This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us for today's program. At Connect with Skip, we're all about helping you connect with God's Word in a deeper way. That's why we make messages like Todays available to you and others across the globe. And right now, when you sign up for Skip's weekly devotional emails, you'll receive a free download of Chapter 1 from Skip's book, The Biography of God.
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Now let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. This morning we are in the book of James, and so would you turn to James chapter 2? As you turn to our text, I'm going to put a picture up on the screen because you'll remember what happened in 1994. Do you remember a lawsuit that happened? You probably remember it in Albuquerque because it happened in Albuquerque and.
A lady was burned, unfortunately, and because of that. A lawsuit with McDonald's. and the hot coffee that's spilled. Warning labels became a thing. A big thing on every single person.
product.
So I decided to look around my house to look at some of the warning labels. that have been put on products since that lawsuit. Yeah. On the chainsaw that I have, we have a warning label that says, do not operate chainsaw while upset. I have some hot sauce in my cupboard.
one of my favorite brands, Marie Sharps. And the warning label says, warning must be strong to handle this sauce. Keep out of the reach of children. Do not play tricks on the weak or elderly with this sauce. Can you imagine that you would even need that warning label on?
That jar.
So I Decided then to dig a little bit deeper and found on the Internet, this, 101 dumb warnings. Yeah. a brand of hair color In their warning label, says, do not use as an ice cream topping. A sunshade for a car for the front window says remove this shade before operating vehicle. A blow dryer.
Warning label, do not use while sleeping. I mean, these are insane. A Rowenta iron warning label says, warning, never iron clothes. On the body. And finally, a mattress company has this warning label: warning, do not attempt to swallow.
What, a mattress? Is there any human being on earth that could ever do that? But There is a warning even more essential. Then all of those and it was this. Dead faith.
is hazardous to your eternal health. Dead faith. Is the subject that James is writing about in James chapter 2, verses 14 through 26? We covered half of that last time. We're going to cover the second half this time.
It's a lengthy section on the nature of. True faith. Living faith versus dead faith. Productive faith. Versus Unproductive faith, a faith that saves.
Versus A faith that deceives someone into thinking that they are saved. And so you might ask, well, how can we be certain?
Okay. You can be certain by if you pass the test. What are the tests? James gives several tests. To see if your faith is valid, you know it's valid because it becomes mature.
What are the tests? How you handle trials. how you handle temptations. How you handled the Word of God. how you handle other people.
He has covered those in the first couple chapters. And all of that is summed up. In this section, By real faith versus dead faith.
Now the last time we were together, we specifically talked about dead faith, those who make a faith claim, but they cannot back it up with their actions. And I may have told you that my mind goes to certain individuals that I can still remember who were close to me, who were close friends with me, who even served in ministry at one time, who claimed to follow Jesus Christ, but eventually walked away only to prove their faith really was dead. and not legitimate. We also consider briefly demonic faith, not just dead faith, but demonic faith. That is, somebody who has all the facts right.
Even has an emotional kind of a response. The demons believe in one God and they tremble. But they are not saved. Yeah. But today, in this section, we focus in on dynamic faith.
That which is real, that which is alive, that which is productive, that which results in life change. And we have a couple examples of that faith that are listed here. And these examples are two people that we normally would not associate with each other: one, a Jew. One a Gentile. One, the father of the Jewish nation, and one a prostitute, a patriarch and a prostitute.
But these two individuals had something in common. They both believed and proved that they believed. by what they did.
Okay. Perhaps as we get into this section again, it would be good to remind ourselves. of an event that happened in the life of Jesus. When he went to Jerusalem, recorded in John chapter 2. You don't need to turn there.
But I'm going to read this to you. In John chapter 2, it says: When he, Jesus, was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, Many Believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself to them. Because he knew all men. And he had no need that anyone should testify of man, for he knew what was in man.
Now, there's a statement that says they believed in him. But though it says they believed in him, What they believed was not saving faith. It was not a committed kind of belief. It was because they saw the signs which he did. They saw the miracles which he performed.
And the Amplified Bible puts it this way: many identified themselves with his party. They like the party that is into signs and wonders. They like the party that when this guy shows up, miracles happen. And their faith was based on what they could get, not a legitimate commitment. These are what Warren Weersby termed unsaved.
Believers Unsaved believers. Those who want the miracles, but not the Miracle Worker. on a personal level.
Now in this section, James chapter 2, we're going to begin in verse 20. James is sort of like an attorney. And he gives us four lines of evidence. In comparing fake Faith to real faith. They're very simply stated.
He gives a question. Followed by an illustration. Followed by an amplification, followed by a conclusion. Very, very logical. First is the question in verse 20.
And it's an aggressively phrased question. The language is confrontational. Notice it. But do you want to know? Oh Foolish man that faith without works is dead.
You might say, What kind of a question is that? Who would approach anyone with that? Confrontational of a question. That question might be stated like this. Do you want to learn?
Are you really willing to learn? Must you be shown this principle that faith without works is dead? Do you really need me to spell this out? Yeah. Obviously, James never read Dale Carnegie's book.
How to win friends and influence people. He just is like in your face, James. He calls them foolish, oh foolish man. That is a word that has the idea of being empty or vain or shallow. It could mean defective.
or deficient. Me, help you understand that. What I think James is saying is this: if you think Think salvation is just an inward belief in your mind. An intellectualism without action. then you are deficient in your understanding.
You have a defective definition of faith. If you think you don't need evidence for your faith, you are an empty, shallow person. That's the idea of this question. Do you want to know, oh foolish man, that faith without works is Dead. A better translation of dead is useless.
Useless, fruitless. He is driving the point home, the point that he previously made, that true faith is. productive, it is evidential. It doesn't stay on the inside. It shows itself on the outside because faith.
Is invisible. You can't see it. It's like. It's like the wind. Last night.
You couldn't see the wind, but you could see the effect of the wind. You don't see electricity, but you see the effect of electricity.
So, as we noted last time, faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone. Jesus in Matthew 7. Said, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom. But he who does The will of my Father in heaven. In John 13, Jesus said to his disciples, The servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who sent greater than he who sent him.
If you know these things. If you know these things, Happy are you, blessed are you, if you do them. And then in John 15, Jesus said, You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. This is living. Dynamic Faith.
You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzik. Before we return to today's message, what does real spiritual maturity actually look like and how can you achieve it? In his new series, Adulting, A Study Through the Book of James, Pastor Skip gives straight talk from scripture on how to grow up in your faith through trials, temptations, and daily life. This eye-opening 21 message series is our thanks for your generous gift of $50 or more to help reach more people with God's Word through Connect with Skip. Request your CD package or digital download of adulting when you give at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888.
Now let's get back to today's teaching from Pastor Skip.
Now once again, I just want to underscore something. that I talked about last time. This is not an argument. Yeah. Faith Versus works.
This is an argument of productive faith over non-productive faith. James is not saying you are saved by faith plus works. If he was saying that He would be dishonoring the work of Christ. And this is important because Some people have figured that Paul's statement of salvation, justification by faith, and James' words are at odds with each other. But Paul and James are not enemies.
Fighting face to face, as we noted last time, they are friends fighting back to back. But they have different opponents. Paul in his writings is opposing Jewish legalism. James in this book is opposing an easy Believism. People who claim But can't prove or back up their claim.
So, Paul in his writings is dealing with the root of salvation, faith. James is dealing with the fruit of salvation works. Once again, we are not saved by works. But it is certain that we are saved. Four works.
Right? We are his workmanship, Ephesians 2:10. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. You're saved completely by faith. but that faith produces works.
So he begins with a question. And he follows the question now with an illustration. As if to say, you want proof? I'll give you proof.
So the illustration is in verse 21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works? when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working? together with his works, And by works, faith was made perfect.
It was completed. And the scripture was fulfilled, which says Abraham believed God. And it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend. of God.
Now, this is the part of the book of James that bothered. A guy by the name of Martin Luther. It bothered him because he seemed to read that James was saying. We are justified before God by our works. Little background.
Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk. Who was trained and raised in the Roman Catholic Church, and he believed and taught the Roman Catholic dogma of salvation by works. And Martin Luther traveled to Rome and he witnessed people, very devout people, crawling on their knees. Up these steps of a church called the Sancta Scala, and they would bloody their knees as they went up the steps. And it bothered him that they were doing this to earn favor with God.
And he had been reading the book of Romans, which is all about. Faith alone's Grace alone. Romans chapter 3, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
So when Luther read James A fresh He thought, well, this is a contradiction. And I'm here to underscore again, this is not a contradiction at all. James is not talking about the means of salvation. James is talking about the result of salvation. Faith without works is dead.
is his point. What's interesting is that both Paul and James used the same guy, Abraham. to prove their theological point. Paul uses Abraham to prove that salvation is by faith and not by works. James uses Abraham to prove that works are the evidence of true faith.
Same guy. talking about two different things.
Now Back to our text here. James is referring to two different events in the life of Abraham. The first, well actually he Talks about the second event first and then the first event second.
So the first chronological event that happened in Abraham's life is in Genesis chapter 15, when God took him out stargazing. Remember that? Abraham was 86 years old, had no children. I was kind of pouting about it, and God says, come on outside. Look up.
You see all those stars?
So shall your descendants be. And it says Abraham. Believed God. And it was accounted unto him For righteousness. In Hebrew, it's Abraham said amen.
That's all it was. He looked up. God said, Your descendants will be more in number or as numerous as the stars. And Abraham said, Amen. He just made that statement of faith, like, yes, may it be so, I believe.
And God said That's enough. I now regard you as being righteous in my sight. It was accounted unto him for righteousness. By the way, Next time you are worried about your life. worried about your future.
Worried if God has you covered, go outside on a nice dark evening when there's no rain. And no clouds. And look up. And consider That is The universe your God created, and ask yourself, and you look at the vastness of the universe. How big is your God?
You see, when Abraham looked up at the sky and he saw the vastness of the universe, he didn't understand how big it is like we understand it, but he knew enough that it was pretty big, but that the God who was making him a promise that he said amen to was even bigger if he made that.
So think about that next time. In Isaiah chapter 40, it says that God measures the waters of the earth in the hollow of his hand, and he measures The heavens with a span. This is a span that's between thumb and your last finger. There were two spans to an ancient cubit. This was the span.
So, God says that's how big the universe is, which is pretty amazing because.
Well Here's a little perspective. What's the name of the galaxy we live in? The Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy, you know how big it is? It's 10,000 light years.
by a hundred thousand light years. Um A light year is The distance that Light can travel in a year. Light travel, the speed of light is 186,000 miles per second.
So here's just a little Perspective on that. Light travels so fast that if you were going the speed of light, you could go around the earth seven and a half times in a single second. If you were traveling the speed of light, you would sail past the moon. In one and a half seconds, you would make it to the sun in seven and a half minutes. But if you were going 186,000 miles per second, And you wanted us Traverse your neighborhood, the Milky Way galaxy, it would take you 100,000 years to do so.
And that's one of, they say, two hundred billion. Other Galaxies. And you go, that's unfathomable. That's just so big. Not to God, God says it's only that big.
It's only that big.
So The question isn't, how big is your problem? Ask how big is the universe, and then how big is God in comparison to the universe? And that God has made promises to me. And I'm going to believe them. Abraham did.
He walked out and he said, Amen. I believe that. And God counted it to him for righteousness. But then there was There was a second event that James mentions. And it says was Verse 21, Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac His son, on the altar.
Now that's an event that happens 20 years after the stargazing event. of Genesis 15. Yeah. God gave Abraham a command to take his son Isaac. To go to Mount Moriah.
and to kill him. in a sacrifice to God. Abraham heard that command, and it seemed to contradict everything Abraham understood about God and about this promise. Why would God have me kill the very son? That's miraculous.
The son of promise. Human sacrifice is against God's commandment. Why would he do that? Made no sense. And yet, And yet, He got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, put wood on the donkey, brought his son with him, and went up to Mount Moriah to do exactly what God had said.
But he said something to his servants as he was going up. He said, Stay here. The lad and I will return to you. That's a statement of faith. The lad and I will return to you.
Now, why would he say that if God said, You're going to kill your son? You would think that Abraham had said, I'm going to. I'm going up there, we're going up there, I'll be back. He didn't say I'll be back, he said we'll be back. Why would he say that?
Hebrews 11 tells us why. Abraham believed that if necessary, God would raise his son Isaac from the dead. Because he made him a promise.
So God made him a promise. He said amen to it. 20 years later, he proved that he believed in God by his willingness to give up what was nearest and dearest to him. That's what James is saying. When he says he's justified by faith, it doesn't mean justified before God, it's justified before us, before the world, before people.
He proved it, in other words. He validated his faith. That's the illustration.
So we have a question, the illustration.
Now we have the amplification. He goes further. He goes now to the opposite end of the spectrum. Probably just to rattle his audience a little bit. In verse 25, likewise.
Was not Rahab the harlot? Also justified by works, When she received the messengers, and sent them out another way. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, don't forget to request this month's featured resource, Adulting, a study through the book of James, Pastor Skip's 21 Message Series that gives you straight talk from Scripture about how to grow in spiritual maturity and live out your faith in the real world. Adulting is our thanks for your generous gift of $50 or more to help share God's word with more people.
Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/slash offer. And while you're there, sign up for Skip's weekly devotional emails and get a free download of a chapter of Skip's The Biography of God. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection! Make a connection now.
Foot of the crossing cast over. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
