-Transcript-
00:27 Amen. Thank you for joining me. Welcome to the Cafe, Pastor Clark Covington here with another episode of KJV Cafe.
00:34 It’s so great to be here as we dive into God’s Word, and today we’re talking about one of my favorite topics in the Bible, and that is faith without works, faith without works.
00:45 Or another way to put it, if you want to put it in a positive light, how to be a profitable Christian, how to be a profitable Christian. You know, we live in a day and age where you have groups that are trying to earn or win their way into heaven, and you have groups that believe that they don’t have to do anything at all.
01:08 They just say, well, I’m a believer, so I can live however I want to live. And there are groups that don’t even understand what they’re supposed to do and don’t want to understand what they’re supposed to do.
01:16 And in this day and age, all three groups can benefit from this idea in James that faith without works is dead, that faith is shown by our deeds.
01:29 And so what we’ll do is we’re going to read James here, and this is from James 2:14-26. But before I get to that, I do want to mention that we here on the cafe believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, that it’s by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone that you’re saved, amen.
01:49 And so what we’re dealing with here today, to give you kind of the end of the message at the beginning, we’re dealing with the idea that works as we live, it shows our faith.
02:04 It’s a byproduct of having faith. It’s the proof that we have faith. It’s showing God working through us, right? And so it’s not by our works that we’re saved, amen.
02:13 It’s by our works that our faith is shown or made known, amen. And so I think it’s important to keep that context, lest anyone think I was preaching a works-based salvation, because we can’t do anything to be saved other than believe.
02:27 Believe that Jesus did on the cross what we’ve read here in the Bible, what’s outlined in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, dying for our sins.
02:36 So let’s jump into James and see why works are so important when it comes to faith. I’m in James 2:14. What doth it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him?
02:49 If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
03:08 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well.
03:20 The devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
03:31 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
03:51 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way? For the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
04:03 Alright, so here I love the book of James because it’s so direct and so powerful. And what we see here in James 2:14-26, is how to be a profitable Christian.
04:19 You know, when we look at the scriptures, we’re seeing immediately a principle or even an implication here. When we’re in James 2, let’s look at say 15 and 16.
04:28 If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit, right? So first of all, what would it profit someone else, amen.
04:43 We all, I’m sure adults at least here, as you drive and you walk and so forth, you see people that are begging, that are in need, and you walk by them, maybe you say a prayer for them, but you don’t give them anything, they’re no better off than they were, right?
04:58 No matter what it was that you wanted to give them, they’re no better off than they were if you don’t do anything.
05:03 And maybe it’s not just a beggar, maybe it’s someone broken down on the side of the road, maybe it’s a friend in need of something. But if we say, okay, be well, you know, if we just say something, right?
05:15 That sounds good, and we don’t do anything, it doesn’t profit that individual. And also, it’s not profitable for God, amen, and for His people.
05:26 So God made us to be givers, it’s better to give than to receive, to give abundantly, to give joyfully, right? God gave us these principles in His word so that we would then give.
05:39 And if we don’t give, then we are not being profitable to God. So we’re not profitable to the person that is in need, and we’re not profitable to God.
05:49 And the implication here is, if you say, okay, be well, and you don’t do anything, then you don’t believe that God’s called you to do anything. You don’t believe that God’s called you to be different, peculiar, called out, set apart. You don’t believe that.
06:04 You don’t have the faith in God that you should have. And so the implication is that God’s given us resources, what are we using them for? We see an era here, in America at least, where Christians are, for many of them, I can’t say all, and of course, we know many struggle to get by day to day, but many have tremendous wealth, tremendous resources, more so maybe than ever before.
06:35 And I say that in comparison to say, Pakistan, where I was reading in the Voice of the Martyrs recently, that Christians there are the lowest rung of society, and if they have either the worst jobs or they’re literally indentured servitude, almost slaves.
06:52 And so comparatively, here in America, we have so much, but do we do anything with it? Do we do what God wants us to do with the resources that He has given us?
07:03 Or do we say, no, God, those resources are ours, we’re the captain of our own ships, and we’re going to live selfishly, and we might say something nice to someone or about someone, oh, they need to be better, and I hope they’re better, but we’re not going to do anything about it.
07:20 We need to be doers of the word, not just hearers. And God called us, especially in this life, to be overly generous.
07:27 The idea of being sacrificially generous, is that not how Christ was when He saved us on the cross, those that believe on Him? Was He not sacrificially obedient to God, giving even unto His own life for the cause that the Father had given Him to do?
07:45 Now, what are we going to do? Are we going to give? You know, it’s easy to be skeptical. You know, you can give and then say, I knew, I knew they wouldn’t change, or I knew that, you know, they’d be out there, you know, asking for more, whatever it is. It’s easy to be skeptical, but only God knows what’s going on.
08:04 So we need to keep this in mind, that the implications of profit when it comes to Christianity means, are we profitable to others, especially those that are in the church that have a need?
08:13 And are we profitable to God? And if we’re not, then why not? And that needs to change, because if we say to God, oh, we believe you’re a mighty God, you’re a sovereign God, if we sing the hymns at church that He is the Lord of our life, are we living that way?
08:31 Are we showing that through our works? Because skeptics will say, you know, hey, you’re saved by grace. You don’t need to do a thing. You’re under liberty.
08:41 But look, if you’re saved, then you have the Holy Spirit living within you. There should be a difference. You should have that conviction to do something.
08:48 There should be something peculiar about you, right? So if you’re saved and you do nothing, or contrary to that, you do evil, then you really need to go to God in prayer and ask Him to work a right heart in you.
09:02 And so let’s move on here. In James 2:17, Even so, faith, if hath not works, is dead, being alone.
09:13 Verse 18, Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. So what defines a believer is not faith alone.
09:25 It’s faith with works. We see works as the fruit of faith. So think about this.
09:32 If you say that you believe and you don’t do anything for God. You don’t even bother to pick up your Bible. You don’t bring your Bible to church.
09:41 You don’t open your Bible to study it. You don’t spend time with God. You don’t clean up those sinful things in your life.
09:47 Then what you’re doing is you’re showing, right? You’re showing people one thing. You’re saying, I’m a believer, but just by the name of the believer, I don’t actually live like that, right?
10:01 And we need to show people that we’re a believer by living for God, by having faith. Because, you know, if you walk this back a little bit, if you say you believe in Christ and you don’t do anything for the Lord, then you don’t really believe in Him, do you?
10:18 If you say that you love God, but you don’t fear Him, you don’t really know Him, do you? If you knew Him, you’d fear Him.
10:25 Amen. Oh, get in the Bible, any part of it, and see the mighty hand of God in the Bible. But have you? And if you haven’t, why not? What’s keeping you from it?
10:37 You know, I think it’s very interesting that people think, okay, well, later on, I’ll explain it all to God or I’ll explain it to somebody.
10:46 It’s not, later on is not a good time. Amen. Later on could be the judgment.
10:53 Amen. You don’t want that. You want to go ahead and get right with God now.
11:03 And that doesn’t mean going out and doing holy things. It means believing on Him and having faith, the faith of a mustard seed, just a little bit of faith, having enough faith to go do what God’s called you to do. And that will then produce works.
11:10 And that’s why James is saying, I’ll show you my faith by my works, right? And people, again, will say, well, we don’t need to work to earn the favor of God. Well, that’s correct. But you need faith to earn the favor of God.
11:20 The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6, without faith, it’s impossible to please God. So think about this. If it’s impossible to please God without faith, and James here is saying that you show your faith by what you do, then if you don’t do anything, are you pleasing God? Think about that.
11:42 Now, you may say, well, I’m very close to God, and the Lord knows me well, and I have good intentions. You have to think about this. There should be a change in you.
11:56 And I believe preachers are blessed because in order to preach the Word, we have to study the Word. And as we study the Word, a change happens in us. Amen.
12:06 And then we go before the congregation and tell everybody, hey, look, God’s changing us as preachers, and here is what God can and will do through you.
12:13 But if you’re not a preacher, if you’re not in the ministry, you don’t have to study God’s Word, right? And so the question you may ask is why? Naturally, I don’t feel like it, right?
12:23 The natural man is at enmity or warfare with God. And so we can’t look to our feelings, but rather look to the Word and how understanding that James says, look, we need to get right with God. And our works, they’re going to come about as we believe.
12:44 Because if you really believe in a living God and a powerful God and a sovereign God, then you will want to do something for Him. And that could be writing a letter to an old friend with a testimony.
12:49 That could be taking tracks to the laundromat and handing them out or putting them on the machines if you’re allowed to.
12:54 That could be making a Facebook post telling everybody how God’s changed your life. That could be committing to 6 a.m. Bible study or 6 p.m. Bible study every single day. That could be to go finally sing in that special at church.
13:10 That could be to joining the choir. That could be to loving the Lord with all your heart and whatever He’s called you to do. Do you see where I’m going? You know, God’s probably put something on your heart already that He wants you to do.
13:20 And you’re saying, well, I don’t have to do it. No, you’re not under the law. You don’t have to do anything.
13:27 But what James is saying is if you truly believe in God, you believe in the power of God, you’ll want to serve Him. You’ll want to live for Him. And oh, how we could just be on fire for God if we get this in our hearts and our minds.
13:39 Because we won’t turn to works. What we’ll do is we’ll turn to Him and we’ll believe on Him and we’ll study His Word. And as we do those things, we will be propelled into works.
13:51 Great ministries are not born out of someone having an intellectual idea and rationalizing that idea with man. Great ministries are born in the heart of the believer as they study His Word and as the Holy Spirit convicts them and guides them and leads them and as they follow, as uncomfortable as it may be,
14:10 as they follow in belief, in belief. And that is how we show faith in the Lord by living for Him earnestly, expecting that He’s going to do great things with us and through us by simply believing and trusting in God.
14:26 I thank you for listening. Take care. God bless and amen.