Untitled Sermon

O King of kings Of all men And we pray And we pray O great James chapter 2. We're plowing through the book of James a little bit at a time. We are currently up to verse 14 and we'll look at verses 14 through 26 this morning. So turn there if you would. I pray you have a Bible with you. If not, there should be one in your pew or close to you. Just kind of look with someone else.

If you don't have one, as we're reading the word, I want you to be in it. So please, please, if you need a Bible, we'll get you one. You can take one out of the pew and take it home. It's yours. Please. We want you to have the word. James chapter 2, verse 14. James says, What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? This is NIV.

Can such a faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says, I wish you well, keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it's not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, You have faith. I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds

and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God? Good. Even the demons believe that. And shudder. You foolish man. Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together.

And his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. And he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab, the prostitute, considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies,

and sent them off in different directions. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. Now we've been looking at James overall under the heading of the workings of faith. Understanding that James and Paul do not contradict each other. Where Paul emphasizes grace and faith and James emphasizes works. James is emphasizing the works

that result from faith. He's not stressing that you work for salvation. He's stressing that if you indeed are saved, if your faith is real, it will be evidenced by your works, by your deeds. And so we're looking at this under the overall heading, the workings of faith. In chapter 1, we've seen that the workings of faith are revealed by trials. And this specifically is to us, individually.

We're not looking at each other. We're not examining each other's faith. We're looking at ourselves. And so we see that when the trials come, we are to rejoice and we can rejoice because God is using those trials in our lives to reveal to us the quality or the condition or the reality or the ingenuineness of our faith, whether or not it's real. So when the trials come, God's bringing those,

allowing those, using those in our life to reveal to us where our faith is, if it's real or not. Then in chapter 2, we started seeing that not only are the workings of faith revealed through trials, but they'll be reflected in our relationships with others. If indeed I have faith, if indeed that faith is saving faith, then it will begin to reflect itself in my relationship with other people, how I relate to others, how I see others, how I see others. And so in the first 13 verses of chapter 2 that we looked at last week, we saw that if my faith is real, then part of the workings of that faith that are reflected in my relationship with other people is the fact that I am ministering now impartially.

I don't minister with favoritism. That's one thing the church is always accused of, is cliques and of, you know, little sects and little groups. And we keep different people out and we want us four no more. Shut the door and all that stuff. If I am genuinely saved, if my faith is real, then it will be reflected in the fact that I minister to people impartially.

It makes no difference what their race is or what their gender is or what their age is or whether they smell or whether they are dirty or whether they look different than me. It makes no difference. Because as we saw in the first part of chapter 2 last time, I begin to look with the eyes of Christ because how I see is how I love, as we saw in verses one through four. How you see others is how you love.

And Jesus always looked at people with how they would become as he touched their lives. He saw always, he saw Simon as Peter. He saw Saul as Paul. He saw Abram as Abraham, saw Jacob as Israel. He saw us as we would become and that's how we are to see people with his eyes, with the eyes of Christ. And we saw in verses 5-7 last time that God's sovereignly chooses.

It's God's sovereign choice that we were nothing special, that we did not make a decision. merit his choosing that we did not earn salvation we didn't deserve salvation god sovereignly chose and that's what he does with everybody and so nobody's excluded it's god's desire that all should come to repentance that all should be saved so god loves everybody and he chooses sovereignly so we don't so we minister to whom we're we're around and that's verses 8 through 11 in chapter 2 that we keep the royal law and he defines the royal law in verse 8 as loving your neighbor as yourself and of course we talked about why it's called the royal law and i'll let you pick up on the tape if you want to hear about that but that's to minister to those around us

our neighbor is those that were in the vicinity of right now right this minute it's not when you're in your house it's right now the opportunity you have to keep the royal law is right now as we see through the eyes of christ and realize god's sovereign hand choosing and moving in the lives of the people then verses 12 and 13 we we saw that we're to do that remembering the judgment of god that we verse 12 speak and act as those who are going to the kingdom of god to be judged by the law that gives freedom that our speech that our actions and our attitudes we saw last time are those that are going to be laid before the throne of god and judged by him now as

believers it doesn't determine our salvation it determines our work for him after this life after we leave here and in the millennial kingdom and beyond the extent of authority that we're given and all will be determined by how we respond here post cross after the cross after we come to christ and so we're to speak and to act and to realize our attitudes are going to be brought into judgment and so we need to keep those things before us as we minister now all of this from the end of chapter one on through where we are right now i want us to tie in our minds to the idea of being a part of worship i don't know what your concept of worship has been in the past most people think

this is worship instruments and singing cantatas and chorales and music is worship but james says back in chapter one verse 26 if anyone considers himself religious and then in verse 27 religion that god our father accepts is pure and on and on we looked at that back when we were in chapter one and i'm reminding you and as well as informing the visitors that are here today that word religion literally means an outward form an outward expression and is associated with our worship which is an outward expression worship is an outward expression of our faith and so worship he says in chapter one verse 26 if anyone considers himself a worshiping person he is an outward expression of our faith

worshiper, and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue. He deceives himself, and his worship is worthless. Worship that God our Father accepts is pure and faultless as this, to look after orphans and widows. We talked about that being ministering to those without expecting anything in return, ministering to those who cannot pay you back, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world, to keep ourselves from worldliness, from the attitudes of the world. So guarded tongue,

others centered, and keeping ourselves separated from worldly attitudes is a part of what genuine worship is all about. Now that thought about worship carries on into chapter 2, you see, because it's associated with our faith. As I mentioned just a second ago, worship is an expression of our faith. To the extent that we worship is the extent that we have faith in God.

The extent to which we give ourselves to the Lord is the extent to which we believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. So worship is simply an expression of our faith. Someone said faith is not believing. Believing in spite of evidence, but obeying in spite of consequences. Let me say that again. Faith is not believing in spite of evidence. See, people think, well, we have faith to believe in

God who we can't see. Well, that does take faith, but faith is not necessarily or not simply believing in spite of evidence. It's believing in spite of consequences. It's obeying in spite of consequences. It's doing what we know is right in spite of consequences. And you can go to Hebrews chapter 11. It's been termed the faith chapter in scripture. And you can go to Hebrews

chapter 11. And you can read about those who believed and did. Noah believed God and built an ark. I was just reading Genesis again this past couple of weeks. And I shared with some brothers the other day that something that I guess I really hadn't thought about before is I know that God commissioned Noah to build the ark. God and Noah were in a relationship together. And it took Noah

120 years roughly to build the ark. But something I didn't really realize or think about, I guess, until this last time through Genesis was that it said that Noah was 500 when his kids were born. Now you read and you read some of the other people in there and they were, one of them was 65. And he begat so-and-so. And somebody else was 80-something and he begat so-and-so. And you know,

they were young. But Noah was 500 before he had kids. Now you read in Genesis 6 that he was 600 when the flood came. So he actually started building the ark if it took him 120 years when he was about 480 years old. But he didn't have kids until he was 500. And so he had to do that work for 20 years by himself because nobody else helped him. They thought he was nuts. So for 20

years, just himself and the Lord, he built the ark regardless of consequences. Then after his kids are born, now, now he's got a family. He's building an ark. Everybody really thinks he's nuts. I mean, he should be out getting a decent job, you know, instead of building this ark in his driveway. So for another probably 15, 20 years until his sons are old enough to really help him,

he's building the ark. So for about 40 of those years, Noah built it alone. That's faith, you see. Faith obeys in spite of the consequences. Moses obeyed in spite of the consequences, being ostracized from Egypt. And on down the line, that's Hebrews chapter 11. That's what faith really is, see, is obedience regardless of the consequences. Obedience to the Lord regardless

of the consequences. And so faith isn't a feeling. I mean, it's not something I, feel that I've got to do. I'm not, I can't do this unless I feel like I can do it. And that's faith. No, faith is a conviction. Faith isn't a feeling. It's a conviction. It's a confidence in God's word. It's a confidence that what God says is true and a conviction that as I act upon

that truth, it's going to bless him. He'll be pleased. Faith is, let me say it again. Faith is a confidence that what God says is true, that his word is true and a conviction that as I'm obedient to that, he's going to be pleased. He'll be blessed by my doing that. It's not a feeling. You see, feelings follow after. The world is screwed up today because it's left God aside and it's chased after its feeling. I'm

hungry. I feel hungry. I want to satisfy that feeling of hunger. I want a sexual relationship. I want to satisfy that sexual relationship. I want finances. I want power. I'm going to satisfy that need, that feeling that I want those things. And so the world runs off pursuing those things. Eventually some they get, but they don't satisfy. So they go off pursuing other things. See,

we chase feelings. And oftentimes as Christians, we think that's what, that's what motivates my Christianity is feelings. I have to feel. I have to feel God there. A lot of times you don't feel God there. And so faith is not feeling. His word is true. No matter how I feel, I will pursue that. I will obey that knowing that it pleases him. You see, that's reflected in relationships. That's where we are in chapter

two. That's reflected in my relationships because there's going to be a lot of times we don't like each other. A lot of times in marriage relationships, you don't like each other. You don't feel love. You don't feel like liking each other. That's too bad. It doesn't say anywhere in here you got to feel like liking each other. It doesn't say anywhere in here where if you're in, if you're in

fellowship with somebody and you just don't feel God, you don't feel God. You don't feel God. You don't feel like liking him or don't feel. It doesn't say that in here. It says, if you are my disciples, then you will have love one for another. Husbands, you will love your wives as Christ loved the church, whether you feel like it or not. Wives, you'll submit yourself unto your husbands

as unto the Lord, whether you feel like it or not. We love one another, whether we feel like it or not. So it's not feelings. It's based on a conviction that this is true and that God is pleased because I'm obedient to it. Now, verses 14 through 26, though, we're going to find that it's these workings of faith are reflected in my relationship, but we're warned here about

things that are not true. So we're going to find that these workings of faith are reflected in my There are three kinds of faith. There are three kinds of faith that James reveals to us in verses 14 through 26, and two of them are deceptive. There is a faith that you will see and perhaps have experienced and maybe even thought that that was genuine faith. But James says, if that's where

you're standing in relationship with the Lord, you've been deceived. There's only one faith that's genuine. That's what I want us to see this morning as we look at this section. First of all, verses 14 through 17, he talks about a dead faith. He talks about a dead faith. Verse 14, what good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him?

Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food, and if one of you says to him, go, I wish you well, keep warm and be well fed, but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. People with dead faith, follow me with this, people with dead faith know the language of Christianity. People with dead faith know the language of Christianity. Verse 14, what good is

it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith? In other words, if he says he has faith. And in his saying he has faith, he knows the language of Christianity. He knows the doctrine. I have faith. I know about justification. I know about salvation. I know about redemption. I know about propitiation. I can even spell the word. I know about the Old Testament. I know about the

mercy seat and all of that. I understand all of those things. He can speak the things of Christianity. He can speak the walk. He can talk the walk. James says dead faith is people who do that. They can talk the walk, but they don't walk the talk. If he claims to have faith but has no deeds, can such faith save him? Verse 14, what good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith

but has no deeds, can such faith save him? In other words, they say they have faith, but they don't walk that talk. They say, but they don't do. They know about forgiveness, and they expect forgiveness from others. But when they are offended or wronged, they fail to extend that same forgiveness to those that have offended them. They know about speaking words of encouragement

and to put aside all evil speaking and slanders, and yet what seems to come from their lips are condemning and gossip and belittling of others. They know about forgiveness, and they expect forgiveness from others. They sing praises on Sunday, but Monday they are filled with complaining, complaining about their spouse, complaining about the job, complaining about the boss. They can talk the walk, but they don't walk the talk. James asks here, verses 14 through 17,

what good is this kind of faith? If I say I have faith and there's no active visible expression of that, what good is it? Can such faith save him? What kind of faith? What kind of faith is he talking about here? Well, here it's a faith that is never seen in practical works of love towards others. It's a faith that is never seen in practical works of love towards others. It's a faith that is

never seen in practical works of love towards others, which he said back in chapter one is worship. Worship is an other's centeredness, ministering to the widow and to the orphan, ministering to others, ministering to those who can't pay me back, who won't say good job or give me a plaque or give me flowers for doing my good deed. It's an other's centeredness, and those who don't have those outward expressions, those practical works of love towards others is what he's talking about, this dead faith being, because it is that kind of faith. It's a faith that is outward expressiveness that is our worship. That's how we worship God. That's the practical

worship of God. It's not just singing songs here in church. Let me continue to emphasize that. Your worship is a lifestyle. Your worship is everything that you do and everything that you say and how you relate to people in your family and at your job and at school and at Dillon's and at the dentist's office and wherever. It's a lifestyle. And James says, if you can talk the walk, but

there's no action, there's no activity, there's no evidence of that, then what good is it? His conclusion, it can't save him. That kind of faith doesn't save. You know, as he said, if you can't is he saying initially? Is he talking about salvation initially? Well, I believe it's twofold because what he's talked to us about is salvation. If you indeed are saved, these works will be

evident. But he's also talked about the practical daily walk where, as we saw in chapter one, those trials come. And if our minds are given over to the evil thoughts, then it just becomes a temptation and we're led into sin of our own lust. Remember in chapter one and the way that that is changed as we just immerse ourself in the word of God, we're just constantly taking in the word of God and letting that implanted and grafted word cleanse us so that we're able to acknowledge this is a trial, God, that you brought to evidence my faith and I rejoice in you. You've got a purpose. You're making me into the image of your son. I'm looking forward to the

crown of life. All those things are in chapter one. OK, I don't want to lose you. Stay with me. Sometimes it's cold outside. It's warm in here and you start to drift. Don't drift. Hang with me. A dead faith doesn't evidence those things. A dead faith is just somebody who comes here and they sing the songs and they go back out there and they're exactly the same as they were before

they professed the faith in Christ. And James says, that's the way you are. There's no evidence of change. You ain't saved and you won't be saved when those times of temptation come along because you'll be trusting in yourself and not in the Lord. There's no initial salvation. There's no practical salvation with a dead faith. He goes on to talk about dead faith

in verses 15 through 17. He says dead faith really sees the need around, but doesn't do anything personally to meet the need. Look at look at verse 15. He says, suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. And if one of you says to him, go, I wish you well and keep warm and be well fed, but does nothing about his physical needs. What good is it? So he's saying you see need around

you. And what? Oh, what kind of need? What kind of need do I have to see? Well, he uses basic practical need, just like in chapter one, he used basic others, just a basic others who couldn't repay you orphans and widow. Well, here he lays out basic practical need is food and clothes. If you see somebody around you and you're practicing the royal law of loving your neighbor as yourself, and this person

right around you in this opportunity is lacking just the basic needs. And you see that and you don't do anything personally to help now personally to help. What do I do? Do I have to, you know, if they're without food, do I have to go buy them a whole bunch of groceries? Maybe if you can, you can help them there. Maybe you can present the need to us so that we can maybe

move to meet the need. If they, if there's some problem and they're needing utilities or something like that, that's what the ministry is for. We minister to one another that way, but you are right there. And God's made that need evident to you for a purpose so that he can use you to minister in that way to that person. That's your neighbor at that time. And there's a, there's a

need, an express need. And you've realized that he wants you to help minister in that particular way. And he's saying, if you see that need all around, just like he says in verses 15, through 17, and you don't do anything personally to meet that need, it's a dead faith. Galatians chapter six, verse 10, Paul says, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Now you go, you know, there's a lot of

people out there and I can't meet the needs of the whole world. Again, it didn't say here, go out and meet the needs of the whole world. It doesn't say that in here anyway. It says, love your neighbor as yourself. The opportunity, not the geography. Your neighbor is the one right there. Now you have to go out and look at the whole world and say, I can't meet the whole, the whole world's

needs. No, it's the person you're with right now, who you sit in the pew with right now, who you will say hi to as you leave the church, as you are part of the household of faith, as you're part of this little fellowship here in our city. There's so much need in this little fellowship in our city. It's amazing. Do you realize the need that's here? Do you know the

need of the person sitting next to you or in your pew? Do you even know who they are? Whose fault is that? And sometimes people get mad at me because I don't, I haven't made contact with you. Well, listen, and I've said this before and I'll say it again. I am not a visitation pastor. I will not put you on my list and come to your house and visit you. I'm not,

that's not my calling. My calling, as I see it, according to Acts chapter six, is to be in the word of God and prayer. I pray for you. If you have filled out a little bulletin flap, that's what they're there for. I pray your name's on a care group list and you are prayed for. And I pray for you regularly. And as you make needs known for prayer and all, we pray for you

and seek to help meet those needs. But I'm not going to come calling on you because that would take time away from study of the word and prayer. There's a lot of people that get offended because I haven't come to see you. Well, see, that's not my job. That's not what I see the calling in here to do of a pastor. It's the calling of the flock. We minister to one another's needs. That's what we've been

called to do. And as you see a need around you, you're called to minister to that need. If you don't know the people around you, that's your calling. That's your responsibility. That's your fault. And you need a purpose as you come here to take some time to get to know somebody. When we have the time of fellowship, don't go shake hands with the people you know. You'll see them

later. Go meet somebody you haven't seen before and introduce yourself to them and get to know them because they probably have a need. And you're here to see how God will use you to minister to meet that need. Now, if we have a church functioning like that, wow, the place will blow off of Ark City because that's what people aren't seeing. That's what the church needs to

be doing. Galatians 6.10 says, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men. Now, we'll get out there. If we can't do it here, you won't do it out there. God's given you an opportunity right here to minister to the people right here that you see regularly, that you know so that as he brings somebody else across your path, you've already done it. You can do it to

somebody that he brings across your path as you do it to the household of faith. True faith. Follow me with this one. True faith. Genuine faith is expressed by works, by deeds of love. First John, for what I can do in ministering to somebody else's need. That's genuine faith. That's the other-centeredness. That's part of our practical worship. Chapter 1, verse 26. An other-centeredness. John Calvin, one of our early

church fathers, writes, quote, it is faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies can never be alone. Faith justifies. Yes, I have faith in what God did through Christ on the cross. That justifies me. But that kind of faith, that kind of faith, that kind of faith, that kind of faith, is never alone because it expresses itself actively in love. That's what James is saying

here in verse 17. This dead faith is an actionless faith. An actionless faith is dead. It's not accompanied by action, he says in verse 17. It is dead. It's by itself. It's alone, if you're reading King James. The phrase or the word there for by itself, we translates, he says, it means it's dead in its constituent elements. Moffat says that alone or a faith that's by itself is dead in

itself. It means that faith is dead in itself. It's alone. It's alone. It's alone. It's alone. It's like a corpse. It produces nothing. So if you can talk a walk, big deal. That's like a corpse. It produces nothing unless there are actions of love out towards others who cannot repay you. You're not expecting anything in return, but it's because that's what God calls us to do. And you want to be

obedient to his word because you love him. That's worship. That's true worship. That's the expression of true faith. Warren Wiersbe in his commentary writes, quote, no man can come to faith in Christ and remain the same any more than he can come into contact with a 220 volt wire and remain the same. There will be visible, evident change in your life if your faith is genuine, because God is a

greater power source than any 220 volt wire. And if you come in contact with Jesus Christ, it will be evident in your life or your faith is dead. It's intellectual only. I know these things. I can quote these verses. Secondly, he talks about a demonic faith, verses 18 and 19. But someone will say, you have faith. I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by

what I do. You believe that there is one God? Good. Even the devil will not believe you. You demons believe that, and they shudder. James wanted to move us who would be reading this epistle. He wanted to move us from complacency to action, to activity. Listen, the natural tendency of all things is to run down. Second law of thermodynamics in the universe is things are

breaking down. They are wearing out. They are running down. You and I are getting older and are wearing out and are running down. If we are left alone, if we don't seek to maintain that relationship with the Lord, if it's not something that's important to us, then we're not going to run down in that relationship. Eventually, we move from Ephesus to Laodicea. Eventually, we move

from losing our first love because we're just doing the function and he's not a part of our wondrous relationship to, eh, who cares, apathy. And James wants to stir us because he knows that's the natural flow of things. And especially as we get closer to the last days. And brothers and sisters, I believe we're in them. I believe we have but a hair's breadth of time left. And so

we of all people who know that and see that need to be stirred, stirring our heart, that's where this is concerned. James wanted to stir us from a complacency to an action, to an activity. And so he brings up this subject of demons and he illustrates this idea of a demonic faith, that demons have faith. Now, I don't know how many of you follow the comic strip BC, but one of the little segments has the anteater or Wiley or one of them, one of the first times I saw this expressed, he was kind of sitting there looking over this rock at these two little clams on the beach and the clams are talking and they get up and they start walking off. And he says,

clams got legs, you know, like it was a shock, like it was a revelation. And this hits you about like he did first service. You just kind of go, but there's a, there was another one more recently where the anteater is sitting there and he's looking at an anthill and then there's a school in the anthill and the teacher's talking about where the pilgrims first settled around the Hudson River. And one of the kids said Plymouth and they, and, and, and they said, no, it was at, I can't remember what the town was, but it was like another vehicle. It was like a Ford or

something like that. And the kid starts crying and the teacher says, oh, well, you know, since you said Plymouth and Plymouth's a car and Ford's a car, we'll give you, we'll give you credit for that answer because they were both cars. And the anteater yells out, ants got outcome based education. Okay. The purpose of all of that is as we talk about a demonic faith, it should

strike you as demons got faith, like crabs got legs, the clams got legs, demons have faith. What kind of faith do demons have? Well, look at verse 19. You believe that there is one God. Good. Even the demons believe that. So the demons believe that there's a God. See, demonic faith goes beyond atheism or agnosticism. Demonic faith doesn't deny a God and demonic

faith doesn't say, well, there may be a God out there somewhere, but you can't know him. Demonic faith goes past that. I mean, it's a deep faith. It believes in the existence of God, a personal God. Verse 19. Secondly, they believe in the deity of Christ. Demons believe in the deity of Christ. Mark chapter three, verses 11 and 12. Mark writes that whenever the evil spirits saw Jesus,

they fell down before him and cried out, you are the son of God. But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was. So demons believe in the deity of Christ. They believe in the existence of a personal God and they believe in the deity of Christ. Third, they believe in a place of punishment. They believe in a place of punishment. Luke chapter eight, verse 31.

Jesus asked the Gadarene, what is your name? Legion, he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the abuso, into the abyss, into the pit, because they realized that there was a place of punishment. The demons realize that. They understand. They're not ignorant of that. They know God created,

hell, Gehenna, ultimately as the place for Satan and his angels. Fourth, demons recognize Jesus as judge. They recognize Jesus as being the judge from that previous verse that I just quoted in Luke 8, 31, that they begged him not to send them to the abuso. They realized he has the authority of a judge to send them there. It's also found in Mark chapter five, verses one through 13,

both affirming the fact that Jesus has the authority to execute sentence over them. They know that. They affirm that. They believe in the existence of a personal God. They believe in the deity of Christ. They believe in the existence of a personal God. They believe in the existence of a place of punishment. They believe that Jesus is the authority, the ultimate authority, the judge.

Fifth, they submit to the power of his word. They submit to the power of his word. Whatever he says for them to do, they do. Release that man that was crippled. And they did. Go into that herd of pigs. And they did. All through the gospels, you'll find that whenever Jesus confronted the demons, whatever he told them to do, they did it. They didn't argue. They just did it. They submitted

to his word. And sixth, sixth, dead faith is intellectual. Dead faith says, I believe all these things. Dead faith talks the talk. Dead faith says, I believe all these things. Dead faith says, I believe that there is a personal God. I believe that Jesus is the son of God. I believe that there is indeed a place of punishment. I believe that Jesus is the authority, that he is the judge.

And I believe that we should be obedient to his word. That's dead faith. Demonic faith goes beyond that. Demonic faith believes all of that intellectually. The demons believed all of that intellectually. But theirs went into an emotional faith as well. It says, verse 19 here in James chapter 2, he says, the demons believe this and shudder, or your version may say, and

tremble. And the demons believe this and shudder. And the demons believe this and shudder. And the word indicates they fear God. So the demons, demonic faith not only embraces the intellectual part of faith, but it embraces the emotional part of it as well. They respond with an emotional response. They shudder. Many involved in the church today have just gone that far. Many in

the church today say they're okay because they know the doctrines. They know the difference between justification and sanctification. They can quote your verses. They've learned the verses of the Roman road. They can take it. They can quote your verses. They can quote your verses. They can cite the gospel through the book of Romans. Intellectually, they know it, but there's no

transformation outwardly. It's a dead faith. Many in the church today know those things intellectually, and they want some kind of an emotional response to indicate that they have faith. And so they seek the emotionalism of faith. And they measure their faith by that emotional response. If I can raise my hands, if I can clap my hands, if I can kneel and pray,

if I can pray out loud, if I can pray in tongues, if I can speak in tongues, if I can speak a word of knowledge or speak a word of wisdom, if I can laugh uncontrollably, somehow that's an emotional marker as to where my faith is. If I can do those things, then I'm okay. And unfortunately, a lot of people in the church use that as a marker of their faith. When James says that, only evidence is a demonic faith. The demons do that. They intellectually know it, and they emotionally

respond to that. True saving faith involves something more. It involves more than intellectualism. It involves more than emotionalism. Here, look back at verse 18. The last half of verse 18. He says, I will show you my faith by what I do. In other words, you will see the result of my faith in the actions of my life. Because worship to me is a lifestyle, and my faith will be revealed in my relationship with others. Demonic faith involves intellectual

knowledge, emotional response, but no lifestyle change. I have been in worship services with people who manifest the gifts of the Spirit and go right back into the world and cheat on their wives and swear like sailors. It's made no change in their lifestyle, but they think that by doing these activities and getting emotional in the worship in the sanctuary that they're okay. It evidences their faith is okay, but there's no lifestyle change. If there's no lifestyle change,

you've just simply gone as far as dead faith or demonic faith. The thirdly, James shows us in verses 20 through 26, a dynamic faith, a dynamic faith. You foolish man, he says, verse 20, do you want evidence of faith without deeds as useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham the king of the world? Was not Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the

altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute

considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off into a different place? James tells us that dynamic faith is a faith that results in a changed life. It's evident in our relationship with others. It's based, first of all, follow this, it's based, first of all, on a receiving of the word of God, a receiving of the word of God. Look back in chapter one for just a

second. Chapter one, verse 18. James says he chose to give us birth through the word of truth. That's how you and I responded. You heard a message about Christ, and it stayed with you. Maybe you responded in a church service. Maybe you responded at home later. I've been, I've been fellowshipping with this guy. I've been, I've been, I've been, I've been, I've been, I've been, I've been, I've been, I've been,

for several months. He'd been taking me through the word of God, and I finally got to the point where when he left that one day that we'd spent time in the word together, I went to bed that night, and I just said, Lord, I don't know what it is Ron has, but whatever it is he has, I want it. It worked in my life. The word of God worked in my life and finally drew me to Christ. Down in

verse 21 here in chapter one, it says, therefore, get rid of all moral filth, and the evil is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word engrafted, the word implanted in you. The dynamic faith is based upon receiving the word of God. And James uses Abraham and Rahab here as examples of those who did that. They heard the word, and they responded to it. They received it, and they acted upon it. So it involves receiving the word of God. You're hearing

it this morning. I'm asking you to receive it, to respond to it, to act upon it. Secondly, it involves the whole man. A dynamic faith involves the whole being. Dead faith is simply intellectual. I know these things. I can talk the walk. Demonic faith goes beyond that and says, I shudder. I emotionally respond to that. Dynamic faith involves the intellect, involves the emotion,

but goes on to involve the will. It says, I receive God's word, and I will do it. I will act upon what I have received. It's a continual, follow this, it's a continual obedience to the word of God. That's a dynamic thing. And James uses Abraham. Here's an example. Verse 22. He says that Abraham, his faith was made complete by what he did. By what he did. D.L. Moody writes,

every Bible should be boxed in shoe leather. Every Bible should be boxed. In other words, it really doesn't make any difference whether people see you carrying one of these around. Back in the 70s, it was cool. I mean, it's just a real mark of, you know, the Jesus people. When we started carrying those honker Bibles around, people were going, wow, you know, it really doesn't make any difference if you carry one of these around. It's whether

or not this is in you. It's whether or not when people see you, they see the word of God in shoe leather. They see you living it. Dynamic faith obeys God and proves itself by its works in everyday life, practically. That's practical worship. That's what Abraham did. Rahab, he says in verse 25, in the same way. In the same way, he says, in the same way, he says, in the same way,

in the same way. In other words, exactly how Abraham was justified and showed forth his faith in what he did. Rahab, in the same way, he says, was considered righteous for what she did. In the book of Joshua, chapter two and chapter six, you have the story of Rahab the harlot who lived in Jericho. Israel sent spies into Jericho to spy out the city before they came in and circled it and

all. And you know the story of Joshua. And the spies came into the city and they encountered Rahab. And they told Rahab, the word of the Lord says that God is bringing judgment upon your city, not many days hence. And it says, Rahab believed the report of the spies and she hid them and sent them on their way in a different direction so as to throw the guards and stuff off when they left the city. Not only did

she do that, she then responded by telling her family the gospel. She told her family what was coming. The judgment was coming. Rahab received that word of God intellectually. She believed it. It affected her emotionally. She realized judgment was coming upon her city. She responded by an act of her will. Hid the spies, sent them on their way. And told her family the gospel. Now we have a parallel type of an illustration in John chapter

four in the New Testament with the story of the bad Samaritan. You've heard about the good Samaritan. There's a story of the bad Samaritan too. In John chapter four, Jesus went to a well in Samaria and a woman approached him to draw some water. The reason I call her a bad Samaritan, Jesus, when he exposed her life and caught her in a half truth, he said, well, at least you spoke

the truth. You've had five husbands and the man with whom you're currently living is not your husband. She'd been evidently promiscuous, had a bad name in Samaritanism. She was a woman who was drawing water at noon, which is not a common time to draw water. Usually you draw it in the cool of the morning or in the cool of the evening, not in the middle of the day. That's hot. But she

knew she'd be alone because she was despised by the townsfolk. She was the bad Samaritan. But she heard the word. She heard the good news that not only was there a prophet among her, but the Messiah was there. And the one that she was talking to is he. And she understood intellectually about the worship of God. And she responded emotionally to the message of God. But then she responded as an

act of her will. Dynamic faith took place in her life because she responded and went into the town and told the people that she had met the Messiah that she'd found him. And the town came out as a result of her evangelism. And a good bulk of that area was saved because she responded to the word of God that was there. It affected her whole being. Now, the interesting thing about this is both Rahab

and the Samaritan woman had just a little minuscule part of the word of God. Abraham had been with the Lord for years at the time that he was asked to sacrifice Isaac. But Rahab and the Samaritan woman had just heard a minuscule part of the word of God. And they responded. And what about you and me? We've had Billy Graham for years and years. You probably have at least a Bible at home, maybe

three or four. You can come freely and sit here in the service and hear the word of God. The Bible says, to whom much is given, much is required. We've had thousands of times more of the word of God than those two women did. And we will be held so accountable for what we've heard. Let me ask you a question. Where are you today? a dead faith that can talk the walk you know all the language you can say praise god with the best

of them you can spell hallelujah with either an h or an a you know how to do those things or do you have a demonic faith that can do all of that and you can shudder you can laugh in the service an uncontrollable belly laugh or you can speak in tongue or you can profit if it has not changed your life it's dead or it's demonic which is worse because you are really deceived by that one james tells us that we are to see the workings of faith reflected in our relationship with others and if we do have a dynamic faith that will evidence itself by the workings of god's love through us to those around us where are you today get stirred up don't just be complacent get stirred

up because the time is short and god is bringing a mighty work of his spirit you you all that have been here for very long and been christians have been praying you've known that god's doing something this these are the last days we know that god's doing something with the move of his spirit i believe this crusade that's coming is a part of it and it may be the last sweep through this area before the lord come i pray i pray that you won't just hear this you I pray that you'll do what you've heard. Father, thank you for this morning. Thank you for the time in your word. We don't want to just do church.

We don't want to just play church. We don't want to just go through the motion. We don't want to just have an intellectual understanding. That's dead. We don't want to just sing neat songs and shudder and tremble and weep and prostrate ourselves and do all the emotional things, Lord. And that's it, because that's no different than demonic. But we want to be used of you, Lord, in this area.

We want to be used in the lives of the people around us, from our family to those on our job, to those that you're going to bring in contact with us, just in our daily walk. That's dynamic faith. That's the only faith that saves. It's the only faith that saves initially. It's the only faith that saves practically as we walk through our daily lives and are facing temptations.

So work that, I pray. I pray for this fellowship. I pray that you'd use us mightily in the days ahead, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together. Maybe you haven't ever responded to the Lord, as he's called. Maybe you're here today and this is an opportunity for you to do that. Maybe God is tugging at your heart. You don't have to do anything. If you have anything special, just ask him to come in.

Say, yes, Lord. We'd like to know that. If you want to come down front and pray, that's fine. We'll have some brothers available down here to pray with you. If you want to just come down and kneel and pray, that's great. We encourage you to do that. But if you've never asked Jesus into your heart, I don't want to sound like this. I went to a church one time and they said, this could be your last opportunity.

You could walk out this door and get hit by a bus. You could have a plane drop. I mean, they went through all the different catastrophes they could have. And I don't want to do that. But this could be your last opportunity. So take advantage. Maybe you are like the brother that Chris talked about that strayed. And you just kind of ended up here. And you're hearing the word and God's tugging at your heart.

All he wants is you to come back. You don't have to do penance. We won't make you crawl across the front of the thing on your knees. You just come back to the Lord and say, God, I've strayed. I want to be back. Come back, Lord. Come back into my life. Come back into my heart. Use me. I know it's the last days. I know you want to use me. And I want you to use me, Lord.

I just give myself to you. If you just say that, just say it wherever you are. If you want somebody to pray with you, I'll have some brothers down front.