James 2:14-26

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're gonna talk about what type of faith actually saves you. It's a good one this morning. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Ooh, that's hot. Ready to pray? Sure. All right.
Lord, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for time together. Thank you for the blessing of being in your word. Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit, please teach us, help us to understand your word and apply it to our lives. In Jesus's name, amen.
All right, James chapter two, go in my little drawer here and grab, there's your glasses. My glasses aren't in there. Well, I'm gonna get these glasses. They don't work as well. Well, I kind of am turning into an old man, so. All right. I'll read 14 through 17 if you want to read 18 through 24 and I'll pick up 25 and 26.
What does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked in destitute of daily food and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warm and filled. But you do not give them things which are needed for the body. What does it profit? Thus 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 with your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You will believe that there is one God. You do well, even the demons believe and tremble. But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without walks is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by walks, when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was walking together with his walk, and by walk faith was made perfect, and the scriptures was fulfilled, which says Abraham believed God. And it was a capture to him from Paul righteousness. And he was called the friend of God. You see that the only man is justified by works and not by faith. So you see then that man is justified by works and not by faith only.
Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also all right so we got need to ask ourselves a what is this b what's the and c what are we all right so what do you think this is about uh faith without walks and walks faith well maybe just faith without works right so um so you're you're you're You're dumped into one of the hotly debated questions for the last half a millennia, for the last 500 years.
How are you saved? By faith. But here it says, faith without works is dead. Um. That's also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Don't. Save like if you had a robot. And the whole robot's purpose was to do good things. But it didn't have a body. It's kind of like the robot's kind of purpose. Okay, but it says, can faith save him? My brethren, if someone says he has faith but doesn't have works, can faith save him?
So faith doesn't save you. Yes. he walks walks so faith is believing and belief should result in fruit if there is no oh right that's not important i was like oh keep going okay uh faith is faith is the believing and when we believe, we do. So it's not faith, the walks are the fruit of the faith, not the walks produce the faith. So there's a type of faith that's, is, uh, unbelief. There's a type of faith that's like, doesn't produce works then? That means you don't have faith. Oh, so you might have false faith.
Yeah, right, so Ephesians chapter 2 is a very helpful one on this point. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. And so we're saved by grace. We're saved by God's grace through the instrumentality of faith in Christ. It's God's grace that saves us. By grace alone, through faith alone.
And somebody doesn't Somebody doesn't do stuff if he doesn't have faith in for why he's doing it. Yeah, and so the works come out of faith, right? But if we have a faith that looks like seeing people in need, but then hardening our hearts, is that a true faith? No. No, right? Which one of you can say, see his brother having need and say, go, go, be clean, right? Or be warm, be filled. You have the things of this life, but you shut off your heart to that person.
How does the love of God abide in someone like that? I kind of find it helpful because it's kind of like the person, there was no, if they really had good intentions and they had the means to do this, then they would have done it. But apparently they don't have very good intentions if they never actually did Well here I think, I think here what both John points out and 1st John as well, and we'll get to that another time, but I think what James is pointing out here is that there are people who think that they can have this faith but don't actually have to. So they've been saved by the love of God, but now they're not reciprocating that love of God.
He's saying, how does the love of God abide in you like that, right? That's what John's point here is. And he's saying, look, no, no, no. When Abraham believed, he did something. He went to offer up Isaac, his son. When Rahab believed, she hid the spies. And so he says, no, no, no, no. And I love the comparison he has here in verse 26, the analogy. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead, right? So the body, for the body without the spirit is dead. So the body is compared with faith. But what's the spirit of faith? Good works, loving people, right?
So what would be the best verse to summarize this whole section? I say 25. You have 25, okay. Yeah, so I have verse 17 and 18 underlined. I actually have a whole bunch underlined in my Bible. I have verse 24 double underlined. Let's go ahead and talk about seek calling. What are we called to do? Um, I can't think of what to call it. Well, what is this seek calling and how does this show us Jesus Christ? Spell it out real quick.
When you have faith in Christ, your faith should produce good works of Christ. Old theologians would say it like, you are justified by faith alone, but never by a faith that is alone. Yeah, good. So we should care for those who are poor. Remember verse 27, cure an undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows and their trouble. and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. That's chapter one. Oh, that's what, yeah. So chapter one, right.
What's pure and undefiled religion. Visiting orphans and widows in their distress. Keep oneself unspotted from the world. So showing love, love and good deeds. Right. Uh, I think that points us directly to Jesus because Jesus did this perfectly. So you're ready to pray. All right.
Father, we confess to you, it's really hard for us sometimes to do the good works because the good works cost. They cost time, convenience, money. Lord, it's a sacrifice. So Father, we pray that you would please teach us to be more like Jesus. That we would be willing to sacrifice. Lord, please care for us this day. Let us not have a dead faith. In Jesus' name, amen. May the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ, and we'll see you next time. Say adios. Bye. Bye.