’s compassionate, how he loves when really he’s not that way at all sometimes.

He contradicts us but when you think on it, aren’t you glad? Aren’t you glad he’s not just a little better form of you? Not just a little more perfect image or version of you? No, he’s, he’s radically unique and that’s why I pitch out to you very often the concept of God’s holiness; that, um, this mysterious awesome aspect of our God, he’s holy, ah, which includes that in every way he made us like him, he’s yet infinitely superior to us and then he has all these other attributes that are radically different from us. You just can’t put him under your thumb, you can’t put him under your microscope, you can’t see him through a telescope, he’s beyond and the only way you can begin – now listen to me – begin to grasp who Christ really is, is if he enables you by his Spirit through the Gospel to begin to see him truly. Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Unless you’re born from above, you cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Now we come to James 2 and remind yourself that James is a local church pastor. He, he’s getting down to brass tacks. He’s functioning where the rubber meets the road. He, he wants to, ah, he wants his church to live out right and he’s dealing with some compromisers in the church. As a matter of fact, he makes it very clear he’s dealing with some people who got in on the rah-rah of, of maybe the day of Pentecost and exciting things that were happen, and joined up with the church but they’re not really of the church, and he’s dealt with a bunch of things. You know, he’s already dealt with the fact that, ah, there’s some of you who seem to be so prone to show partiality to the rich man, the man that comes in and has got a lot of wealth, you just kinda fawn all over him but you kinda ignore the poor man when he comes in. His point was that’s not Christianity. That’s not true faith living itself out in, in, in, in the inner course of human relationships, especially in the church. And now he’s gonna talk about what does saving faith really look like? Now I know we’ve looked at this before but, to me, it’s one of the most powerful insightful things I’ve ever seen when the light finally went off and I grasped what the Scripture is saying.

And here’s the thing, it’s not that it’s hard to see what it’s saying, it’s just that we typically come from way over here, from this perspective, our subjective perspective, instead of where the text really is, and we’ll look at it, let’s read it together and we’ll look at it in just a moment. I’ll not keep you long tonight and I know you’ve had a long day, you’ve had your meeting and you’re getting small groups started and, um, I, I, I don’t want you to grow weary in well-doing, alright?

James 2:14,

14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “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? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being [of itself or] by itself. 18 But someone may well say, “Well, you have faith and I have works; 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. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected [or brought to its end]; 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. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 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? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Now I remember so distinctly as a very sincere, very zealous new believer and even many years later through the ministry, how I was in a confusion, a fog about what does this text mean, and primarily the part about it that you can have faith but it’s not real saving faith, and do you have the works that shows that you do have true saving faith? And I quite honestly, I, I, I was grieved over it. I was troubled over analyzing that and analyzing my own life. It’s like, “Well, what kind of works are these? Do I perform enough of these works? Do I do enough of the right works? To whom am I supposed to perform these works?” And my mind would go, “Well, am I to help that dear widow lady down the street? Is that a good work that shows I’m saved? Do I feed the homeless man that’s living on the side of the road? Do I donate more money to a charity that helps orphans? Do I give more money to starving children in Africa? Do I need to call my mom more and look after her more and maybe be better to my wife and my kids?” This would just go on and on in my mind and, of course, you know the answer. You know the answer for you, don’t you? On so many of those points you’d say, “Yeah, I probably coulda done better. I probably could have done more.” And so I found myself in this cyclical state like a dog chasing my tail almost about, “Am I doing enough? Are my works right enough? Are they true enough that I really can be assured that I have saving faith?” Actually, to be honest, I, I felt like a failure. I remember one time debating with myself about, “Can I have a dog and feed that dog when I could use that money to help somebody that’s hungry?” It’s just, it’s just an endless morbid introspection of, “Am I working enough? Am I faithful enough? Am I serving enough? Do I have saving faith?”

And then the light went on because it’s so radically obvious in the text. But now, this is one of those texts that, um, ah, the liberal and the secularist loves to get on to point out their social programs and their promotion of communism and socialism, about caring for all mankind, etc. etc. And sure, every Christian should care for all mankind but the real key to the works that show whether or not you know Christ, is revealed in verse 15. If you miss verse 15, you can throw the whole rest of this thing away. It makes no sense, you’ll never come to a conclusion, you’ll never see where James is coming from if you miss verse 15. “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Well, 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? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” A brother or sister. This is talking about the work of loving, caring for and meeting the needs of brothers and sisters in Christ. Now who was this written to? It’s written to local churches. So overwhelmingly so this is talking about those brothers and sisters in Christ in your local church who have need.

Now understand the context. This is the church, ah, made up of Hebrew believers, who are being, ah, ah, viciously, ah, ah, deeply persecuted. They, they’re hurting. Literally scores of Christians needed a coat for their back. Literally scores of Christians needed a meal to eat. They needed a place to stay. And his point is, “You know if you’re a believer or not when the church is going through that, when your brothers and sisters are suffering that way, and you kind of sort of give a blind eye and a deaf ear to their need. You don’t have the kind of faith that makes a man a Christian. You’re missing true saving faith. It’s evidenced by the fact that you don’t have the work of caring for your local church family.”

And how powerful that was because it was so distinctively clear when I became a Christian, there was birthed in me this stirring of, um, being drawn to other Christians in my church, rejoicing in fellowshiping with them, hearing the word preached with them, and wanting to perform some kind of service unto them. Well, well, that, that aspect of your heart, sometimes the Puritans called it a germ, at least you have the germ of that love for other believers if you’re a true Christian. I like to call it a seed because you’ve gotta be careful we’re at different stages of our growth and our development, but that is the clear issue here.

And notice it’s balanced out throughout Scripture. For example, or, or the truth of it is, is continued throughout Scripture. Galatians 6:10, the Bible tells us to, ah, “Do good to all men as you have opportunity.” Now notice that, as you have opportunity as a Christian, you’re gonna try to do good for all men but especially the household of the faith, especially you have a love and a service and a ministry and works you want to perform for your brothers and sisters in your church.

Galatians 13:35, ah, “All men will know you’re My disciples if you have love one another,” not love for mankind in general. We have that, that’s not what the text is saying. It’s saying there’s a special love for other believers.

1 John 3, um, 14, “We know we’ve passed out of death into life, because we love people.” No, “because we love the brethren.” It’s very specific. Very specific.

Can I challenge you right now? Do you have that in your heart that says, “You know, I’m drawn to those folks that love Christ. I especially wanna be around them. I, I love worshiping with them and if one of them’s hurting and like in this context of this local church, especially if they’re hurting because they’re Christians in a, in a, in a culture that’s, um, begun to persecute you if you claim to follow Christ, I’m especially want to be there for you. I, I, I don’t care what it cost me. I don’t care if I may go through suffering and persecution for being associated with you. You’re my brothers and sisters in Christ. We love our Savior. We’re together for eternity and I want to help take care of you in your time of need.” He said that’s the work, the work that comes out of that kind of changed heart is the evidence that you have true saving faith.

When you are truly converted, I like to say it this way, you join a local church, you’ve taken a wife, you’ve taken an obligation, you’ve taken a duty. A man takes a wife and he may do good for a lot of people. He may care and be a generous man in the community but he makes sure he takes care of his wife and the Bible would tell you if that’s not where you start, you’ve missed everything. All your other good works don’t matter if you neglect your wife. Well, you’re spiritually speaking, your wife is your local church and so what he’s pointing out here, if that’s not real in you, if a brother or sister is without these things and you turn them away, here’s Paul, here’s James’s statement, “Can that faith save you? Whatever faith you claim you have, if that’s the way it works itself out, if you don’t have a love and devotion to brothers and sisters in Christ, chiefly above all others.” And actually, now sometimes people have a hard time with this, they just need to understand what the word of God teaches and let the Spirit give them understanding, and that is you actually love your brothers and sisters in Christ more than your blood relatives if they don’t know Christ. Now it doesn’t mean you don’t love your blood relatives, but it just means there’s an abiding continual devotion to Christian brothers and sisters that lasts for time and eternity.

Ah, Matthew 25. Turn over to Matthew 25 and this is another text. Oh, it just aggravates, can I just be honest, the stew out of me to hear liberals, liberal theologians, liberal politicians quote this verse to try to set up a foundation of caring for all. “We’ve gotta be globalists. We’ve gotta care for all of the hurting people all over the world.” Well, of course we have concern for that and, and, and out country has been one that has a phenomenal record of spending billions of dollars to help other people in other countries. Of course, as we can we would do that, but that kind of, um, compassion and caring and love is not, not what James 2 is saying and that kind of compassion and caring and love for the world at large is not what Matthew 25 is saying. Be consistent with the context of what the text is saying.

Ah, Matthew 25:31, we’ll just blitz through here. “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, and He sits on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.” There are some folks who wanna pin Jesus down to love the way they think real love and compassion ought to be, needs to understand that there are those that Jesus calls goats and those that Jesus calls sheep. It doesn’t mean the Bible doesn’t teach Christ has a great love for all mankind, he does, but there is a special love for his sheep and we have his Spirit. That’s why we have a special love for his sheep, but we do love all men.

Verse 33, “He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'” In other words, you’re gonna get to go to a kingdom that was prepared for you, and I’d like to suggest that’s personally specifically prepared for you from the foundation of the world. You know what I say about that? Wow! Not because you did something and procured God’s favor, but God had something prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Verse 35, he said, “You had these works in your life that made it clear that you were one of those who was truly Mine.” Verse 35, “I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in.” Again, the context is persecution and in the persecution here are these followers of Jesus Christ suffering and he says to these folks, “You were always there to care for those brothers and sisters who were suffering.”

Verse 36, “‘ naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine,'” not mankind, that’s not what the text is saying, other true believers, other members of the true church of Jesus Christ, others who are of the elect, others who are inheriting the kingdom given to them, pledged to them from the foundation of the world. For us today, others who are in the church with us. To the extent that you showed this special love, concern, care, compassion and ministry to other Christians, even the least of them, even those that didn’t seem to be all that important to God’s work, he said, if you did it to those true Christians, you did it to me. That’s how you know you’re one of the true sheep and not one of the goats.

Now he, he, he goes on and talks about people who did all these things in the Lord’s name and did all these things in the Lord’s name and he says, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” You can be the most charismatic and dynamic Bible teacher, you can even perform signs and wonders and miracles and not possess true saving faith that should’ve been manifested in a deep and genuine love for other Christians, especially those in your local church.

Now how many times have you helped somebody with the assurance of salvation and asked them those questions? Do you sense a love for Christians in your heart? Do you, are you drawn to them? And, and for how many years and I, I, I’m pledging guiltiness, how many years if somebody asked about, “I’m troubled about my salvation,” we went through all kinds of, ah, ah, sequences of events and, “Did you pray this prayer? Did you mean this? When you came down the aisle…?” And all these different things and still have asked them, “Do you see this evidence? Do you see a love for Christians in your heart? Do you want to see God’s church prosper? Do you want to see God’s people do well?” Maybe it’s not the same everyday but that is there if you belong to God.

So in James 2 and Matthew 25, we see this that the one who possesses true saving faith in love is drawn toward, he rejoices in, and contributes to the work of the local assembly of God’s people. It’s just very very clear. Now let’s amplify this out for just a few more minutes.

Go back to James 2. James 2, um, again this local church pastor who’s dealing with a lot of suffering in the church due to cultural persecutions and some believers were not caring for other believers who really had desperate need. Now, now again, folks, when the Bible talks about caring for a brother who’s hurting, notice he doesn’t have food, and actually the word, the phrase here is daily food. It’s not like I don’t have enough food for next week, it’s like I don’t have enough food today. This is not the concept of poverty that we see from our liberal politicians today that basically say if you don’t have three flat-screen tvs, you’re deprived. That’s not what the Bible defines as poverty or lacking or being, ah, discriminated against in some way. They don’t have the basic things they needed. In that context, he begins to talk about, “Well, here’s what true faith is.”

Now let’s remind ourselves how foundational the doctrine of faith is. The Bible says in Ephesians 2 we’re saved by faith. 2 Corinthians 5, we walk by faith. Hebrews 11, we please God by faith. Romans 14, whatever we do that is not by faith is sin. Someone said that faith is not believing in spite of the evidence, it’s obeying in spite of the consequences. Did you hear that? It’s not believing in spite of the evidence, it’s actually obeying in spite of the consequences, and that really is true here because to align yourself with these suffering Christians and helping them put you in jeopardy of receiving the same persecution that got them in their predicament. But my faith tells me I’ve gotta love these folks and I wanna love these folks and I want to care for them.

So we find that even in the early church , even in a persecuted early church, even in a suffering early church, there were false professors and it will always be that way. Wherever you find the true, you will find the counterfeit. Now what’s been frustrating to me as a pastor through the years is the notion was there, well, it wasn’t a notion, it was just the way we generally did things in Baptist life was that we know there’s lots of people in our churches and they don’t know the Lord but that’s just the way it is. Well, I just was geared different than that and I said, “Well, why is that just the way it is?” I know there will never be a time where we can say 100% of our church is pure and righteous and right, but we don’t have to have the majority of the people in our, in our congregations on our membership rolls who don’t know Christ. I mean, when somebody obviously openly lives in a way that shows they don’t know Christ, there’s a way to lovingly but truthfully deal with those things. The Bible lays those things out and you followed me through these years and decades now and God’s let us do that to where I believe I can confidently say the large majority of our membership are regenerate folks, know the Lord, have true saving faith.

Now I call this the primary qualifier. What qualifies if you have true saving faith? Look at verse 14 again, he says, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?” And I think that’s the proper way to translate that, not the faith but that faith. Can a faith like that be a saving faith, James is saying. John Calvin said faith alone saves but the faith that saves is never alone. Faith alone saves but the faith that saves is never alone. Jesus said you’ll know a tree by its fruit. If faith has no accompanying works, what’s the context? Works of loving and caring for fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. If it has not that accompanying work, it’s not true saving faith. It, it’s nothing but a mere intellectual acknowledgment of Christ, an assent that Christ is who he says he was. It’s not a heart change and a heart that possesses Christ.

I believe there are probably some here tonight and you’re a fine person culturally speaking, but you haven’t had the heart change and the heart possession of true saving faith. James, in essence, is comparing true saving faith to the fruitless and intellectual acknowledgment of Christ that some in his congregation, at least were gathering with his congregation, were calling faith. True faith is inseparably accompanied by good works. Good works define biblically as being works of caring for my brothers and sisters in my local church.

Now I want to be careful here. I, I don’t want you to misunderstand that certainly when I got saved, when you really get saved, there, there, there’s a, a sweetness that comes. Alright, but there’s a change that comes in your heart. There’s a benevolence, there’s a kindness and, and Christian men and Christian people should to all of those around them, have a kindness and a goodness and a sweetness and a caring. So don’t, don’t, don’t think that I’m saying that there’s, you don’t change the way you approach the world. That’s true but is it not also true that scores, I, I could literally say millions of people around the world do not know Christ at all and live passionate, devoted, sacrificial, caring, loving, serving lifestyles for something, do they not?

I can take you to India. I’ll never get over it the first time I went to India. If you’ve never been to India, you ought to go one time at least. It’s, it’s, it’s a fascinating place and there are people there that, that, that find a cause, they come up with some philosophy of life and they devote themselves to incredible sacrifice. I remember the guy that we ran upon when we were in India and his devotion to his gods was that he would not walk the rest of his life, he would so sacrifice himself to honor his gods and so he rolled everywhere he went for his entire life. You’ve probably seen some of them on tv, they don’t cut their fingernails for their god. I wanted to say, “Well, please cut them for me if you’re coming around me.” And what I’m saying is there’s just unbelievable sacrificial devotion to causes all over the world.

Can, can, I don’t know, this, this, this may crank your tractor. It makes me mad almost when I, when I read something in a magazine or see something on television where these people go to these phenomenal extremes to save a fish that swam up on the beach. I don’t get that. You call up the Eskimos and they’ll take care of that fish. They’ll clean it and cut it up and get the meat and the blubber and do what all they do with it, I don’t know. Ah, just this, but they give their lives for these things. The plastic straw phenomenon. I’m not for plastic straws polluting the ocean but it’s like we just have this selective compassion and I know some of you love your dogs and, oh, I’ve gotta be careful here. I understand. I love my, I don’t have a dog anymore, he’s, his stomach twisted and he died. But, um, that’s exactly what happened. I don’t know how to tell you this any other way. And I loved that dog but, folks, they’re still dogs, in effect, a renewal natural resource, you can just go get you another dog. They don’t have a soul, you know?

What I’m saying is the people of the world have deep love, compassion, self-sacrificing service for all kinds of stuff. Do you know what makes us unusual? There’s one group that above all others we have a love and a passion to care and love and that’s God’s people and James says, “That’s the evidence that you know Me.” But you listen to the world’s pundits out there and they’ll show you all these people doing all these caring things for all these causes and everything. Oh, they must be the godliest people and the most wonderful people. Not according to Scripture. Do they love Christ’s church? True church? Not do they give themselves for causes. We might do some of that. I’m not saying all of that is evil but certainly you can see how we’ve become a post-Christian nation in that we’ve warped compassion, we have a warped sense, I should say, of compassion in our culture today.

So it’s not just being compassionate and loving, we have some of that for all mankind, it’s that true compassion and love for God’s church and James says the faith that saves you is always accompanied by these good works. Faith and works are one, yet faith and works are separate. Just as light and heat are one, yet light and heat are separate. We have lights in this room, and trust me, some of these are those old lights and they put out a lot of heat. We just bought them for the lights but the heat just comes along with it and that’s the way faith and works is. Faith saves you and faith is the reality that causes you to have that standing of justification before a holy God but that faith always has those accompanying works that goes along with it. To be saved, you need only faith but faith is always accompanied by works.

Once again, verses, um, 15 and 16, he clarifies specifically to whom this kind of love and service is to be illustrated if you’re a true Christian. “If a brother or sister,” verse 15, ” is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘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? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead.” So here we have a way, a simple and easy opportunity to see, to examine or to demonstrate the legitimacy of our faith. Have you an abiding, drawing toward love for and desire to serve and care for other Christians different than just other people in general?

You know, there’s some people, they just, they just hatch into the world just sweet, caring, loving, and, ah, sometimes we call those people, boy, they must be, they’ll join a church, they must be wonderful Christians. I don’t know if they are or not. They just may have that kind of natural disposition. The way you really know if they were ornery and hateful and selfish and then they get saved and then they begin to change and have that kind of sweet love for God’s people. I just want to be honest with you, I, I like to do good things for people as I can in the world. I think all of us must do that, but I want to take care of you far far far more than I want to do good for any other group out there. You’re God’s church. And not just because I’m your pastor, it’s because I’m made up of the same spiritual material you’re made up of. We have that oneness. As Galatians 6:10 reminds us, as far as you have opportunity, as you have the possibility to do good to all men, but especially to the household of the faith.

So this person James is referring to here who hypothetically would see a brother and sister with a true, dire, significant need and would turn a, a, a, a deaf ear and a cold shoulder to them and not meet that need when they could do it, he says this is not true faith. This is not the kind of faith a saved man has.

Now let me just close with this general, ah, outline of faith that is not saving faith. I, one of the faiths I’d call general or cultural faith. There are those who believe in God, believe in Christ, believe in Christianity in a general way. Ah, I think they make pretty good citizens because they hold to biblical morality more or less, and they make pretty good neighbors, but it’s more of a cultural phenomenon. It’s just a general Christian consensus kind of thing but it’s merely intellectual, it’s merely in their mind. There’s never been a changed heart. There’s never been a, a new passionate love for God’s church and God’s truth. Not only cultural or general faith, another one would be historical faith and that would be the person who has studied, who begins to understand the outward facts of the faith, I mean, the doctrines we hold to, and they would never deny any of them, but they do not have saving faith. It’s intellectual. A dogmatic faith would be the third one, that’s the person who’s studied well and knows well the creeds and the doctrines. He can even defend them intellectually but his heart’s never been changed. You notice James nor Jesus in Matthew 25 talked about, “You all men will know you’re My disciple by your deep knowledge and wisdom concerning sound doctrine.” Now sound doctrine’s important but that’s not how you know you’re saved. “All men will know you’re My disciples by the love you have one for another.” If you see a brother or sister in need, Jesus said in Matthew 25, “In that you did it to the least of these brethren of Mine.” Do you love those kind of people?

And if I can go here without wading in too deep, your theology on the atonement really affects this because you go back to saying, asking this question, “Who does my Lord love supremely?” He gave his life for the church. There is a special way when Christ went to the cross that he paid the redemption price for his church and as he lay down his life for his church, for his friends, his church, we should lay down our lives for our, his friends, the church, because he lives in us. But if you hold to this radical general atonement view that you will not be open to any concept but that Jesus died exactly the same way for all people of all time, then two things there. Number 1, you lose all the distinctiveness of this wonderful teaching that there’s a special love for the church. And by the way, let me challenge you with something: what’s gonna happen in eternity when only the church is there and everybody else is in hell? They’re not receiving the love of God at that point, are they? There is a limit to the love of God on a number of levels and one of them is at the end times when only those who will bask under the love of God is his church which he loved before the foundation of the world, which he came to die for. And therefore being changed by him and having him living in us, we have that special love for those he has a special love for, though we would never deny the biblical teaching that he has a love for all mankind but a unique love for his church. And that’s why the evidence of your true salvation is do you possess a unique love, a unique drawing toward, a unique desire to see your brothers and sisters cared for, loved, ministered to for the glory of God.