Good Works

We're gonna be addressing James chapter two from verse 14 to verse 26. As I said, we continue with this series of studies in which we are making assertions about characteristics off a biblical church. That is a very important question that every Christian should ask themselves. Not only How am I a Christian or how do I become a Christian? But also, how do I participate of the body of Christians?

And that is the local church. And we have been making different assertions of different statements about characteristics of a biblical church. And we have said from the word of God and prayer, discipleship and all of those things. And today we arrived to this passage in James chapter two from verse 14 through 26. And we are going to be making the assertion, as I said in the beginning, that a biblical church, a biblical community of Christians is going to be one that is committed to good works, to good deeds, to good actions.

Faith that is given from above is a faith that is going to produce works and is going to produce actions. And as you know, this passage from verse 14 to verse 26 is rather a complex and a better debated passage. Controversial passage is the word. And I want us to have clarity from the Scriptures. What is the relationship between works and our faith?

And may the Lord help us and guide us as we do so. Let us come, please, before the Lord that He will help us and be with us through His Holy Spirit and that we will have the clarity and the freedom that is needed for us to preach from this passage and receive the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we come before you in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. We give you thanks for your patience towards us, Lord, that we were dead in our sins and our trespasses.

But your grace came to us and you gave us life through your Holy Spirit. We praise you, Lord, for everything that you've done for us and everything that you continue to do for us. Many times we are just simply distracted. deviated from the focus that is Jesus. And we are just so focused on the things of this world and the things of ourselves.

So I pray, oh Lord, as we come before you in this very moment, and as we worship you together through the word of the Lord, that you will speak to us, that your presence will be among us. We want to understand the relationship between our faith and works, and we want to honor you with everything that we do. So I pray, oh Lord, that you will be among us, that you will grant us the freedom that is needed to speak with clarity and with boldness That You will grant us of Your Holy Spirit to receive the Word in our hearts. And as we receive and hear Your Word, O Lord, that will not be left into our minds alone, but rather that will come down into our hearts. And that Your Holy Spirit will apply it to our hearts.

That we will be not only hearers of Your Word, but also doers of Your Word. that you will be in us, guiding us and leading us, and that we will bear fruit of righteousness for the glory of the Father. Please be among us as we speak and as we receive your word, and we pray that you will do this in Jesus' name. Amen. James chapter two.

Once again, the assertion that we're making today is that a biblical church or a biblical community of Christians is one that is going to be committed to grow in good works, in good deeds, in good actions. Let us read together from James chapter 2. Let us read from verse 14 to 26. This is the word of the Lord. What good is it, my brethren, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works?

Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body. What good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works.

Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works. And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab, the prostitute, justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Amen. This is the reading of God's work. Now, my dear brother and sister, perhaps the most important question that a person should answer in their lives, we have said this many times in the past, is where will you spend eternity? That is perhaps the most important question that a person is meant to answer in their lifetime.

If you were going to die tonight, if your life was going to pass and you were going to die that you were going to be brought before the presence of God, what would be the outcome of that encounter that you will have with God? If God will come and open the books and go into your thoughts and examine everything that you've done, the things that you've said, the things that you've seen, the places that you have gone, and everything was going to be brought to the table. And God, who judges rightly, was going to bring all of those things. What would be the outcome of that encounter for your life? You see, when we think about ourselves and the things that we have done, and the things that we have not done, and the commandments that we have broken, and the things that we have actually done against the Lord, that question should bring us to the place of fear.

However, when we think about all of these powerful encounters that a person will have when they die, there the light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ shines very brightly. Because apart from the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, We are all dead in our sins, in our trespasses. And upon that encounter, the only outcome that we will receive apart from Jesus is that we have broken God's commandments. And because we have broken God's commandments, we deserve hell as the eternal punishment for the sins that we have committed. But the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ gives us the assurance that even though we are dead in our sins and our trespasses, we have been made alive by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And even though we continue to be sinners, and even though we continue to break God's commandments, by the grace of the Lord, we can have certainty that if that day was going to be today, and if we were going to have an encounter with God and all the books were going to be open. Yes, it is true that in those books will be found the many things that we have done and many commandments that we have broken. But also in those books will be found that God sent his son to die upon the cross for our sins. And because of the completed work of Jesus Christ, we will be found to be not only innocent, but also to be the children of the Lord, to be the people of God. A gift that is completely given by grace, nothing that we ought to do.

So the message of Christianity is that all of these blessings that we receive from the Lord are given to us only by faith. That is the grace of God that is given to us when we place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is, what he has done, what he accomplished upon the cross that he gives me his righteousness. And because of the righteousness of Christ, I can have the certainty that upon that encounter that I would that one one day I will have with him. I will be invited into heaven, not because of my performance, not because of my deeds, but rather because of what Christ Jesus has done for the Christian. And the message of Christianity is very simple.

That this gift is given to the person purely by faith. That there's no works that should be done. That there's nothing that we can do in and of ourselves in order to accomplish that gift of eternal life. That there's no good work, there is no good deed in me that can actually accomplish this gift of being a child of God. However, when we come to the Scriptures, we find ourselves with verses like verse 14 that we have in the book of James, that tells us and asks a very confronting, a very difficult question.

Because he tells us there in verse 14 of James chapter 2, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? And of course, that is a rhetorical question. And the answer to that rhetorical question is that faith without works will not provide salvation to that person. So how are we then going to understand that the message of the gospel is one of grace, that it's only by grace and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that we receive eternal life?

How are we going to understand that with the words of James here in verse 14 that implicitly tells us that faith alone cannot save or that faith without works cannot grant us salvation. As you know, this is a controversial question that Christians have tried to answer throughout the ages. And when you're trying to answer the question of what is the relationship between faith works, you found throughout church history that there's going to be two sides to this. There's going to be one side that is going to exalt the side of works and it's going to say it is not only about faith, but you also need to have works. And by having those works, you gain and obtain the righteousness of God.

So when you have your faith plus your works, that gives you the righteousness of God. And by having the righteousness of God, then you can enter into heaven. That signs that tends to put faith and works on the same level will tells us that sometimes when we don't have good works, but we have evil works, sometimes those evil words can even make us lose the faith that we had in the first place. and perhaps even end up not in heaven, but end up in hell. That is the place on one side that will exalt works and faith almost equal as requirements to enter into heaven.

But there's going to be other side that will tell us that works are not important. That works are nothing to worry about. That is only about believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is only about praying a prayer or perhaps just simply professing to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it does not really matter what happened with the life of that person.

As long as that person has said with their mouths that they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Once a person has faith, they will say then that person is going to enter into heaven. And as you know, the answer is not found on those two sides, but rather we make the conclusion from the scriptures as we are going to see it this afternoon, that genuine saving faith is going to be a faith that is going to naturally and organically produce those works that are found in the person of Jesus Christ. So that when we have Christ by faith, we do not only have his righteousness that forgives us of our sins, but we also have of his spirit that leads us to live our lives as Christ Jesus. And that is what I want us to explore today.

I want us to consider together the relationship between faith and works. So by considering the relationship between faith and works, we will be led to ask ourselves some very important questions. How are the works of your faith? Because here, the passage, independently of what we say about the relationship between faith and works, we are told very clearly here that a faith without works is a faith that is dead. So the practical question that we need to ask ourselves is, how is your life?

When it comes to not only professing with your mouth that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But how is your life when it comes to your works and to your deeds? And more importantly, as James explains here in James Chapter one and James Chapter two, these works off mercy. Not so much the spiritual works of praying and reading the Bible and discipling one another and coming to church. But how are we, my dear brother and sister, when it comes to caring for the poor?

Or how are we, my dear brother and sister, caring for the widow? Or caring for the one that is sick? Or caring for the one that is in need? Because independently of the solution that we give to the doctrinal difficulty of faith and works, we need to be sure that the genuine believer is one that cares beyond of themselves for the one that is in need. How are we, as the people of God, when it comes to our works of mercy and compassion with the poor?

How do we spend our money and the many things that we have, living in the first world country in which life is different to the rest of the world, in which we have so many things? How do we spend our resources? Or how do we spend our time, our talents for the one that is in need? Independently of how we reconcile the relationship of faith and works, this is what I want us to consider, my dear brother and sister. That being a Christian is not only about saying that I believe.

Being a Christian is also about being a doer of the word of the Lord. not because of religion that forces a person to do certain things so that they will have a good concept of themselves, but rather because the spirit of Christ that points us to the cross and gives us the depth of the value of what it is to be forgiven, that same spirit leads us to care not only for self, but for others, and that in good works. So I want us to answer two important questions. The first question is, what is the relationship between faith and works? And then once we have answered that faith and works, then I want us to consider this passage here in James chapter two and how we are called to have a faith that produces works.

So first, we're going to try to understand from the scriptures the relationship between faith and works. And once we understand this, then we will move into understanding then what is the requirement of the Spirit of God in Christians that those who have saved in faith will also have these works that, according to James, they are justifying works. These are the terms of James. even implicitly in verse 14 saving works. How are we going to understand?

May the Lord help us. So let me just give you three or four statements that we're going to consider. Not so much here from James, but that we're going to consider them from the New Testament. And someone might say, well, now you're going to bring your doctrinal presuppositions into the text in order to interpret what it says in James chapter two, but not actually what I'm going to do is I'm going to follow a very important principle of scripture interpretation. And that is that Scripture interprets the Scripture.

Tradition or history does not interpret the Scripture. That which interprets the Scripture is Scripture. So Scripture interprets the Scripture. So if I want to understand the fullness of the Word of the Lord, I need to submit myself to the fullness of the Word of the Lord. And passages are going to be understood and interpreted in light of the Scripture interpreting the Scripture.

So let me bring you, please, to Romans chapter eight. And in Romans chapter eight, I'm going to make the first assertion that is going to help us understand the relationship between faith and works. And the first statement that we're going to make in Romans chapter eight is that good works cannot be produced by the unbeliever. Good works, good beats, those good actions, good works, good things that God requires of a person cannot be done by the person who is not in Christ Jesus. That is the first thing that we need to understand so that we understand James chapter two.

Let us read together a Romans chapter eight from verse five through verse eight. And the assertion that we're making is that the unbeliever can not do Good works, it says in verse five of Romans chapter eight. For those who live according to the flesh, that is the unbeliever, set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit, this is the Christian, set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death.

That's why we're speaking of the unbeliever. Verse six. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. For he does not submit to God's law.

Indeed, it can not. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The first statement that I made is that good works, whatever is the relationship that they have with faith, good works cannot be produced or done by the person who is not in Jesus Christ. The Scripture clearly tells us there are two types of people, those who set their minds in the flesh and those who set their minds in the spirit, those who set their minds in the flesh. That is death.

But those who set their minds in the spirit, that is life and peace. And the apostle tells us that the one who sets the mind in the flesh is hostile to God. In other words, is an enmity. with the Lord. And he tells us two important details here that are going to be the heart of what it is to do a good work.

The first one is that he says there in verse 7 that the person who is in the flesh does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. The person who sets the mind in the flesh, or that is in the flesh, does not submit to the law of God. Actually, that person cannot submit to the law of the Lord. And secondly, we have there in verse eight that this person that cannot submit to the law of God, that cannot do it, then this person cannot please the Lord.

But someone may say, well, I've seen actually unbelievers that they can submit to the word of the Lord. I've seen the commandment that it says you shall not lie. And I have actually seen non Christians that when they are presented with a situation instead of lying, they tell the truth. And there is an actual truth in that. People are able to submit externally to the requirements of the law.

But the two aspects that the Lord has placed here through Paul is not only that people are to submit to the Lord, but they are to please the Lord. You see, there's an aspect of obedience that is not only external, but that is internal and of the heart. When God requires us to do something through the law, He's not only requiring the external action, but he's requiring the heart action so that the doing outside of me will correspond to a reality inside of my heart. It is true that a person that is not in Christ, when they're presented with the opportunity to say the truth or a lie, when they say the truth, that they are observing the law externally, But it's also true that in their heart they are not pleasing the Lord because the reason why they may say the truth is not to bring glory to God. The way that I commandment is fully kept is not by the external thing that we do, but it's also by the heart of the person.

In other words, that by obeying what God says that we please the Lord. And we are told here that the person who sets their mind in the flesh cannot submit to the law of the Lord, and this person cannot please the Lord. So it does not matter what we see. If we see a person that is not in Christ, that does not have the Spirit in them, and they are doing external things that they may seem to be good, when we go into the intention of the heart, Many times the reason why a person might do those things is for themselves or for any other interest that might be pointing to self. They are in hostility with the Lord, and hence they are not doing it for the glory of the Lord.

So we conclude from Romans chapter eight verses five through eight that the unbeliever cannot produce good works or that good works cannot be produced by the person that is not in Christ. Why? Because that person cannot please the Lord. So then we ask ourselves the question, how can a person please the Lord? So we move on to the second assertion that I want to make here, and that is that the only way that we can please the Lord with good works, it is by faith.

The person who has faith is the only one who can Please, God. And we find that in Hebrews chapter 11, a passage that is very well known. If you come with me to Hebrews chapter 11 in verse six, Hebrews chapter 11, a very well known chapter of the Bible that speaks about faith there in Hebrews chapter 11. In verse six, we find a very important doctrinal statement in which we learn that it's only by faith that we please the Lord. It says there in Hebrews chapter 11, verse six.

Pay attention to verse six. I don't think that I need a microphone here, right? Okay, verse six. And without faith, verse six, and without faith, It is impossible to please God. And without faith, it is impossible to please God, to please Him.

For whoever will draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. The only way that a person can please the Lord is when this person has faith in Him. And this faith is not a general belief that I believe that God is and that God exists, but the only genuine way that I can believe in God It is through the person of Jesus Christ. I have a general understanding that there is a God because of the things that have been created. But for faith to be an instrument through which I can draw closer to the Lord, this faith has to be focused on the person of Jesus Christ.

So then the person who has faith in Christ Jesus is the one who can draw closer into the presence of God. This is the person that pleases the Lord. So there is only one way to please God through what we do, and that is by faith in Him. So then that means that the faithless person, the person that is dead in their sins and their trespasses, they may spend their lives trying to do external things that seem to be good at the eye of men. But those things that seem to be good at the eye of men, they are not good in the eye of God, because God is only pleased through faith.

So we conclude that good works cannot be done by the person who is not in Christ, because these good works require that the person will have faith. Faith is the only means by which a person can please the Lord. And then we make the third statement, that faith is going to be the heart of good works. Good works are going to be rooted in a single source, and that single source is going to be faith that comes from above. We're gonna find that in Romans chapter 14.

So if you come with me to Romans chapter 14, there we're going to find the relationship between a positive or righteous action and faith. So Romans chapter 14, if you remember this passage, explains the difficulties of some people observing certain day or not observing certain day or observing certain foods and not observing certain foods. And there the apostle is going to tell us that we are to do the things as unto the Lord. Whether we observe a day, we observe it as unto the Lord. And if we do not observe a day, we don't observe it as unto the Lord.

If we If we eat certain foods, we eat them as unto the Lord. And if we do not eat certain foods, we don't eat as unto the Lord. Why? The apostle concludes because the important thing of the action is not the action itself, it's the heart of the person as doing the action or not doing the action. As he concludes here in verse 23, he's gonna give us a very important statement that tells us the relationship between faith and works.

It says in verse 23 of Romans chapter 14, But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats because the eating is now from faith. And this is the statement that we pay attention to for whatever does not proceed from faith. is sin in other words we could say for whatever does not proceed from faith is a dead work for whatever does not proceed from faith is an evil work always seen and implicitly also we can say that whatever proceeds from faith It is a good work. Good works find their root in the heart of faith. If my actions are not rooted in God given faith, then it does no matter what my action is.

My action is going to be sinful. So then that means that for my action not to be sinful before the Lord, it has to be rooted in a part of faith. Why? Because the unbeliever cannot produce good works. Why cannot the unbeliever produce good works?

Because the heart of the unbeliever is lacking faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the source that is needed for me to produce good works. Why? because that which does not proceed from faith is sin. So that means that good works are always going to be rooted in a heart that already has faith.

The genuineness of a good work will only happen when there is a heart that already has faith. That means that faith precedes a good work. And not only in time and in substance and importance, but also in the decree of the Lord. Come with me to Ephesians chapter two. And in Ephesians chapter two, you will see that good works are not part of who we are and what we do, what we do.

But actually, good works are part of the eternal decree of the Lord. So if you come to Ephesians chapter two, you know, very important passage that is going to tell us the relationship between faith and works. And then we find the order of those works. Ephesians chapter two, verse eight. Very important verse for Christianity.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works that no one may boast. Now the question is, why is my salvation not a result of works from verse nine? So then the answer is given in verse 10.

The reason why salvation is not the result of works is because we are his workmanship. That is that we have been created by God. How have we been created by God? We have been created in Christ Jesus for good works. The person has been created by grace and in faith in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works.

Good works are the result of what God does in the person as the person is recreated or given life in Christ Jesus by faith. So the apostle tells us there that these good works in the continuation of the verse, these good works God prepared. beforehand that we should walk in them the good works of the christian have been prepared before by god that we should walk in them why can't god prepare good works for the christian Because those good works do not depend upon the Christian, but those good works depend upon the decree of the Lord in saving a person through the person of Jesus Christ. So the reason why a Christian is going to produce good works is not because we're better than other people. It's not because we're better than the unbeliever.

It's not because we have developed a certain system of morals and ethics that allow us to be better, but rather being the same, like the lost, that in our sins, in our trespasses, we have been recipients of the grace of God. And in receiving that grace from the Lord, now the Spirit of Jesus Christ, is making us like Christ Jesus. So the good works of the Christian are not so much the good works of the Christian, but these are the works of Christ that are given to the person by the Holy Spirit that now dwells and lives in that person. So the natural, organic, and powerful, and glorious relationship between the good work and me is that Christ Jesus dwells in me by His Spirit, and having faith in Him now i produce good works not in order to achieve eternal life but because the person has eternal life and this connection now that exists between the works and the faith is so intimate so organic and so powerful that there's going to be times in the Scriptures which the attributes of faith are shared with the works. So that's why James called these works justifying works or saving works.

Not because these works in and of themselves have the power to justify us or give us eternal life, but rather they are connected by the spirit with the faith that we have in Christ Jesus. So our hearts that have grace produced naturally these works and the attributes of what can be shared. Saving, genuine, justifying faith will produce genuine, good works. And hence, when I see the life of the Christian, I can say that these works are saving works, are justifying works. But never, ever I can say that works are going to precede and priority faith or that works are going to take the same importance of faith.

Because faith is that which gives us the righteousness of Jesus Christ, Romans chapter one. We have been justified by faith through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a gift that comes from above, Romans chapter four. And then is the way that we become those who are forgiven of our sins and our trespasses. And we have the certainty that the Lord will not count our sins when we face him.

That is the relationship between works and faith. And we are not to diminish works and we are not to exalt works. We are not to say that works empower faith or that works produce faith or that will give me initial salvation or justification. We're not to say that works is that which moves faith, but I'm not to say that my faith is not going to have works. Because genuine saving faith will have these works that we should be comfortable, like James was, to say that these are justifying works, that these are saving works.

Not in the sense of saying you are saved by works. But we should be comfortable with the Scriptures. We should not allow our ways of doing things to make us feel uncomfortable with the Scriptures. The Scriptures, this is what it says, that these works that are rooted in this genuine saving faith are justified as saving works. And that is how we are to understand the passage that we have before us in James.

So let us return, please. And let me just make a few observations from this passage. that I think are going to help us now. Having understood the relationship between faith and works, now we can come to this text and understand it, I hope, in a clearer way. The first thing that I'm going to say from this text, from James chapter 2, verse 14 to 26, is this, that good works are an evidence of saving faith.

good works are a manifestation or an evidence of saving faith and that these works are posterior in time. I hope that this is the word that you use in English that are posterior in time and in importance to genuine saving faith. Genuine saving faith produces good works. Genuine justifying faith produces these works that are saving works, but justifying works. That's what we have there in verse 14.

It says, verse 14. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says, not has, but someone says, that he has faith but does not have works. Can that faith save him? The answer to that is no. The person who says that has only faith But the faith that they claim to have does not have saving, genuine works that are the result of genuine saving faith, then that person is not saved.

Not because they don't have works, but because they don't have genuine saving faith. Because genuine saving faith will naturally lead a person to produce good works. So the person who says that they only have faith with their mouth while they do not have works according to what is written in the scriptures, then that person is not professing a genuine saving faith, but that person is professing a faith, a general faith that acknowledges perhaps God and many other things, but not a genuine saving faith. The characteristic of these works to faith is that these works are always going to be posterior to genuine saving faith. You would have noticed that in verse 22, or in verse, what is this, verse 20, the apostle James Better is going to give us the examples of two people who had faith and works.

And these two people are going to be Abraham and Rahab. Now, James is going to cite two important events in the life of these two people, Abraham and Rahab. And please pay careful attention that those events that are cited or quoted here by James are posterior events to the time in which they had faith. The first one was Abraham. Let me just find it here.

It says in verse 20 verse 21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works. And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And he was called a friend of God.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, And in the same way was not also Ray have the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and send them out by another way for as the body apart from the spirit is dead. So also faith apart from works is dead. Here we have the example of these two people. We have Abraham and we have And these two we are told, even in Hebrews 11, that these two had faith.

What I'm arguing here is that the two events that are cited as examples of the works that justify Abraham and Isaac are posterior events to the moment in which Abraham and Rahab had initial faith. The first one I'm not gonna take you to read all of that. But if you go to Genesis chapter 15 verse six, you will know that there in Genesis 15 verse six, then we're told that Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. This is the moment in Genesis chapter 15 when he received the righteousness of the Lord. That is the moment in which he believed this is the moment in which he was forgiven of his sins and this is the moment in which he entered into glory now the moment that james is citing as justifying works is going to happen all the way in genesis chapter 22 when abraham is going to come and offer his son at the altar as a manifestation of his faith.

That is when James is writing this and he sees the example of Abraham that believed in Genesis chapter 15 and is offering his son in Genesis chapter 22. He says that the offering at the altar of his son is the way that the faith of Abraham was completed or was fulfilled. Why? Because he already had genuine saving faith. And genuine saving faith is going to manifest in works that qualify the genuineness of that faith.

And those works are going to be posterior, not only in time, but also in importance. We are not told that Abraham sacrificed or offered sacrifice for his son or his son in sacrifice and then that he was justified. We're not told that in Genesis. We're told that he believed first in Genesis chapter 15, and then he offered up his son as a test of the faith that was genuine. It is exactly the same thing with Rahab.

Rahab here cited the example that when the spies came, she offered them a way for them to be saved at the exchange that she would also be saved. But when we read very carefully the book of Judges, actually we can go there, we realize that Rahab had believed in the name of the Lord way before she did that unto the spies. Let us come to Judges chapter two. is Joshua. Joshua chapter 2.

Joshua chapter 2. Here we can see that good works are also going to be a posterior manifestation of the faith of Rahab. He says in Joshua chapter two, let us read. We still have a little bit of time, so please bear with me. Let us read from verse one.

He says, Joshua chapter two and Joshua, the son of none, sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies saying, Go view the land. especially Jericho. And they went and came into the house of a prostitute, whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told to the king of Jericho, Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land. Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring out the men who have come to you who enter your house, for they have come to search out the land.

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I don't know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.

But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order of the roof. So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the forts. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out. Before the men laid down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, pay attention to this. I know this is Rahab to the men.

I know that the Lord has given you the land. and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. Pay attention to verse 10. For we have heard. How the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt.

She had already heard about the mighty works of God and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to Sihon and Och, whom you devoted to destruction. Verse 11, As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you. For the Lord your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. And she continues, she had heard of the mighty works of God in liberating the people out of the land of Egypt. And because she had heard, she knew that the God of the people of Israel was the true God of the universe.

And when she knew that, their heart melted and she believed that the God of Israel was the God of the universe. So when the spies came to her, she already had believed in the Lord. She had already trusted in Him. as the only God. So her response of allowing these men to escape the judgment of these other people was the result of the fact that she had already heard who the Lord was, and the works of Rahab were the result of the faith that God himself had brought to the heart of Rahab.

Because back then, my dear brother and sister, there was the preaching of the gospel that God in some way allowed that this prostitute woman that was in that pagan city will hear of the works of God. And by hearing the works of God, she believed that when she believed she was saved. And by being saved now, she wanted to do things as unto the Lord. Why? Because she had already believed because works are the result of genuine saving faith.

And that's why when we go to Hebrews, we see the case of Abraham, and we see the case of Rahab, and then we see that they are saved purely by faith. And genuine saving faith is the faith that produces works. Why? Because works are the evidence of genuine saving faith. Let us return to James Chapter 2, and let me conclude with a couple of other statements.

Second, and this is very important from this text, let me submit to you that the type of good works that are righteous and come from a heart of faith many times in the New Testament are works that look after the need of the brother and sister. The good works in the New Testament, the qualifier of the genuineness of good works, many times in the New Testament are works that look after or provide for the needs of the brother and sister. As we have here, we might be tempted to believe that James is only quoting an example out of the air, but actually there's a very strong connection between good works and what I do for my brothers and sisters. So he says in verse 15 of our passage, James chapter 2, verse 15, If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it doesn't have works, is dead.

Brethren, once again, let me submit to you that there is a very strong connection between faith and good works that are produced, and these good works being qualified in their genuineness in what I do to provide for the needs of my brothers and sisters, for the person who is in need. In the case of James, he has spoken to us in 127 about the widow and about the orphan, and in the beginning of chapter two, he has spoken about the poor, But there's a very strong connection between my good works being connected and related to my provision for the needs of my brothers and sisters. The Apostle John make this a little bit more clear in 1st John 3 16. If you come with me there, you will see good works in the heart of a Christian, and he presents to us a very important reality. 1st John 3 16 1st John 3 16.

It says in 1 John 3, verse 16. By this we know love, verse 16 of chapter three. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren, verse 17. But if anyone has the world's goods, you should be able to see, How it is the similar example with James, verse 17. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, Yet closes his heart against his brother.

How does the love of God abide in him? Is the same structure. But speaking about different matters in James, he says, If your brother comes to you in need and you probe and you don't provide for your brother, how can you say that your faith is alive? He's not alive. Is that?

And then here, John says, If your brother comes to us in need and then you have the resources to provide for the need of your brother, but you close your heart. How can you say he uses the other virtue? The other virtue love? How can you say that the love of God abides in you? Why?

Because it actually is not. The heart of the person who has been visited by the grace of God and now has genuine saving faith is a heart that is going to produce genuine works. And these works are going to be evidence not only in that I pray for my brothers and sisters, which we should pray for one another, not only in that we read and study the scriptures, not only in that we come and worship together, but also in that the need of my brother or sister is an opportunity. for me to lay down my life and to provide for the need of that person. Good works is not only about saying that I have faith.

Remember that that is the hypocrisy of James in James chapter 2. The person that says, I have faith, but I don't have works. You have works. I have faith. Show me your faith by my works, James says.

Why? Because genuine saving faith. It is a faith that is going to be strengthened and empowered by the love of God. And this love of God is going to be manifested to others. So then my good works as unto others is not going to be the result of me wanting to do something for them, but it's going to be the result of my love for the one who loved me first.

You remember what Peter said to the Lord Jesus Christ? You know, Peter, do you love me? And then he said, Yes, Lord, I love you. And instead of just simply taking the I love you, he comes and said, Go and feed my sheep. The way that your love to me, Peter, is manifested, it is by what you do to those whom I have loved and given my life for.

That is that your actions, your deeds, your works unto those whom I love. It is going to be a manifestation that you love me and that in your heart there is genuine saving faith. Works are not, my dear brother and sister, that which empowers faith, but works are going to be that which qualifies genuine saving faith. An identical-less, or work-less, or action-less Christianity is exposed as foolishness by James chapter 2. Let us return there, and with this I finish.

This is the foolishness of the person who believes that genuine Christianity is work less or action less or deep less. It says there in verse 18 of James chapter two, but someone verse 18 of James chapter two. But someone will say, You have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one?

You do well. Even the demons believe and shatter. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? This is the foolishness of the person that is satisfied to say only with their mouth that they have faith and that they are okay with a faith that does not have works. It is the foolishness of a person that says, I have faith and you have works.

You're okay with your works. I'm okay with my faith. This is the foolishness of the person that does not know that our faith without works is useless and our faith without works is dead. This is the foolishness of the centrality of the flesh that takes a person to believe that they can only say that they believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be okay being passive in their actions, in their deeds of love towards the brothers and sisters and towards those who are in it. Genuine saving faith will take a person to count their life as ravage, Philippians chapter 3, to count their lives as nothing and to know that the only purpose that Christians have on this earth, it is to glorify God and to serve others as our lives are spent.

Why? Because we understand that the fullness of what it is is not in this present world, but the fullness of what God has for us is in eternity. So when we put in perspective our 40, 50, 60, 100 years on this earth in light of perspective of eternity, then we know that the way that we ought to live our lives It's not only for satisfying ourselves and our feeble temporal desires that change when we're 10, 20, 30, 40, and then it goes up and down, but rather to live for God and for the people of God. And that is what genuine saving faith produces in the heart of a Christian. So once again, I ask the same question that I asked in the very beginning.

And with this, I finish, my dear brother and sister. How are you doing with your good works? How are you going and doing, as Paul says, I think it's in Ephesians or in Colossians, forgive me, I think it's Ephesians, devoting oneself to good works. Are we devoting ourselves to good works? How are we doing when it comes to providing for the one that is in need?

Are we the person of 1st John chapter three, verse 16 and 17 that closes our hearts in indifference to the need of the one that is in need? How are we doing when it comes to providing for the one that is lacking or being there for the person that is in need? Are we just the type of people that we are okay just to say, I'm going to pray a prayer for you, and I'm going to do these things. But are we slow and passive in actually moving to provide for the needs of the person that is lacking? How are we doing living in a country that is so abundant in which we have so many things and it is just so easy for us to access things not only very quickly but very easily?

How are we doing when we consider and think about the needs of our brothers and sisters who could be helped or who could be just put in a better position with a fraction of the things that we just simply have or so many times we just simply waste? How are we doing in thinking in the lives or brothers and sisters who are in trials and tribulations and persecutions and in countries that are very different to ours? And we are okay just leaving our Christianity from Monday or Sunday to Sunday and Wednesday to Wednesday and just simply going through the motions and just simply doing things as Christian. How are we doing? when it comes to caring for the one that is in need, for the orphan and the widow and the poor or the person that is in prison.

How are we doing with those things? Because as I examined myself, I'm not doing very good. I am not doing very good. But when we come to the scriptures, my dear brother and sister, we ought to ask that the Lord will not only illuminate the scriptures to us, but I will lead us to not only be hearers of the word, but also to be doers of the word. Because when we come to a building like this, we are very good at discussing doctrine and just giving our opinions and positions about this matter and this other matter.

And we're very good at just simply just being Christians among ourselves. But how are we actually doing when it comes to sacrifice ourselves for the one that is in need? Are we devoting ourselves to good works? Are we giving ourselves and thinking on how can I serve the people that God has providentially play place around me? How can I actually use the talents of the resources that God has given me for the glory of God?

What have we come to a place in which we are satisfied? We are Western Christianity. That is, that is just so satisfying. And we're in so many comforts. And I'm speaking about myself here in comforts and satisfied and easy access to all things.

And we are just as low to consider the reality, not only of the world, but the reality of many people who are in need and who could be helped by Christians and by not only their prayers and not only by just simply doing a simple thing, just praying from the other side, but actually doing something. Because faith without works is dead. and the foolishness of a person saying, I have works and you have faith, or I have faith and I leave just my faith. That is the foolishness of beatless Christianity, brethren. May the Lord give us effort and time to work and to prosper, praise God.

But might not our prosperity become an idol that puts us in a place in which we're being fattened in order to be then judged by the judgment of the Lord, brethren. That we might not just be simply taken by the passions of this world, just captivated by the pleasures that this world offers, being distracted from what we are supposed to do in this place. We are to proclaim the gospel and we are to proclaim the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to love one another. We are to serve one another and we are to serve others just as Christ came to serve us and to die upon the cross for our sins.

What greater motivation we need to serve the one that is in need than what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us upon the cross. He's glorious and rich and wealthy in all ways and in all manifestations. Yet he came and became poor for us, that we will understand what is actually the value of life. My dear brother and sisters, how are we doing when it comes to works? Faith without works is dead.

That we might not be the people that have the right answer to the doctrinal situation of James chapter two, and then be found to be slow in the works that come from genuine saving faith. But rather that when we look to Christ and we see his finished and completed work, we might be power to be servant, just as Christ was servant, not wanting to have a name unto herself, but wanting to honor the Lord who loved us and gave himself for us. May the Lord have mercy, because if he doesn't, the words that I have said will just simply go above your heads and above my head, and we will just simply continue in our own ways. May the Lord have the grace to give us what is needed for us, not only to care for self, to care for others as the grace of Christ leads us to serve one another in love and for the glory of Christ. Amen.

Amen. Let us pray. Father, I give you thanks for your patience and your goodness towards us, Lord. I pray, O Lord, that you will grant us a greater insight in the great love that you have had for us in sending your son, Jesus Christ, to die upon the cross. I pray, O Lord, that you will grant us eyes to see the great blessing of what it is to be forgiven, to be your son, to be your daughter, to be your people.

the great blessing of what it is to be recipients of the righteousness of Christ, to be recipients of the love of Christ. And as we behold by your grace and through your Holy Spirit, the depths and the powerful depth of these blessings that we have in you, Lord, I pray that you will grant us the spirit to be devoted to good works. Teach us, Lord, how to serve one another. Teach us, O Lord, how to help one another. Teach us, O Lord, please, how to use our resources.

Help us, O Lord, please, and teach us how to use our time, our efforts, our talents for your kingdom. Forgive us, Lord, for the many times that we or I have been passive and lazy, O Lord. Help us, O Lord, please, to count our days And to know that today we're 40, tomorrow we're 50, next day we are 60, and then 70 and 80, and then life is gone, O Lord. And only the things that we've done in Christ and for Christ and through Christ are the things that last on this side of eternity. So, O Lord, please provide to us what we need, that it might not be too much, that we will forget who you are, and that it will not be too little, that we will blaspheme your name.

but provide what we need, and in providing what we need, oh Lord, make us good stewards of our resources, of our time, of our efforts, not just simply following religion, not simply following the things of this world, Lord, but rather wanting to honor you in spirit and in truth, to worship you, even with the things that you have given us. Teach us, Lord, to love one another and to provide for one another and to identify each other's needs and help us, Lord, and forgive us. Teach us, Lord, and show us as a church in different ways in which we can, with the little things that we have, Lord, how we can serve others, not only people here among us, but even beyond these doors and these walls, Lord. Give us unity as a church and unity of mind and of heart. in dealing with these matters, O Lord.

Protect us as we do this, O Lord, that we will not make the giving or the doing the center of our religion, but rather because of the greatness of Christ, that we will be always willing and desirous to do and to give. Bless us, Lord, and we thank you so much for who you are and what you've done for us. And as now as we're going to come to the table, Lord, as we're going to partake of the wine and of the bread, we give you thanks, Lord, because you give us the privilege of doing it every week. And in doing it, Lord, we are reminded of the greatness of the unity that we have with you. And that while it is true that faith without works is dead, Lord, the only reason why faith and works are alive, it is because of the life of Christ.

The life of Christ that has been graciously given to us by your Holy Spirit. So bless us, Lord, as we partake of the elements and be with us. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.