What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 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 and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. - James 2: 14-17 (ESV)

One of the consequences of trying to define correct doctrine is absolutism. The sense that we have it all figured out and anyone who disagrees must be a heretic. Calvinists think Armenians are wrong. Legalists think Antinomians are wrong. Cessationists think that Pentecostals are wrong. The true reality is probably closer to the unsettling fact that we are all wrong on some level. I love the notion that any man thinks he has figured out God. That he has a complete understanding of He who spoke the entirety of everything into existence. That is simply mind boggling to me. Thankfully we have the Bible but we fail to remember sometimes that this is just a slice of the thinking of God. This is just a glimpse into who God is. I am not speculating here; it is what God told us if we would listen:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. - Isaiah 55: 8-9 (ESV)

I think we read a Scripture like this and fail to really consider what God is saying. The heavens are beyond the stars but for the sake of scale, let's take a look at the closest star to us other than our sun. That would be Proxima Centauri, which is a red dwarf star that is 4.24 light years away. For more understanding realize that our new spacecraft, which is currently heading to Pluto, travels at 60,000 kilometers per hour and will take nine years to reach Pluto. By far, this is the fastest spacecraft man has ever designed. Even at this great speed, it would take 78,000 years to reach Proxima Centauri. Next time we think we have God all figured out let us remember how far above His ways and thoughts are to ours.

Nevertheless, thank God He provided us with the insight into His thinking when He gave us the inspired Word of God. People ask me all the time - are you this or that? Do you follow this way of thinking or that? My answer is always the same. I am a Bible believing Christian. I try to see the truth and errors within whatever box man tries to put God in. I try to do so in humility understanding that my positions are not written in stone either, lest I become unteachable. There are things I believed five years ago that I no longer do. Such is the cause of someone born again into Pentecostal doctrine who then studies as the Bereans would. Our allegiance cannot be to a denomination. It cannot be to a school of thought developed a thousand years ago. It cannot be to any one man today standing in the pulpit. Our allegiance has to be to Jesus Christ and His Word even if that means we have to sacrifice some of our religiosity's sacred cows on the altar of Biblical literacy.

Which brings us to today's topic for consideration. It is a subject that I see many get wrong as they cling to their favorite pastor or pet religious theory. It is a subject I think the Bible makes very clear. You see even though the ways and thoughts of God may be an infinity away, that does not mean He has not made things clear regarding us. It is when we try to read into God motive and intent that we get into trouble. Doctrine is generally clear on most subjects. The subject for today is the relationship between faith, or our salvation, and works. Let us start with the basics of salvation:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. - Ephesians 2: 8-9 (ESV)

The gift of course being the sacrifice of His only Son Jesus Christ upon Calvary's cross. Thus we arrive at the general understanding of our salvation as being by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. God gets very specific here though to make sure we do not get confused. It is a gift - period. There are no works that can be translated into salvation, so this way none can boast in themselves. That is the futile thinking of the world. Recently, former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg made headlines by declaring that if there was a heaven - that he has "earned his spot." These are the lies the enemy sells to a world that is going to hell. That if they do enough good deeds, it will make up for their sin before a holy God. That we should compare ourselves to other sinful human beings to feel better about our sin. None of it though is true. While it is sad enough to see it in the world, it exists in the church as well. While this type of legalism was much more prevalent in our past, it still exists. It is still a lie. There is no good work that can earn salvation. It is only because God extended His grace to count the spilled blood of His only Son for the forgiveness of our sins.

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. - Matthew 26: 26-28 (ESV)

This is our new covenant beloved. When we place our penitent faith in the grace God extended us through His Son Jesus Christ we are saved. We are born again. Penitent simply means that we recognize our sinful state and desire to turn from it and towards God again. Some like to gloss over the penitent portion but in doing so they leave out the condition that we are in upon which God acted upon. Why were we separated us from God to begin with? Because of sin. Why is the new covenant established? For the forgiveness of sins. Our faith in the grace of God requires and acknowledgement of our sin and a desire to repent thereof.

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. - Luke 24: 45-47 (ESV)

There is no forgiveness of sins without personal repentance. Having established the foundation of our salvation, exactly where does works fit in? To hear the hyper-grace preacher and antinomian teach it - nowhere. Their gospel is false in that it ignores works all together. It is all greasy grace and puppies and unicorns. The problem is that is not Biblical. It ignores completely the key verses for today. James explains for us the true relationship between our salvation and the works of our lives. The Bible says we are work out our salvation with fear and trembling, not with a latte and a false sense of security. Let's break down the key verses and see what God is saying through James:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Based upon the phrasing and the context we know right off the start that faith and works are supposed to be related. They are not some polar opposite dynamic. Too many today take the position of no works because they keep tying it to causality. No one is arguing that our works cause salvation. Even the most hardened legalist does not believe that. The world might believe that because they are blind to the things of God. I have never met anyone who believes as Michael Bloomberg, that works alone results in salvation. There are denominations that mix works into some kind of salvation cocktail and they are wrong for doing so. Remember - no one can boast.

Can that faith save him?

James cuts right to the point here. Can someone who claims faith but has no works be saved by such a faith? Clearly the context gives away the answer as NO. This reveals some important truths for us. First of all, the claim to having saving faith is not enough. This is so crucial in these last days as we see more and more false teaching and poor theology create so many false conversions. People who think they are saved but are not. People who said a three sentence prayer but never actually had their heart regenerated. Remember it is grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We hear a lot of grace preaching today. We hear some faith preaching. But we hear precious little Christ preaching. That means the preaching of the cross and the blood. The need to repent of our sins before a holy God. Beloved, people cannot sit though a half hour speech about how significant they need to be in their community and then say a three sentence prayer that barely touches on sin and repentance at all, and think they are saved. They will profess faith if asked but they walk away from the altar the exact same way they walked up to it. Can that faith save him? No, it cannot.

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 and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

James now gives a concrete example. You see someone in dire need and you pay them lip service. You are not moved by their condition. It does not grieve you as it would grieve Jesus. The Prophet Micah teaches us that there are three things God actually requires of us. To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before our God. When you are found in Christ these are the things that show you are actually in Him. We are compelled by the Spirit of God inside of us to do what is just and right in a world that celebrates the opposite. We are to do so in humility before God - no boasting. We are not to merely act merciful beloved. We are to LOVE mercy. These things however are not works in pursuit of salvation. Rather they are the direct outgrowth of salvation.

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. - James 2: 14-17 (ESV)

So we come to it. James makes it very clear. There is saving faith and there is false faith. There is a faith that is genuine and a faith that is useless. I think about Simon the Sorcerer in the Book of Acts. The Bible says that Simon believed! The Bible says that Simon was baptized! The Bible says that Simon followed Phillip wherever he went! I consider Simon one of the first examples of false conversion and it would soon be revealed. When he saw Peter lay hands on people and they received the power of the Holy Spirit - Simon offered money for the same power.

But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." - Acts 8: 20-23 (ESV)

What do we see? Repent - forgiveness. The bond of iniquity simply means Simon was still tied to his sin. His heart was not right before the Lord. The mere expression of faith is not enough. The demons will give profession of who Jesus is! Our heart must be right before the Lord and that is only accomplished by the removal of our bond to iniquity - through repentance.

So what is James saying then about the relationship of works to our salvation? Works is a result of our salvation - not a requirement for it. But it must be a natural result of it beloved and do not miss this point. If you see the person who needs food and clothing and you help him because you think you should as a "Christian" - then your salvation is still works based. It is because Christ lives in us that we should not be able to see a need and not feel compassion for that need - as Christ did. That is the point of what James is teaching us here. If you claim to have faith but that faith produces no works of Christ - then that faith is dead.

Which is why we see so many dead congregations popping up across this land. They preach a gospel of "me" instead of Him. They do not deal with sin and repentance because those subjects are not deemed "seeker friendly." Their model is all about making converts but it is a conversion into a way of thinking, not a faith. They may even produce many "good works" within the world. They may build playgrounds in Central America or help orphanages in Mexico but they do so because they want to be seen doing it. Because that is what Christians are supposed to do. It provides a semblance of Christian cover. If they get questioned, they just point to their pre-conceived works. That is still dead faith however.

Works are an outpouring of who Christ is inside of us. I am not suggesting that if we do not stop for every single person we come across that our faith is somehow compromised. The issue, as with Simon, is our heart. Injustice should bother us now. People in need of mercy should move us to compassion now. Not because we should but because it is who we are now as a Christian. It never ceases to sadden me when I see whole congregations chasing after false prophets and lying signs and wonders while our families are still unsaved. While our friends remain unsaved. While our co-workers remain unsaved. Then I hear the usual Christian refrain of this one or that one has a "heart for the lost." No beloved. If we are truly saved we have the Spirit of Jesus Christ on the inside of us, leading us into all truth and HE has a heart for the lost. That should be obvious in that He went to the cross for the lost. The result of this is how can anyone who calls themselves a Christian not have a heart for the lost? How can we walk past that person in need and say something trite and useless to their current state? That is a dead faith. Works is not required for salvation; it is an indication that genuine salvation has occurred.

Reverend Anthony Wade - June 10, 2014