The Kind of Faith that Works

Date: May 3, 2026
Series: Fruitful Faith - James
Passage: James 2:14-26
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Griffin

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

I want to title this message the kind of faith that works. The kind of faith that works. Doctrine and doing are like two chemical ingredients of salt, which is composed of two poisons: sodium and chlorine. If we ingest either one of these two poisons separately, we die. But if we combine them properly, we have sodium chloride, which is common for table salt, and that gives us flavor to our food, and indeed life and health to our bodies. So too, faith and works are inseparable. And this is the point that James is making in our text. In this passage, James imagines two men having a religious discussion. The person who claims to have faith but no works, and then the other person who claims that you can separate faith from works. And there's a lot of debate surrounding this text. A lot of scholars are debating this text even in circles today. There's three schools of thought regarding this text. One school of thought is that if a person claims to be a Christian, but gives no evidence of true faith by the way he lives, he may never have been saved or he may no longer be saved. Another thought says this: if a person claims to be a Christian, but gives no evidence of true faith by the way he lives, he was never saved in the first place. And then there's another thought that says if a person claims to be a Christian but gives no evidence of true faith by the way he lives, there are two possibilities. He may not be saved, or he may be saved, but he is not living by faith. He's not practicing the faith. The American Bible Society did a survey and it said over half of self-identified Christians in the U.S. don't actively practice their faith. And so even in the early church, where there were those who claimed that they had saving faith, yet they did not possess salvation. James, in our previous passage, verses 1 through 13, he dealt with Christians. He dealt with Christians, brothers, and sisters who did not demonstrate love at all. And so now James in verses 14 through 26, he's dealing with a much larger issue. He's dealing with the believer, someone who gives no evidence of his faith by the way he lives. Church faith is the key doctrine of the Christian life. The sinner is saved by faith. The believer must walk by faith. Without faith, it is impossible to do what? To please God. And whatever we do from faith, apart from faith, is sin. And that's Romans 14, 23. And someone said it this way. Faith is not believing in spite of evidence, but obeying in spite of consequence. And this is what James is saying in this text. James is discussing the relationship between faith and works. This was an important discussion then. And it's even a more important discussion for us today because today, if we don't get this discussion right, it could jeopardize our eternal salvation. See, today we live in a world that's bombarded by what's called easy believism. Easy believism says that if salvation is by faith alone in Christ Jesus, those who trust Christ are under no obligation to live transformed lives. And church, that's dangerous. And the reason why I brought out these three points at the beginning of our text, because if we're not careful, if we don't get this right, a person can sound good and they can sound like they have the correct doctrine. They can sound like they know exactly what they're talking about, and they can make it sound as if that's the truth. But if you're not careful, they can be preaching and teaching easy believism. The Bible is clear that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The Bible is clear. We are saved by grace and grace alone, and faith lays hold of that grace. And so James in our text is teaching, the main idea of our text is simply this: saving faith in God is seen in a changed life. James is saying that we can't claim to believe in God and salvation by grace if there hasn't been a dramatic change in our lives. And he does this by first giving two illustrations. He gives two illustrations, one of a dead faith, and the other one of a living faith. These faiths that's being claimed in this text are of professing Christians. And so what I would like for us to do is to examine both dead faith and living faith, so that by the time that we're finished, no one can walk out of here without taking an inward look at ourself and see if our faith lines up with the biblical truth. And I know what you may be saying, I know my faith lines up. But what we really should be saying is, I know my life lines up with my faith. And so, what kind of faith really saves a person? Our text gives us three kinds of faith that we want to examine on this morning: a say-so kind of faith, a believe-so kind of faith, and a show-so kind of faith. First, let's look at a say-so faith. A say-so kind of faith is dead. Why is it dead? Because a say-so kind of faith cannot save. Look with me at verse 14 of our text. James begins his argument by asking two questions. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? The key phrase in this text is, if someone says, So underline that, circle it, highlight it, whatever you need to do. But these three words, if someone says, it's key. Why is it key? Because people can say anything that they want. We live in a world today where people can live any way that they want to live, and they can say anything that they want to say. But James is saying simply this: don't just talk about it, be about it. James is saying repeating religious phrases never saves anyone. Trusting Jesus is what saves us. So James is talking about the man who has superficial, religious vocabulary, but he never had a divine encounter with an Almighty God. Just mere words. Just saying that we believe are not going to save our souls. You know, this text oftentimes gets disconnected from the verses ahead of it. Verse 13 says this, if you look with me in your Bible, for judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. And then James goes right into verse 14. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? It's as if this person is saying that you know what? I don't need mercy to prove that I have faith. That I can live and I can say that I have faith, but I don't need mercy to prove that. And James is dealing with that attitude right here in our text. And so he says, Dead faith saves no one. Look with us, look, look with me at verses 15 through 16. He says, if a brother or sister is poorly clothed, and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? James is now talking about the needs in the body of Christ. See, a Christian brother or sister in our text is poorly clothed. They're not naked, they're just poorly clothed. They're lacking in daily food. And one of you says, see that phrase again? One of you says, same phrasing. Go in peace, be warmed, and feel without giving in the things needed for the body, what good is it? See, you can say that you have faith all you want, but repeating of words cannot warm a hungry person. Empty words will not fill an empty stomach. They won't clothe a shivering body. They won't do anything and don't ignore the callous words in the text that James points out. Go. Go in peace. Be warmed and filled. In other words, see you later, chief. I hope you get some food somewhere. I hope you find some clothing. Church, this is where Christian charity starts. Christian charity starts right at home. If Christian charity can't begin in the home, there's a small chance that it's going to extend somewhere else, outside of the home. So James is pointing out that Christian charity begins in the home. And if it doesn't, then our faith is fruitless. Look what he says in verse 17. So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Just repeating warm words and telling a person that they hope that they get some food and just repeating that, those words cannot be saved. And so people may claim to be saved, people may claim a good religion, but there's never been a change in their lives if it's merely words. James says that without faith, without works, James says that faith without works, which are actions of obedience to God, cannot save a person. They're dead. Now I want to pause here for just a moment because this is where the contradiction comes in. This is where people think that Paul and James are contradicting one another. Paul makes it clear that salvation is by grace through faith, not a result of works. And so James and Paul, they're not contradicting each other. And I know there's a lot of things out there that say how Paul, how his doctrine is all messed up, how it contradicts with the Bible. No, James and Paul is not contradicting one another. What they're really doing is attacking the same issue, but they're doing it from two different angles. And so really what James and Paul is doing, they're standing back to back. And they're fighting the same issue, but they're just fighting two different foes. Paul is talking about being justified in the sight of God. James is speaking about being justified in the sight of man. So make sure we understand this. Paul is talking about the root of our salvation. James is talking about the fruit of our salvation. The fruit is the proof of the root. Hear me. The fruit is the proof of the root. If you're looking at a fruit tree, at the roots of a fruit tree, you can't tell what kind of fruit it's going to bear by looking at the roots. It's not until that tree begins to bear fruit will we know what kind of fruit will come from those roots. The truth of Christian life is this. We are not saved by deeds. We are saved for deeds. We're not saved by deeds. We are saved for deeds. Paul's focus is on the first truth of that statement, and James focuses on the second truth of that statement. Why? Because many people claim to be saved. Many people talk a good religion, but they've never had a changed life. It's just merely words. Faith? Think about this. Faith can't preserve that person's can't can't preserve his life. Just talking about you have faith can't can't preserve that person's life. When faith stands by itself, because we fail to act on it, our inactive faith is as dead or useless, as as useless words as the destitute Christian brother or sister. Life has no, it has no life-preserving power at all. If all we say is that we're saved, if all we say is that we're Christians, if that's all we do, that has no, that that means absolutely nothing. It only means something to us, but it does nothing to save. And you're looking at a man who made two false professions of faith. So I ask you again, what kind of faith really saves a person? A say-so kind of faith, no. Let's look at another kind of faith. A believe-so kind of faith. Verse 18. But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works. James deals with this image of two men having a religious argument. Both of them claim that they're saved. You have faith, I have works. One man says that he's saved because he believes, the other man says he's saved because he has works. The other man says, Show me your faith without my works. The other man responds, I'll show you my faith by my works. James says, that's fine. You can talk about faith all you want, but let me really deal with the issue. James says, no one can show anyone their faith apart from works. James says, that's impossible. You can't show anyone your faith apart from works. What James is talking about here is justification before men. Church, only God knows if we are justified before God. Only God knows when we are justified by trusting Christ. People cannot say that we have trusted Christ. They can't see that. You can't see that. All you can see is how we live. People can't say, you can't see my faith. You can only see my works. The only way you know my works is to watch my life. You can't read my mind. You can hear my voice, but how can you really know that I'm saved? There's a lot of people in churches today who are preaching and teaching and serving in the church who are not saved. The only way that we can really know my fa that you can really know my faith is to watch the way that I live. And you know what James says? James says, Show me your faith apart from your works. It's impossible. James says, I'm going to show you my faith by my works. In other words, James says, these two are together. Faith and works go together. They are inseparable. James is telling us that you can't say that I don't have, that I don't give, that I don't have the gift. James is saying that you can't say that I'm not called to that ministry. He's saying you can't say that I'm busy doing something elsewhere. James is saying, listen, that should not be part of the Christian vocabulary. James says, look, you know what kind of faith you got? If you don't care about someone, Else is if you don't care about the hungry, if you don't care about the needy, if you don't care about those people in need, James is saying your faith is as good as the faith of a demon. Look what he says in the text. He says, You believe that God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. Verse 19. So people, some people don't have any more faith than the devil himself. This devil has a certain intellectual belief concerning the gospel. James says, you believe? That's good. He says, you believe that God is one, you do well. This would have been, this, this would have been very, they would have understand what James was talking about. James is speaking, is writing to Jewish Christians, not all of them, but primarily Jewish Christians. They would have understand, understood what James is saying because of Deuteronomy 6.4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And so to the Jewish person, this would have been the most important verse in the Torah. It was the foundation to their beliefs. Parents taught it to their children. They would memorize it. They would recite it. Their entire lives was built around Deuteronomy 6.4. So they would have understood what James meant. And this verse meant there is only one God, and the people were to love him supremely. And so demons, they don't have a false theology. What the demons believe about God is true. It is 100% biblical. The demons know that the truth about God, they know there is a God, and they know that there is only one God. That's not all that they know. You see, demons are not atheists, they're not skeptics. They're no agnostics among their ranks. They're no liberal demons who doubt the faith or doubt truth. And so when James says you believe that God is one, you did well, he's not being sarcastic. He was being entirely truthful, and his readers would have taken it that way. Biblical faith begins with acknowledging the one true God. And so what else do demons believe? They recognize that Jesus, Jesus, they recognize Jesus for exactly who he is, the Son of God. The devil believes that Jesus is the holy one of God. The devils have an orthodox belief. They believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And James tells us in verse 19, he says, demons believe and they shudder. Church, real faith does not cause us to shudder. Real faith does just the opposite, it brings peace. Romans 5, 1 says this, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The devils believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, was born a virgin, died on the cross, and was raised from the dead. Now you take all that together, they got an impressive theology.

unknown 26:10

R.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

C. Spro says it this way. He says, Satan could make an A in my systematic theology course. He knows the information and knows the inform and he knows the information and knows that the information is true. If the devil was sitting here right now, we hope he's not. You know, he'd be willing to serve. He'd be willing to sing in the choir. He'd be willing to be a deacon. He'd be willing to preach, to minister the word of God, he'd be willing to pastor. But if you ask that same devil, are you willing to submit your life to the Lord Jesus Christ? He would tell you no. 2 Corinthians, the devil will not submit to Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You know, in my previous church, there was there was there was a gentleman there who uh went on to be with the Lord. I used to talk to him quite a bit, and he used to say, He used to say, Reverend, I've been going to this church for I don't know how many years. I've been singing in the choir. He said, and every Sunday I came in and I was drunk as I could be. He said, and I was singing in the choir. That God showed me that I was not saved. 2 Corinthians 11 14 says this, and no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. See, the devil will not submit to Jesus Christ. And many people think today that they're going to heaven because they believe the facts about Jesus. They believe the facts of the Bible, they believe the plan of salvation. But they don't believe in the man of salvation. His name is Jesus. Listen. A person may have an intellectual understanding of the gospel, but he'll miss heaven. Because he's never got the gospel from here to here. And I pray that there's no one in here today that's in that condition. And if you are, you got a chance. As long as you got breath in your body, you got a chance to come to God and to cry out to him and be honest with God because God knows our hearts. Come to Jesus. So what kind of faith really saves a person? Say so kind of faith, that won't do it. A believe-so kind of faith, that won't do it. It's demonic. James gives another kind of faith that he talks about in verses 21 through 26. He says, it's a show-so kind of faith. A show-so kind of faith. James gives two more examples in our text. Verse 21 through 24 says this Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works. And faith was completed by his works. 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. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. James says that Abraham showed his faith when he offered Isaac upon the altar. And what James is referring to in verse 21 is a story that's found in Genesis 22. When he offered up Isaac on the altar. And in verse 22, James says that you see that faith was active along with his works. And faith was completed by his works. What is James saying? Abraham was not saved by obeying God's difficult command.

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The Bible says because Abraham had that kind of his faith in the promises of God.

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You guys didn't hear me? I mean, I gotta go back. I gotta go back and and and and deal and deal with deal with what y'all didn't hear. Say amen if you heard me. All right, all right, let's move on. Let's move on. Let's move on. James understands this, church. That Abraham was justified by faith and nothing more. Hence the text says, His faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works. Abraham's faith is what saved him. And his faith was seen as real and an act of faith. Watch this. When he did not hold back his son as a sacrifice unto the Lord. Abraham was willing to do the incredible thing that God asked him to do. This test was a private test. It was a personal test, and it was a severe test. A little boy was playing with his mother's vase in the living room. And he got his hand stuck in the vase. And his mother tried everything that she could to try to get his hand out of that vase. His mother tried soap, tried water, tried everything that she could to get his hand out of the vase. So finally, they got the father involved. And the father said, son, here's what I want you to do. I want you to relax your hand. I want you to open your hand. I want you to relax your hand. And when you do, I'm going to pull and I'm going to pull your hand out of the vase. And the son says, Yeah, but Dad, if I relax my hand, I'm going to lose the pennies that I'm holding on to. Church, this is a picture of when our faith gets tested. Faith in God is often seen in our willingness to hold lightly what you value greatly. And trusting God for the consequences. See, many of us go through life miserable. We go through life miserable. Why? Because we don't want to give up what we're holding on to. We don't want to sacrifice our attitudes. We don't want to sacrifice our pride. We don't want to give up some of the possessions we have. We don't want to give up some of the jobs we have. And God is saying, listen. I'm giving you a test. Because I want to see if you love me more than you love it. The self-indulgences we have. The past experiences that we have in life. We hold on to so much what happened yesterday. What happened five years ago? What happened ten years ago? What happened in this church? What happened in that church? Let it go. Give it to God. So God, God, listen, God, listen. If you give it to God, God will take care of it. So how much better would it be if we went through life with an open hand? Saying, Lord, you gave this to me and you can take it away anytime you want. That was Abraham. That's what Abraham was saying. He had that kind of faith, and his faith was demonstrated before the whole world to see to the point that we are still reading and hearing about it today. He offered his son his faith, propelled him to obedience far beyond anything his readers would likely face. How? Because he had a show so kind of faith. But then, secondly, there's another example of Rahab, verse 25. 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. It's a very familiar story. We find this story over in Joshua 2 and Joshua 6. Israel was about to invade the promised land and take the city of Jericho. Joshua sent spies into the city. Then Rahab, then they met Rahab the harlot who protected them and affirmed that she believed in God and he said, believed what God had said and what God was doing. And when the men departed, they promised to save her and her family when the city was taken. Church, this is an exciting story. When you get a chance, go over there and read it. But in it is one of the Bible's greatest examples of saving faith. Rahab heard the word and knew that the city was condemned. And this truth affected her and the fellow citizens so that their hearts melted within them in Joshua 2.11. There are many differences between Rahab and Abraham that we can cite. But one thing that I want to cite real quick is that the greatest moment in her life, here it is, a Gentile woman, a prostitute, decided that she was going to protect the people of God. And in that moment, she switched from serving pagan gods to now serving the one and only true God. And church, this is a different kind of faith. It's a different kind of test than what Abraham had. Abraham had all the knowledge that the Jewish person would have. But Rahab had very little knowledge, but she had enough faith to choose rightly. And so when she made her choice, she never backed up. She was justified by works when she received the messages and sent them out another way. After successfully walking across and returning, he returned pushing a wheelbarrow. And he asked the crowd that gathered around, he says, How many of you believe that I can get across with this wheelbarrow? And they all enthusiastically said that they believed. And he asked the question, how many of you would believe that I can transport a person across in this wheelbarrow? And they and they said, Yeah, you can transport a person across in this wheelbarrow. But when it came down to somebody getting in the wheelbarrow, there was only one person that was willing to get in this wheelbarrow. And that person was his mother. But this is how faith works. This this is this illustrates faith without works. A profession of belief that lacks any corresponding action. The crowd was enthusiastic. They said, Yeah, you can do it. But here's the thing: it cost them nothing. There was no risk. There was no commitment on their part. They was not willing to stake anything on what they believed. See, a verbal testimony alone is not adequate evidence that true saving faith exists. Only works of obedience can prove the presence of faith is active in our lives. So that's why James says in verse 26, for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Everyone in here someday is going to die. Every person living, if Jesus don't come back beforehand, will die. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 9 27, and just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. After we leave our bodies, we'll continue to live somewhere. Either with Jesus Christ throughout eternity or in hell throughout eternity. The body in this illustration that James gives, he gives this last illustration in verse 26. The body in this illustration is your belief. The body without the spirit is dead. If all you have is your belief and you don't have the spirit of God, then you have no life. What good is a corpse without a spirit? What good is belief without life? A corpse can't do anything without life running through its veins. If that corpse was to get up and walk and do works, that corpse can't do work without life. There's only one way to be saved, and that is by trusting Jesus and Jesus alone. We're not saved if the life of God is not in us. Now you can have a say-so kind of faith, but it won't do you any good. It's dead. You can have a believe-so kind of faith. It's useless. Your intellect won't do anything for you. You can believe the right things, but if you haven't trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, you will not be saved. You can have a show-so kind of faith. That's the faith that's active. That's the faith that's alive. It's the faith which actually trusts God. It's the faith that trusts the finished work, the completed work on Calvary's cross. It shows that you put your faith in Christ. Listen, no one is going to go to heaven because they're good. No one is going to go to heaven because you've been baptized. No one is going to go to heaven because you came to church. No one is going to go to heaven because you read Genesis to Revelations. No one is going to go to heaven because you walked the streets on adopter blind. The only way that we get to heaven is by trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Let us pray. Father God, we thank you for the truth of this text. We thank you, Lord, for James and his argument and making it so plain for us in the text, O God. Father, help us to meditate on your word. Help us to live out the faith that we have in our hearts. Help us, God, to be a living testimony of a changed life and what you can do with a sin sick soul. Lord, we thank you and we praise you. We ask these blessings in Christ Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. May we all stand. Listen, I don't know what kind of faith you have. I can't see your faith. I can only see your works. But God can see your faith. And you know where you are with Jesus. You know where you are with God. You know if you have truly believed in Christ. And listen, you may have been coming to this church for years. Or you may have heard the gospel many times, but you have not truly given your heart to Jesus. And that's not enough, that's nothing to play around with, church. So as we sing, as we give the invitation, if you want to come and accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we would love to have you to do that in this moment. If you want to come and rededicate your life to Christ, He would love it for you to come and say, I haven't been living a changed life. He would love for you to come and just lay that down at his feet and rededicate your life to him. And if you don't know for sure if you're saved, I'm asking you to come forward too so we can talk about your eternal security. So you won't leave here today. Second guessing your faith, second guessing your eternal security. The Bible says that these things I have written so that you may know that you have eternal life. God wants us to know for certain that we're going to heaven. Amen. Amen. Let us sing.