Faith Has Consequences #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. We'll find that Paul and James are using the word faith in different ways. Paul and James are using the word faith in different ways. When you read Paul in the book of Romans, Paul is describing a true faith that actually unites the sinner to Christ.

A faith that unites him to all of the saving benefits of the Lord Jesus Christ. Go back to Romans and we'll just look at a couple of verses to make this point. In Romans chapter 5, beginning in verse 1, you'll see Paul says, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul speaking in that verse about the most important possession that any man or woman could ever have, speaking about the possession without which nothing else in life matters. If you have peace with God, if you have reconciliation with God, you have everything that ultimately matters in life. No matter what happens in the meantime, no matter what the outworking of the course of your earthly dreams and aspirations is, whether it's success or failure, health or illness, prosperity or poverty. If you have peace with God, you have that which transcends everything else. If you do not have reconciliation with God, if you are still under judgment for your sins, if you go to hell when you die, nothing else in life matters. Nothing else in this brief 70-year window of time compensates for the eternal loss of your soul, does it?

Does it? Nothing else could compensate. And so we see that Paul as he speaks in Romans chapter 5 verse 1 is talking about the ultimate possession that a man could have. Peace with God, sins forgiven, righteousness imputed, all judgment satisfied, the curse of God on sinners removed. That's what true faith brings to a man. That's why Paul can describe a changed status in the believer. This is real faith that affects that kind of change before God. Peace with God, no longer the wrath, no longer an enemy.

Not an enemy, but a friend. Yea, still more, a child of God. That's real faith. That's what real faith does. Look over at Romans chapter 8 verse 1 as he also speaks of this.

He says in Romans chapter 8 verse 1, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is what true faith results in, a changed status, a removal of condemnation so that as you go through life you do not have to rehearse your past sins as a Christian. You don't have to worry about God slapping you around, judging you for your sins because that has all been forgiven. God has pardoned you. God will not hold that against you any longer.

All that God has in store for you is to receive you into heaven. That's what living faith, that's what true faith does. It changes your status before God. And that's the sense in which Paul is using it. James is using faith in a different way. Go back to James chapter 2 with me.

James chapter 2. In James chapter 2, it is obvious that James is describing those who merely say that they have faith. They're merely stating it with their lips. He's not affirming their claim to faith. He's refuting it. He's talking about something different than Paul is and you can see this plainly. Notice this in verse 14 for example. He says, what use is it my brethren if someone says he has faith? He's making a verbal claim.

He's making a profession. I walked the aisle 30 years ago. I prayed the sinner's prayer. As if those little momentary actions in an isolated event that had no context, that had no impact on subsequent life, as if a claim to that settled the whole issue and precluded any discussion or precluded any examination of whether the claim was true or not, whether it was real or not. James is addressing something different. A man says he has faith. Verse 16, one of you says to them.

Verse 18, someone may well say. You see, he's talking at a level of a human affirmation, of human words that are spoken without affirming that that faith is real. In fact, his whole point is to show that it is possible for a man to make a claim to faith that is not real, that is not true, that is empty, that has no value, that cannot save.

Now, it could go a couple of different ways I suppose. It could be a man who is actively trying to deceive someone else, saying, I have faith. I know I don't, but I'm telling you that I do, and you must believe that. It could be, as is common, as seen in scripture, that a man is deceived about. He is self-deceived. He thinks that he has faith.

He says that he has faith, but he really doesn't. And James writes to help him see the ludicrous nature of that claim. So what James is doing here, in James chapter 2, he is challenging a... Watch this.

This is in italics in my notes, so it must be really important. He is challenging, here's the italicized part, a mere profession of faith, a mere statement of faith, a mere claim to faith that in reality is not true, that is not real, that is not genuine. In Paul, the faith is real, as shown by the fact that it brings peace and reconciliation with God. In James, the claim is counterfeit. It is false. And therefore, you see that they're talking about two different things. The context is different, the way that they use the word works is different, the way they use the word faith is different. Finally, point number three, they use the word justified in different ways. They use the word justified in different ways, and this is the third and final point for this morning.

They use the word works differently, they use the word faith differently, they use the word justified differently. Now, the word justified, as we explained a couple of weeks ago, and as we've said many times throughout the course of our ministry, the word justified means to declare righteous. It is a declaration of righteousness. Paul and James are both using the word justification to talk about a declaration that is made. But the declaration, beloved, happens in different realms.

It happens in different realms. Go back to Romans chapter three with me for a moment. Romans chapter three, Paul is using the word justified in the realm of the law of God, in the judgment of God as it is applied, and a declaration of righteousness is made in favor of the sinner who has faith in Jesus Christ. Romans three, verse 21, notice the law terms, the God terms in this passage. Verse 21, now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Sin, as Paul said in Romans chapter one, brings the judgment and wrath of God.

Where is it that you find the removal of that wrath? Where do you find the forgiveness of sin? Paul says that it is received as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ, and God justifies the sinner. Though he is guilty of sin, God declares him righteous through faith in Jesus Christ.

That's the distinction. That's how justification is being used in Romans chapter three, where Paul said we're justified by faith alone. God declares a man righteous when he puts his faith in Christ.

He justifies him in this sense. He pardons his sin. He forgives his sin. He erases the debt because it was paid for at Calvary, and he imputes righteousness to that sinner and says, I will treat you as though you were clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ.

That is justification. It is a declaration that God makes. Theologians will use the forensic justification, meaning that it is in the realm of law where this declaration is made. God justifies us as a matter of legal right and legal standing and says, I view you as righteous based on the merits of Christ applied to your soul.

That's how Paul's using it. James, by contrast, turn back to James, if you would, James chapter two. James is using the word justifies in a different way. Justify, and we use words in different ways all the time, don't we? We could make the exact same statement in different contexts that look like they're a contradiction, but in context you understand that they're perfectly consistent.

Let me illustrate before I go into what James is talking about with a simple illustration that all of you can understand. If I was at the zoo and I was at the exhibit with the bears and I see a mother with her young, I could look at that and say, oh, look at that, I like the cubs. I like the cubs, they're cute, they're fun, and this is just a delightful day. I like the cubs and I like being here. I like the cubs, I say.

Go to a different realm. Suppose I'm in a baseball stadium and Chicago is playing and I say from the bottom of my heart, I don't like the cubs. You would know by context that I was talking about two different things, even though there is a superficial contradiction to what I said. Just taking the words, isolating them from context, a severe critic who wanted to accuse me of being double-minded could say, look at him. He said he likes the cubs, he says he doesn't like the cubs.

How can you believe anything that he says? Well, you just say, well, friend, look, it was different context, different things being said here. Understand that as simple and homely as that illustration is, we're simply making the point that words can be used in different ways in different contexts. Here in James, James is using the word justify in the sense of meaning to declare righteous, but he's using it in a completely different realm. He's not talking about, and again, context is the answer to everything when a scriptural difficulty comes up.

Context is the answer to everything. Paul is talking about the court of God. James is talking about conversations between humans who have conflicting views of what true faith looks like.

James is talking about how a life justifies a man before men. What is it about a man's life that declares to other men that he is righteous, that he belongs to God? And in verse 18, James says, someone may well say, you have faith and I have works, show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. I will declare the reality of my faith, he says, I will declare the reality of my faith by showing you the evidence in my life that shows that it is real. You who have nothing in your life to show any love for Christ, nothing in your life to show any love for his word, nothing to show any sense of obedience, nothing that shows any fear of God, you say you have faith, but you have none of this. Show me your faith. Declare to me how you could possibly be in a righteous position before God. That's the answer.

It's one man talking to another. And the point to summarize in one way, the point that James is making, the life of obedience affirms the testimony of the lips. And if there is no obedience, if there's not even a hunger or desire for righteousness, scripture says you don't belong to God. No matter what you say.

See, this is really important. In fact, we could go back to, you don't need to turn there, Matthew 5 verses, Matthew 5, 6. Jesus said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Those who have those heart longings to manifest a life of obedience, those are the ones who will be satisfied. And so what does Paul say? Paul says, faith alone brings justification from God. What does James say? James says, dead faith does not save a man from God's judgment.

They're talking about interrelated issues, but separate issues. Faith, here it is, beloved, as we wrap this up. Faith alone brings justification. That's Paul. But it must be a real faith.

That's James. Empty faith that is all talk and no action is no faith at all. And the different uses of these three terms harmonize the apparent contradiction between Paul and James. As one writer said, and I quote, James is not making works a condition of salvation, but rather a characteristic of salvation. The one who is truly saved will possess a living faith that produces works of righteousness. These works do not earn a right standing with God, but they exhibit it before people, end quote. How can we apply all of this to our hearts? What does this mean for you and me? Well, let's approach it in three areas.

Just very simply, very briefly as we close. Friend, do you think that you're good enough to go to heaven? Paul tells you to repent because only faith can save you.

And faith alone can save you. Faith alone is the means by which we receive Christ. Secondly, friend, do you claim to know Christ when your life has absolutely no fruit to substantiate that claim? Do you claim to know Christ and have no love for His word? Have no affection for Christ?

Have no affection for His people? Do you claim to know Christ and have utterly no interest in the word of God? No hope of heaven? Your whole life is bound up in your earthly circumstances, in your earthly life, and there's nothing, there's nothing that transcends that, and yet you claim to have faith? James tells you to repent because empty faith is not the real thing. Empty faith cannot save you. On the other hand, brothers and sisters in Christ, are you trusting Christ alone to save you as your hope of heaven? Is Christ alone your hope for the forgiveness of your sins? My friend, is your heart alive to Christ, alive to His word, alive to His people, even though you fall short so often and so miserably? Do you desire holiness even though you often fall short?

Is your heart different? For you, Scripture would say, take heart. Those kinds of desires, those kinds of affections are the manifestation of true salvation. God has justified you. Your claim to faith in Christ is proven to be real by the changes that it has produced in your life. God has justified you, and beloved, note it, you will never find Him reversing His judgment. When God justifies a man, that man is justified forever. And no amount of works that you do, good works, so-called, can improve that perfect standing with God because it's not based on anything that you do.

It's based exclusively on the perfect righteousness of Christ. And therefore, it could never change. You could never improve it. Can you improve on the perfection of Christ?

No, you can't. And when justification is based on the perfection of Christ, you can't make it any better through what you do, looking at it from the other way. And as we sympathize with each other and the fact that we know that even as believers, we all still fall short of the glory of God. We wrestle with temptation. Sometimes we give in to it.

Our thoughts, our words, our actions don't measure up. What you need to understand about the reality of justification is, is that even your sins as a believer do not diminish it. They do not reduce it. They do not take it away.

Why? Because your justification, your declaration of righteousness before God is premised entirely on a righteousness that is unrelated to you in the sense that it is based exclusively on the perfection of Christ. And your sinful life as a Christian does not reduce that status.

It does not jeopardize the fact that God might reverse the verdict. See, when you are truly justified by faith alone, the gift that God has given you and the gift that God has given us is unspeakably, eternally magnificent and great. He has given you a righteousness. He has imputed to you a righteousness that can never be lost. He has imputed to you a righteousness that frees you from a slavish sense that I have to keep this up or God's going to whack me nevertheless in the end.

That's a wonderful place of peace. That's why Paul can say, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This goes to the security of your soul and the permanence of your salvation.

And when God has justified you, He will never reverse His judgment, close the door on the thought. We look forward when the certainty of Philippians 1.6, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Let's bow together in prayer. Dear Father, we pray that you would give clarity to our minds as we meditate on these things in the days to come. We pray for those whose faith is real. Father, and I know that this room is filled with people like that, of like precious faith. I pray that you would bless them and strengthen them with the reality of the truth of justification by faith alone, and that we could all grow in the wonder and the magnificence and the praise that we offer to Christ, thanking Him for such a great work that has dealt completely with our sins forevermore. Jesus, thank you for what you have done on our behalf. Father, for those that are here having professed an empty faith, I pray that the arrow of your Spirit would pierce their hearts and that they would recognize, that is me. I have said these things, but it has never meant anything to me.

It has never changed a single thought or thing that I did. My faith is dead and empty. Father, use that conviction not to bring them to despair, but to awaken them to the hope that is still presented to them in the Lord Jesus Christ. And may they rise and come in a living faith which alone can save. Father, help us as we proclaim the Gospel to others to be clear.

Father, give us compassion for the lost. Father, give us a humble heart for Christ that is renewed by the Spirit in our hearts day by day. We ask your blessing on your word as it goes forth now, your blessing on us as we soon go forth. Father, we ask your blessing on our church that we could proclaim the Gospel always until you return with clarity, with accuracy, with passion. And may you be pleased to bless that to the glory of Christ and the conversion of sinners until you call us home. In the name of Christ we pray.

Amen. That's Don Green here on The Truth Pulpit. And here's Don again with some closing thoughts. Well, my friend, just before we close today's broadcast, I just wanted to give a special word of greeting and thanks to the many people that listen to our podcast internationally.

It's remarkable to me. The last report that I saw listed 83 different countries that in one way or another are listening to us. And I just want to send a special word of greeting to those of you that are in lands that are distant from my own home here in the United States. You know, we've seen people from every continent except maybe Antarctica and people from countries like Ireland and Australia and Singapore, Canada, the UK, India.

I have friends in all of those countries. And whether you've met me face to face or whether you only know me as a voice through your favorite device, I just want to say God bless you. Thank you for your interest in the Word of God. And may the Spirit of God work deeply in your heart as you continue to study God's Word. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for your prayers. God bless you. My prayers and love are with you as well. And we'll see you next time on The Truth Pulpit. 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.