WEBVTT 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:08.640 Hello, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning in to New Song Churches Podcast. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:15.359 We're a gospel center church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:18.320 May God bless you today through his life-giving word. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:25.120 A reading from the book of James, chapter 2, verses 14 to 26. 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:31.920 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:35.759 Can that faith save him? 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:50.000 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:55.359 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:59.840 But someone will say, You have faith and I have works. 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:05.599 Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:09.280 You believe that God is one, you do well. 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:12.400 Even the demons believe and shudder. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:18.400 You want to be shown, you four foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:24.719 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:31.200 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:41.280 And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. 00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:45.920 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:56.079 And in the same way, was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:02.480 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:04.400 The word of the Lord. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:06.079 Thanks be to God. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:12.240 Father, we come before you now to hear you speak directly to our hearts and our minds. 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:18.560 Please take away any distractions from this week, Lord, whether they're good or bad. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:22.000 Draw us to yourself, draw us to Jesus. 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:25.840 Father, we pray for us to decrease and for him to increase. 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:27.599 And praise in Jesus' name. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:28.400 Amen. 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:29.919 Please be seated. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:57.840 So preachers, through their life of becoming a preacher and always developing as preachers, regardless of how long they've been preaching for, will come to a will have moments in their weeks, it'll come and goes every couple of months, where they get um they get almost married in a sense to their title, to their intro, to their conclusion. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:01.520 And for this week, that was that was happening that happened to me. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:08.240 And I had these two titles I really wanted to I didn't know which one I wanted to use, but I wanted to use one of them. 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:11.439 And I became married to that title for the entire week. 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:21.840 And it wasn't until yesterday morning that finally, I, as Amy has told me that musicians will say, you gotta kill your darlings. 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:24.000 And I killed my darling finally. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:27.759 So you can see here in the bulletin it says counterfeit faith. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:31.280 But the title we're gonna go with is Faith That Works. 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:33.759 And that's the title we're gonna go with today. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:35.840 Um, so you scratch that out. 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:42.400 You may also notice if you look at the front of the bulletin, there's chisels on it. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:49.360 This is the graphic that we've been using for this sermon series because with Proverbs and James, it's very practical. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:56.879 It's very work, it's about doing um, as we have our faith, we also do work in our faith. 00:03:57.039 --> 00:03:58.240 So that's what we're gonna come to. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:01.439 And if you notice the tools on it, they're chisels. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:06.879 Now, chisels with woodworking is a very they're very important tools to have. 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:14.240 They're almost invaluable to have, unless you have the modern day um tech, modern day tool, power tools. 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:23.040 But chisels for many years were extremely um so important that you needed them to do any kind of woodworking. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:26.399 They didn't make joints, to make boxes, to make dressers. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:28.480 Jesus probably used chisels. 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:30.720 That's how long they've been around for. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:39.279 And the thing is, they help you make form wood quickly to make joints, but they're they have to be very sharp. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:40.959 You have to have sharp chisels. 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:47.199 If they're dull, you're gonna fracture your wood, you're not gonna get the clean cut taken from the wood. 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:58.319 Now, James is writing to a scattered church of mainly Jewish Christians, and they're facing persecution, they're facing cultural pressure to conform. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:04.959 Anyone in their situation would be tempted to become more like the people around them, to be accepted and have an easier life. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:07.040 And James knows this. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:13.680 He knows what they're going through, he knows they're suffering, he knows that times are hard for them. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:21.759 So he when he writes his letter, he writes it very it's short, it's practical, and it's sharp. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:23.360 It's a sharp letter. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:27.040 And it's written to those who call themselves Christians. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:34.560 And why he's writing this is because he wants to give them something that's small that they can carry with them and bring around. 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:41.439 Anyone who's gotten instruction manuals when they buy a car or get a fridge or anything like that, it's like very thick. 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:44.079 And if you can raise your hand, who's read it? 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:45.120 Anyone? 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:46.800 No one's read them. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:51.279 But if you got a little instruction manual, you're more likely to read it. 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:53.519 So that's what James is doing here. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:56.720 He's giving them a sharp chisel to use. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:05.839 And what he's doing is he's writing a letter that's for the individual Christian, but it's also for the church, the churches that he's writing to. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:19.519 Now, the thing with when you have a sharp letter, and when you read things in the Bible that are hard to come to terms with, or hard that talk about things that we need to change, it can be uncomfortable. 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:23.519 It can be um, it can be painful at times. 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:47.759 But the thing is, what it says in 2 Timothy, what Paul's writing, chapter 3, verses 16 to 17, he says, all scripture is breathed out by God, and it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the servant of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:54.800 So with our chisel, the Bible, in our hands, let's see what James has to say. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:58.319 James chapter 2, verses 14 to 26. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:02.240 It's in your bulletin, or if you have your Bible, you can follow along in your Bible. 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:07.839 And he gives us three headings in this section to go from. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:16.800 And the headings are living faith and dead faith, visual faith, and faith that works. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:18.959 So let's look at the first point. 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:24.079 The first is living faith and dead faith, verses 14 to 17. 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:35.519 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works, can that faith save him? 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:51.519 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be filled, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things they need for the body, what good is that? 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:54.800 Or good here could be also what benefit is that? 00:07:55.439 --> 00:08:01.519 So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:10.000 Now the thing that's so nice about the Bible, that it is oftentimes it's critiqued or said that it's out of date. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:11.279 It's a dated book. 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:22.720 And it's just something that we should use for uh for in a literature class or something like that to study, to see what how it's how it helps shape modern English in our society. 00:08:22.959 --> 00:08:34.000 But the Bible is relevant for today, it speaks today, and this is a very practical thing that you can picture happening within churches, but also outside of churches. 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:38.960 We think of, but we can think about in the news lately with the LA fires. 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:43.600 It's been it was a devastating thing, and the fires are still happening in some places. 00:08:43.840 --> 00:08:47.519 It has been the worst fire, I believe, in US history. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:53.120 And the thing is, you see, we see these celebrities who go, but they don't live in the area. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:56.559 They're just going for the photo op to look like they're helping. 00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:01.039 Some are, but some are just going for photo ops and nothing else. 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:06.559 And we can see the insincerity of it right away, and our red flags go up. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:16.559 But the also thing that can be said towards Christians is that we say all the right things, we say what the Bible says to do, but that's that's all we do. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:18.399 There's nothing else that we do. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:29.120 We begin our liturgy, our mornings here, by reciting the most the commandment, the love your neighbor as yourself. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:34.720 And then we leave here at the end of the liturgy by saying, Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:41.840 Now, if we just stopped there and if we didn't act it out, people around us would see the insincerity. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:48.720 They would see that we are just saying things, but we're not actually living out what we say. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:51.600 And their red flags would go up, rightfully so. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:54.080 So, how do we come to terms with this? 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:55.919 How do we approach this text? 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:58.960 Because this text can sound very moralistic. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:07.360 If you think about the Pharisees in Jesus' time, that we read them in the Gospels, we see that they said all the right things. 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:14.559 They looked very religious, very pious, but they were also only doing things for their personal benefit. 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:17.840 And that's what James is trying to get at here in the text. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:23.360 When he's talking about people who just say the nice things, but they actually don't work it out. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:26.399 They don't do what they say they're gonna do. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:36.720 One, see, one just does for personal benefit, and one just does it for for, and another one does it for genuine love based on what God has done for them. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:45.200 And it's the thing I prayed at the beginning that we need the prey for us to decrease and for Christ to increase. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:48.240 And that's what James' getting at here. 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:55.600 See, Christians during the Roman time, one of the Roman emperors, I don't remember his name, I didn't have time to look it up. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:59.759 Um, if you uh really want to know the name, email me and I'll find the name. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:02.960 But he writes about how he, he's not Christian. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:05.679 This is before Constantine. 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:13.840 Um, he writes about that he sees the Christians helping the poor, giving all their money to the poor. 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:19.600 He sees them going into the areas where the plagues are, not running away from them. 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:23.919 He sees them helping people for no reason. 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:29.759 And he's shocked by it because at that time the culture taught that you don't help people, you just look out for yourself. 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:36.159 He's completely almost like flabbergasted by it, by these Christians that are doing these things. 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:38.639 They're acting out their faith. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:46.399 They're not doing it to be made right with God, but they're living out their faith that it says in the Bible to do. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:52.399 See, living transform transformational faith leads to works. 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:58.240 It leads to churches doing works within the community, serving the poor, helping the needy. 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:04.799 It leads to works through the personal level, doing things to help people, not just saying that we do things. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:07.360 And that's what James is talking about here. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:17.919 Is that we need to, because what Christ did for us on the cross, what God has sent his son into the world to save us, we need now to live out the faith. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:24.399 It can't just be a faith that says it believes, but doesn't look like it believes. 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:26.559 That's what James is getting at here. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:34.480 And he makes it clear in verse 17 when he says, so also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:40.639 Now James uses rhetorical methods to get his point across as we come more into this text. 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:49.600 In verses 18 and 19, he says, But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:55.759 Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:00.080 And then James goes on, you believe that God is one, you do well. 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:03.440 Even the demons believe and shudder. 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:15.679 What James is getting at here is that even demons, because we say we believe in miracles, we believe in angels, we believe in a risen Lord, the supernatural, there's demons in the world. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:24.159 And what James is talking about here, as we see it also referenced in the Gospels, is that the demons know Jesus is the Son of God. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:28.799 They have, you can almost say they have the best orthodoxy, the best theology. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:33.679 This just they just don't believe that Jesus is the Lord and Savior, the saved for them. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:35.519 Because they're just fallen angels. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:40.480 So what James is talking about here is that you can know all the right things. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:45.120 You can have all the right things to say, know all the proper theology. 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:53.360 But if your faith isn't through your, um, if your heart isn't changed, if it's just in your head, you're just like the demons. 00:13:53.519 --> 00:13:55.440 That's what James is talking about here. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:14:01.360 If your faith only stops at your head and doesn't go to your heart, that's all it is. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:05.279 Now it's easy for us to fall into the trap of head knowledge. 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:09.600 But the heart needs also to be moved by the Spirit. 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:14.080 Head knowledge won't keep you during periods of trials. 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:17.440 That's what James is talking about here. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:30.240 And if we think about it, if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, if we see them among us and then we say, Go in peace to love and serve the Lord, are we showing Christ to them? 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:31.840 Are we doing that? 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:45.120 James is coming at it very sharply here to them, because he knows they're in these situations where they're suffering, where they're going through hardship, and they need to be told that you need to live out the faith. 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:47.440 That's what he's that's what's going on here. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:50.799 And it can sound very moralistic, but the text keeps going. 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:51.840 So let's look at it. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:53.279 Visual faith. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:15:02.080 James now uses two Old Testament examples, since they are Jewish by birth, so they have the Old Testament very much in their mind. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:03.120 Let's look at it. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:05.519 Verses 20 to 24. 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:12.960 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:19.840 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son, Isaac, on the altar? 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:26.080 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works. 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:34.879 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. 00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:41.600 Now, two things that we can see in verse 20 here is that it says, showen. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:43.519 See, true faith is visible. 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:47.519 You can see it, it's transformational, you see it visibly. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:16:01.120 And then when it says foolish person, if you think about when we're going through Proverbs, it said the fool in verse um in chapter 1, verse 7, it says the foolish person doesn't follow God's wisdom. 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:03.039 He only follows his own wisdom. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:08.799 And that's what he's going at here, is that we have to find our true wisdom in God. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:11.360 So he refers to Abraham. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:32.000 Now, Abraham, in way at way at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis, Abraham is promised by God that through him, if he looks at the stars in chapter 15, through him God will create a mighty nation, Israel, all the people. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:34.799 And he promises this to Abraham. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:38.960 And Abraham believes, and it's counted to him as righteousness. 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:44.639 But the thing is, Abraham and his wife Sarah were childless. 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:51.600 His wife was barren, as it says, and they wanted children, but and God promised that they would have children. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:57.279 But the thing is, they were very much advanced in age, but they held on to the promise. 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:04.559 And there comes a point where Abraham, where God comes to Abraham and repeats the promise again to him. 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:09.759 And Abraham says to him, God, you haven't provided a child yet. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:13.839 And then you can tell through the text that they want the child so badly. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:19.839 And then it happens that Sarah becomes pregnant and gives birth to Isaac. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:26.640 And then through the text and verses in chapter 22, God tests Abraham, as it says here. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:34.079 It says that God asks Abraham to go and put his son Isaac on the altar. 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:39.759 Now you might be asking, is God, is are we saying that child sacrifice is wealth? 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:40.640 That should we do this? 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:41.920 No, it's not saying that. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:46.400 What's going on here is that God is getting at Abraham's heart. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:48.559 He wants to see Abraham's heart here. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:53.680 How far will Abraham go to trust in God? 00:17:53.839 --> 00:18:10.319 Because the thing that's so unique about this text, when you read it, chapter 22, Genesis chapter 22, is that as Abraham is walking with Isaac towards the mountain where they're going, Isaac says to him, Dad, we have the wood. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:11.279 We have the fire. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:15.680 Let's have to start the fire, but we don't have the lamb for the offering. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:23.200 And Abraham replies to him by saying, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:27.279 What the text is getting at here, it's not promoting child sacrifice. 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:35.440 What it's getting at, it's going right to Abraham's heart and seeing what he idolizes most, what's the most thing that's most dear in his heart. 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:49.920 And what happens that we see Abraham, he is so committed to God and what God tells him to do that he goes and puts his son on the Isaac, just put his son on the altar to offer him up. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:51.680 And then God stops him. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:53.839 Because God wanted to test him. 00:18:54.559 --> 00:19:00.319 Abraham waited for years for Isaac, but he is still willing to give him up. 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:04.400 See, works isn't just about doing things. 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:10.640 When we think about, when we say faith that works, we think about it's about serving the poor, which we must. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:16.160 We think about it's about being loving to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we must. 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:19.440 But faith also is about doing heart work. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:25.119 It's about looking at our hearts and seeing things if there's things we need to give up. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:30.880 Oswald Chambers, if you are familiar with that, devotional is an excellent devotional. 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:34.720 Every day there's a short little blurb on scripture text. 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:37.200 And yesterday's was actually on this text. 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:52.400 And what he says, he says this the thing is, we need to look at our hearts and we need to be willing to be identified with the cross so that we may sacrifice, we may make sacrifices of our life to God. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:20:01.519 And what that's talking about is that there's things that we hold on so dearly that we can we think we can never give up or never live without. 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:06.160 We all have them. 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:08.720 We all have to do the work in our lives. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:13.440 If we say we have genuine faith, we must look to ourselves. 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:19.440 We must use the Bible as the chisel away at us for faith that works. 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:21.599 And we need to say, we need to do this. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:24.160 And when we give it up, we do it through prayer. 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:28.160 We do it through the when we look to the cross and see what Jesus did for us. 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:32.319 Because we can confidently say, God will provide. 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:35.839 Just what Abraham says, God will provide. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:39.359 See, visible faith happens like this. 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:44.960 So that's what Abraham's, that's why James quotes Abraham here. 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:46.240 He shows Abraham. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:57.200 He's showing that his faith was started with believing in God's promises and then becomes visual in his works and trusting in God. 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:03.839 And then he also uses Rahab, the prostitute, which is in Joshua chapter 2. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:11.359 Israel is coming into the promised land, and they're surrounded by nations that, pagan nations. 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:17.839 So Joshua sends two spies into the land to scout it, to see what the nations look like. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:21.200 And they come to a place where Rahab lives. 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:26.400 And they everyone knows in these nations what God has been doing through the people of Israel. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:30.720 And Rahab knows this, and she believes in the God of Israel. 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:34.559 So she hides the spies when the people of the town come looking for them. 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:39.680 And then she lets them out through a window when the people have gone out to look for them. 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:45.680 See what happens here is that through her faith, God saves her. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:48.640 And it's seen in her works. 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:59.039 That's what James is getting at here is that when we proclaim Jesus, it becomes visible through what how we act it out in our lives. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:04.799 Like when we leave this building, when we go out into the community, it's faith that works. 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:10.400 It's not just faith that's proclaimed, it's faith, faith that's visual, visual faith. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:14.319 And then we come to the final point: faith that works. 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:26.720 If you look at verse 26, it says, For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:28.640 Here we see the gospel. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:35.920 See, this may feel like this this sermon or this text might feel like do this, do that, do this, you'll be okay, you'll be good. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.960 But the thing is here, James thinks that. 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:44.559 He knows that that's what they'll be thinking, that, oh, I just need to do these things and I'll be okay. 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:51.920 But he says here in verse 26, for the body apart from the spirit is dead. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:57.599 See, the thing is, the spirit enters into you when you come to faith. 00:22:57.839 --> 00:22:59.599 God draws you into himself. 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:03.920 Because it says in Romans, we can never do that ourselves. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:10.960 See, the gospel is that we are so far gone that God loves us so much, he gives his son. 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.839 And he gives us the faith. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:18.799 And then through that faith we see we see it worked out. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:23.279 Because James says, so also faith apart from works is dead. 00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:30.079 See, what flows out of the transformational faith through work of the Spirit, that's what's seen. 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:32.640 That's how we know genuine faith. 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:38.000 In summary, living faith is visual faith that works. 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:45.519 Two weeks ago when I preached about hearing and doing the word, see, God implants the word in us. 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:50.720 And then when we come to the word, to the Bible, God speaks to us. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:56.640 He shows us, he chisels away at us things that we need to, that need to be chiseled off. 00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:02.720 Because when we become Christians, we are like just a stone, a rough stone. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:11.279 And then the Bible slowly chisels away at us to make to make us a beautiful piece of art through our lives as we continue in the faith. 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:13.839 And it's the same with churches. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:21.839 When churches use the Bible to look at themselves, it's God chisels away at them, and they become beautiful places of worship. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:27.359 They become places where God's love is felt when people enter the building. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:32.880 So James is talking to them in a way that you have been saved by faith. 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:37.599 So go and live in the way that you've been saved. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:40.480 Go and do faith that works. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:43.759 We find our ultimate example in the cross. 00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:48.079 And we also find a great summary of it in John 3.16. 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:57.200 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:02.240 See, faith, living faith, is always a visual faith. 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:07.759 And faith, it is a faith that works, but not for personal benefit. 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:19.680 It works because of God loves us so much, and it is transformed by that love through seeing Jesus, for reflecting on Jesus and his work on the cross and what he's done for us. 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:21.920 That is faith that works. 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:23.920 And let's pray. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:36.640 Heavenly Father, sometimes, Lord, uh, your word um, your word can feel like um, it can feel uncomfortable. 00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:47.279 It can feel um that we don't measure up, or we don't um, that we can never do the things that your word asks us to do. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:26:07.440 Lord, help us to just come to the cross, to talk to Christ, to ask Christ to pour out his spirit more and more on our lives, so that we can come and you can chisel more at our lives as we reflect on your word, as we try to live out this Christian life. 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:09.119 In Jesus' name. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:10.079 Amen. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:15.519 We hope that you've been blessed by God's Word today. 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:20.960 If you live in the Port Perry area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m. 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:24.799 If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you. 00:26:24.960 --> 00:26:29.839 Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us. 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:35.200 Newsong's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:43.599 If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongportperry.ca slash giving to make your contribution. 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:46.640 Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.