Not by Works Nor by Empty Faith #2

Welcome to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, Founding Pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello again, I'm Bill Wright. It is our joy to continue our commitment to teaching God's people God's Word. Today Don is continuing with the second part of a message we started last time.

So let's get right to it. Open your Bible as we join Don now in the Truth Pulpit. Look at verse 26 of chapter 1. He says, If anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. And so you can see James is building a case.

You can see what's animating his heart. You can see James, as it were, saying, I am aware that I am writing to people who are deluded, who say one thing but their lives say something else. And I have to warn them that that discrepancy, that lack of connection, that white and black distinction is not the mark of the real thing. It's not real faith. You're on your road to judgment.

That's what he's saying. And so he comes back to that theme in James chapter 2 verse 14. When he says, What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works, can that faith save him? It says, Oh, faith, we're in quotation marks, air quotes. Can that faith, that so-called faith, can that save him? Can that kind of faith that has no living reality, no living component to it, can that kind of faith deliver someone from God's coming eternal judgment? The very form of the question in the original language anticipates the answer, no, it can't. James isn't asking for information here. Can that faith save him?

I wonder. Yes or no? Can you help me understand? That's not the sense of the question at all. The sense of James' question is, you could translate it this way, that kind of faith cannot save him, can it? And he leads you and he directs the answer that you must give to him and say, no, that kind of faith cannot save. There is no power in that saving faith.

That is not the kind of faith that comes from Almighty God. And so he illustrates it with an easy example for you to understand. Just taking things out of ordinary life and he gives an example to show how words are useless when they're not accompanied by any action. So in verse 15 he says, if a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? He takes somebody who is genuinely in need, someone who is in danger of exposure to the elements and suffering from hunger, and this fine, upstanding, professing Christian man comes to him, oh my child, go in peace, be filled, be warm, and then moves along like the Pharisees did.

And the story of the Good Samaritan, passed by on the other side and did nothing. His point isn't that charity will save your soul, his point is that those kinds of words are useless. They're empty, they mean nothing. Because the real need of the moment is left unaddressed, you are pretending, he says, this person is pretending with his lips to show care when actually his lack of action shows that he does not care. And that is an illustration to make the point in the invisible, intangible, spiritual realm that those who say that they love Christ, those that say that they have faith, in a life that is marked by a complete absence of any love for Christ, any sense of obedience, that that faith isn't real. It's empty, it's meaningless, there's no power to it, it can't save you in the end. And what's his point in saying that?

What's his point in saying that? It's joined together with the warning about eternal judgment. He's saying, my friends, you must understand that when you've just got an empty mouth professing faith in Christ that has no impact on your life, that's not real faith. And because it's not real faith, it's not going to save you from God's eternal judgment. And because it's not going to save you from God's eternal judgment, you're still under the wrath of God. And my friend, oh, James says, I would say also, he says, my friend, in that dangerous condition, you are in a position of delusion. You think you're okay, but you're not. You are in danger of eternal judgment, and I'm doing everything I can.

James is stomping his feet, trying everything he can to get you to wake up. And so he's describing someone who has a pattern of life, claims to be a believer, but shows no external evidence of faith. Is there any value to that kind of faith?

Surely it counts for something, doesn't it? Surely, well, but I prayed, you know, and I called Jesus Lord, and I was at church, well, pretty often. James says, no, there's no value to that whatsoever. Look at verse 17. He says, even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. Verse 20, he says, are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Again, his point is not primarily making a point about external acts of charity. That's just his illustration to make the greater point about the fact that real faith, the real kind of faith, produces a transformation of life. And when that transformation of life is missing, then you don't say that you're still okay because you claim faith. You go back to a prior question and say, is your faith even genuine?

Is it even real? Or are you just trying to pass off counterfeit money in the marketplace of God? You know what they do with people who pass counterfeit money in the United States, right?

They go to prison when they're caught. People trying to pass off counterfeit faith with God have a much worse faith than that. And beloved, I fear for some of you that you're in precisely that condition. And when you're told, you just brush it off like lint on the coat. I'm alright. I'm going to heaven.

You leave me alone. And never feel any sense of conviction about your angry spirits, about your harsh demeanors, about your worldly conduct, your worldly thinking, your lack of love for Christ. And it never even occurs to you that maybe you're one of the ones that James is talking about. Isn't that tragic? Can't we all agree that that's an awful thing to contemplate? The people that we move and rub shoulders with week by week might be one of them. You know, this whole sermon would be worth it if one person heard that and repented.

But the numbers, the statistics say it's probably more than one. I can't tell you. I can't reassure you that you're not one. You have to cry out to Christ. You have to cry out and with the fullness of your heart say, You've got to save me.

You've got to make this clear. That was describing me to a T, indifferent, just going through the motions on Sunday. That's me, Lord.

Could it be that I'm one of those deceived ones? Help me. Save me.

Show some kind of urgency. And for those of us that are in Christ, perhaps having gone through, you know, that process in the past, and though imperfect, your life has changed. You say, Oh God, thank you. It had to come from outside of me because I was so hard and so indifferent. Now I'm speaking autobiographically. Lord, I profaned your name in awful ways. Lord, I profaned your name with my lack of love for the brethren. I profaned your name with things that I believed and said and did.

It's different now. That's by grace alone. You see, what James, the point that James is making here, is that a faith that has no practical outworking in life is not real faith at all.

It's not genuine. And that is the key to seeing how Paul and James relate to one another. Paul tells the self-righteous man, the boastful man, that his works cannot save him. Look over at Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2, verse 17. Notice the difference in spirit in which Paul is addressing his readers.

James is talking to those who are careless. Paul is writing in part to those who boast. And in verse 17 he says, If you bear the name Jew and rely upon the law and boast in God and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being structured out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, so they're filled with pride. Paul says to them, You therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself?

You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? And he goes on, verse 23, You who boast in the law, through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God? Paul's addressing those who are boasting in their righteousness. Jews in particular in this passage, I'm a Jew, I have the law, I keep it. All is well with my soul based on what I do.

Confident boasting. Paul says, Don't you understand that your works can't save you and that your works aren't even what you think they are? And so he goes through this lengthy exposition of the Old Testament in chapter 3 telling them there's none righteous, none who understands, all have turned aside, none who does good, not even one, in order to crush their pride that they would forsake their trust in their works. So that in verse 19 he says, Now we know that whatever the law says, chapter 3 verse 19, we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God, because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. Paul's writing, To the boastful, to the proud, look at what I've done, thinking that they're on their way to heaven based on the fact that they're good enough.

And Paul says, You're not good enough. And he silences that and says the only way you can find a declaration of righteousness from God is through faith in Jesus Christ. Nothing of your works could ever contribute to that. There is no such thing as meritorious works. There is no such thing as a superabundance of merit that the saints store up as Catholicism so foolishly teaches. Everything about our lives falls short of the glory of God.

It's not perfect. Jesus told us, said, When it's all said and done, say, I'm an unworthy slave, I've only done what's required. That's what Paul's addressing. James is addressing something completely different. He is warning the careless that their empty faith cannot save them.

It's two different issues completely that are being discussed. Salvation by works, salvation by an empty faith. Now here's the common thread to them. Those of you that think you're good enough to go to heaven, those of you who are careless.

Here's the common thread of those two groups. They're both going to hell if they don't turn to Christ. They'll both lead them straight to hell, trusting in your works, being careless and empty in your faith. Satan will gladly have you board either one of those buses and deliver you to the gate. This in part, beloved, is why Jesus would say the way is broad that leads to destruction. There's more than one way to get there. There's more than one way to go to hell.

You can think you're good enough, you cannot care. But the destination's the same. In light of this, beloved, do you see why Jesus says that the way is narrow that leads to life? Few are those who find it.

They're lost for different reasons. And other scriptures emphasize this to us as well. Turn to 1 John, if you will. As we once again use Scripture to interpret Scripture. 1 John 2, beginning in verse 3.

How do you know your faith is real? 1 John 2, verse 3. By this we know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments. True salvation produces a change in life that is marked by a disposition toward obedience.

Verse 4, the one who says, I've come to know Him, I have faith, and does not keep His commandments, doesn't care about obedience, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. Look, look. Is this uncomfortable to hear? Yeah, sure, I get it.

I get that it's uncomfortable. But is Scripture not clear? I've come to know Him, I've not. This is true, this is a lie. Look at chapter 3, verse 7. Notice the warning against deception.

The same kind of warning that James is giving in a different way. 1 John 3, verse 7, little children, make sure no one deceives you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.

The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin. His life isn't marked by that. His life isn't marked by an unbroken pattern of rebellion and indifference, because His seed abides in Him.

God changed Him, God gave Him a new nature and salvation. And He cannot sin in that way, because He's born of God. Verse 10, by this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

John says, look at your love toward the brothers. Is there a love in your heart for Christians? That's the mark of true faith, true salvation. Look at your doctrine. Do you believe the things that are true? Are you oriented toward God's word in your life and thinking? That's the mark of the true thing, the real thing. John says, look at your morality, look at your obedience.

Is there at least something of a pattern, something of an inclination toward obedience, or is that just off your radar? Is that not on your chart as something that's really important in life? It doesn't matter to me, sin doesn't really matter to me, certainly not enough to repent.

I might dislike it, I might be afraid I'm going to get caught, but vertically toward God, who cares? These are the things that we look for to see the real thing. One last text in Ephesians chapter 2. In Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10 this time, Paul emphasizes the gracious nature of salvation and how it is that we find eternal life, how it is that we enter into it, how it is that we receive Christ, it's by faith and by faith alone is a gift of God. Verse 8, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast.

It's a gift. I didn't do anything to earn my salvation. God doesn't owe me anything. I am on the receiving end of complete unmerited, divine mercy and grace and that is why I am saved. But the purpose of that grace was more than simply to alter your eternal destination. Verse 10, the purpose of grace was broader than that, it was deeper than that.

There's a package deal to it. Grace transforms the believer in a way that changes his life. Verse 10, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, not because they're meritorious, not because they earn our justification, but because they flow from it, they come out of it.

They're the fruit that shows that the root is real, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, not by good works, for them, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. So, empty faith, eternal judgment. True faith, false faith.

In his book, Are We Together?, R.C. Sproul says this. He says, if the faith that we profess is a naked faith with no evidence of works, it is not saving faith. It is, as James says, a dead faith, not a living faith. A living faith shows its life by obedience. Such works of obedience contribute nothing to our justification.

But if the works are not present, that absence is proof positive that justification has not occurred. Justification leads to a life of obedience. You don't get justification by obeying, but when you have been justified by faith, there is a marked manner of life that flows from it.

James is saying, when that marked manner of life is absent, you need to go back to a prior question. Have you been saved in the first place? Yes, my friends, there are many ways to miss the path to true salvation. Do you see how dependent we are on the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you see how much we need Him to save us, to act upon us, to help us? It's no wonder that Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5, test yourselves to see if you're in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?

Unless, indeed, you fail the test. My friends, are you trusting in Christ alone for your justification? Are you refusing to count any merit to your works as contributing to your right standing with God? It's by Christ alone.

It's by faith alone in Him alone by which you can be saved. Scripture goes on and says, but that's not the only issue that you need to think about. Scripture teaches many things, doesn't it? There are many lines of thought in the Bible.

Not everything can be reduced to one single statement about one single doctrine. Scripture also says, is your claim to faith real or is it empty? Is your faith alive in a way that manifests itself in your demeanor, in your life, in your obedience, in your love for God's people? Is it alive or is it dead?

And no one would know it was there except for the empty words on your lips. That's what James is asking. Is your faith real or empty, beloved? Answer carefully.

Answer well. There's a lot at stake. Let's pray together. Father, as we take a moment for reflection, we ask the help of your Holy Spirit to search each heart. It's a narrow road that leads to true salvation, Lord. We can fall off on one side by trusting in our works. We can fall off the path on another side by having an empty faith and living a life by its demeanor that says we know nothing about the fruit of the Spirit. We know nothing of the gracious Christ.

Our life knows nothing of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Father, we can't see into each other's hearts, and I can't see into the hearts of those that are here. My job is done, O God. I've done what I can this morning. And now I plead with you by the power of your Holy Spirit to work and apply in each heart. To the dear brothers and sisters in Christ that are here, Father, affirm to them.

Strengthen them in a sense of assurance. My life isn't perfect, but it has changed, and I do love Christ, and I do love His people, and I do love His Word, and obedience matters to me, and sin is hateful to me, even though I sometimes fall into it. With those like that, Father, flood them with joy in response to a message like this, that you have worked the real thing in their hearts. Father, for the others whose names are known only to you, casual, indifferent, claiming a faith that is empty and has nothing to do with life, has nothing to do with the motivations or the affections of their heart, just an outward form going through the motions, week after week, month after month, year after year, and nothing changes, thinking that life is within them when there is no fruit on the tree, to suggest that that's actually true. For them, Father, may you provoke in them a healthy, holy fear of God, a healthy, holy fear that eternal judgment might still be their lot, and unless they would turn to Christ, help them in that hour, help them in this hour, help them in this moment, to calculate the eternal issues before us, rightly, with discernment, judging rightly their own soul with the help of your spirit, and if they find themselves lacking, not to fall into a pattern of self-defense or self-justification or attack on the Word or those who brought it to them, but rather in humility of soul, receiving the Word implanted, receiving Christ by faith alone, humbly acknowledging, I have been a fraud, I have been a hypocrite, I have been a fake all these years, and it's time to come truly to Christ. Only you can sort these things out one by one, Lord. I ask you to do it by the power of your Holy Spirit, and that we would see fruit as a result coming out of many lives as a result of having sat under your Word here today. We commit all these things to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. That's Don Green here on The Truth Pulpit. And here's Don again with some closing thoughts. Well, my friend, thank you for joining us for yet another podcast from The Truth Pulpit, and we wanted to let you know that in addition to these audio resources that you are enjoying, that there are also written resources from my ministry. The Lord has given us opportunity to put some of the things that I've taught over the years in print, and I have one book in particular that I would want to call your attention to. It's the most popular book that I've published so far, called Trusting God in Trying Times. It's a book born out of deep personal sorrow and is brought into context, you might say, through the Word of God. How to trust God when you are going through the deepest valleys and the most sorrowful things in life, how do you trust God through those times when you can't see your way forward?

I've been there, my friend. And the book Trusting God in Trying Times speaks to that spiritual experience in the life of the believer. You can find all of my books at thetruthpulpit.com. That's thetruthpulpit.com. Just click on the link there.

You'll find links to different books, and you will find that they take you to an easy place to purchase them for your reading enjoyment. So thank you once again for joining us on The Truth Pulpit. We'll see you next time as we continue to study God's Word together. That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you so much for listening to The Truth Pulpit. Join us next time for more as we continue teaching God's people God's Word.