Fruitless faith, is dead faith

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Sermon

Introduction.

1. James has dealt with the fact that partiality is contrary to the character of God, insulting to many who God has elected to Salvation and contrary to the Royal Law of God. True faith in Christ Jesus cannot co-exist with partiality. James 2:1.
2. The Royal Law was given to be obeyed. Obedience to the Law of Jesus is a true expression of love for Him. John 14.15 If Christ is Lord, his loving servants obey him in striving to live according to his commandments.
3. James 2.14-26 sets the focus on true and false faith. True faith must manifest itself in works approved by God.. Faith that has no works is dead and of no value and use. We need to follow James argument and test our faith to make sure that it is true Biblical faith.

1. What is true Biblical faith?

1. The Biblical words for faith are interesting and give important insights into the concept of faith. Old Testament: He'emin which means to believe, to nurse or nourish, and to be established. Batach means to confide in, to lean upon, and to trust.
   
   New Testament Pistis means a conviction based on confidence in a person and his integrity. Pisteuein means to believe a person and trust him to be faithful.
2. It is important to note that faith has an object, God is the object to believed, trusted and relied upon. The emphasis falls on the absolute integrity of God. God is holy therefore he is thoroughly trustworthy. The difficulty here is that we cannot scrutinize God. All we know is revealed by the prophets, apostles and God incarnate Jesus Christ. This self revelation by God is captured in the Bible. The Bible and the Bible alone tells us about God and his attributes that gives him his integrity.
3. In the New Testament there are a number of figurative expressions used to describe the activity of faith.
1. In John 3:14,15 it is spoken of as `looking to Jesus 'Numbers 21:9.
2. In Matthew 5: 6, John 6. 50-58 & 4.14 faith is said to be like hungering and thirsting and in order to be satisfied one must drink or eat.
3. Faith in John 6.44, 65, 7:37 is said to be coming to Jesus. This pictures faith as an action in which a man looks away from himself and seeks to receive what Jesus alone gives.
4. In seeking to understand the true nature of faith it is good to begin by noting what the Bible tells us is not true faith.
1. True faith is not simply the opinion you have concerning spiritual things.
2. True faith is not simply an intellectual grasp of spiritual truth.
3. True faith is not simply passive knowledge.
5. What then is true faith? We can speak about; faith having two phases. The first phase is saving faith, the second can be called sustaining faith. Saving faith always precedes sustaining faith.
1. Saving faith is faith in the Person of Jesus Christ that has been created in the heart by the powerful work of the Spirit enabling the individual to rely on the work that; Jesus has done to fully reconcile God to the individual The Spirit enables the individual to trust Christ.
2. Sustaining faith maintains the individuals trust in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord The Holy Spirit, who supplied saving faith, continuously supplies sustaining faith enabling the individual to live the Christian life.
6. Faith created by the Holy Spirit is an activity of the heart, mind, will and soul
1. Knowledge.
2. Emotions.
3. Desires.

2. What works accompany true Biblical faith?

1. The concept of works of faith. We expect fruit from trees in an orchard. We expect to harvest a crop from seed planted. Faith is the cause, fruit is the result. Faith has the outworking of works.
2. Faith must produce the works of repentance. Repentance is a gift from God, but God does not repent for us, it is a spiritual. exercise we are to do.
3. Faith must produce separating works. What does light have to do with darkness? What do the children of God have in common with the children of the devil? Those to whom faith has given life no longer live as the old man in the ways of the world, but according to the Spirit in the ways of God.
4. Faith must produce works of obedience.Those in whom Biblical faith 'lives like Saul of Tarsus when he was converted on the road to Damascus cried out; 'Lord, what do You want me to do? ' A servant lives to do the will of his Master. God has not left us ignorant of his will, he has given the Royal Law.
5. Faith must produce works of love. Those who have true faith obey the Kings command to love your neighbour as yourself. The love of Christ moves him not to simply give words of comfort, but take care of his needs. This is the example given to us in James 2:15-16.
6. True faith produces works of deep devotion.

3. The Scripture joins faith and works inseparably together.

1. Faith and works are joined as cause and effect, not in the sense that works validate or grant faith merit. We are not saved by our works in any sense, we are not saved by a combination of faith and works, we are saved by faith alone in Jesus alone. True faith makes itself visible by good works. This is the emphasis of the New Testament.
1. John the Baptist emphasised this in his preaching. Matthew 3:8, Luke 3:8-14.
2. Jesus made the point of visible works in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:16, 7.15-23
3. The Apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians 2:10 that the very purpose of receiving faith is that we might do good works. The Christian life is described as walking in good works.
2. It is impossible to reconcile to Scripture the idea that a person saved by the grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit should not respond in an outward way to the great change wrought in him by the power of God. Think of the concepts given in God's Word to describe a Christian: one who was dead is alive, one who was in darkness is now in the light, one who was a son of Satan is made a son of the living God, one who was in bondage to sin has been set free, one who has been made a new creation in Christ, one who has been born from above, and one who is a slave of Christ Jesus. For such great changes to take place in a person and then not to have visible fruits is inconceivable. The whole idea of regeneration is to produce a new man who lives for God's glory, rather than for this world's empty pleasures.

Conclusion.

The issue is not whether or not you believe in Jesus Christ, but whether the faith you claim to have demonstrates itself with the fruits of faith that glorify God and increase your devotion to the Almighty.