Sermon Tone Analysis
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What do you really believe?
In a rural community, there was a disastrous drought and the crops were dying.
In desperation, the local preacher announced the whole community would assemble at the edge of the fields and pray for rain.
A large crowd gathered, and the preacher climbed on a bale of hay and surveyed the flock.
He said, “Brothers and sisters, you have come here to pray for rain.”
“Amen!” responded the crowd.
“Well,” said the preacher, “do you really the Lord will answer our prayer?”
“Amen!
Amen!” shouted the crowd.
“You all really believe we can ask the Lord to send rain, and He’ll do it!? “Amen!
Amen, preacher!”
Then the preacher with just a hint of a grin said, “If you really believe this, I only have one question to ask you all.
Brothers and sisters where are your umbrellas?”
[i]
I think a lot of Christians are like these folks—we talk a lot about what we believe, and we know a lot about what we believe, but when it comes right down to it, we’re not quite so sure what we /really/ believe.
What we really believe about some things may never really matter much.
Some people believe in ghosts, or UFOs, or Bigfoot.
Some people believe in palm readers, or astrology or their lucky rabbit’s foot.
But there are other areas where what you truly believe becomes a matter of life or death.
One of these is in the area of what we believe about Jesus Christ.
The Bible says
*Jn 3:36* /He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him./
What you really believe about Jesus Christ makes a difference in where you stand with God, both now and in eternity.
You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death.
It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong as long as you are merely using it to cord a box.
But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice.
Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it?--C.
S. Lewis, A Grief Observed [ii]
The question of what you really believe is too important to ignore.
The time to discover what you truly believe is before you find yourself hanging off a cliff.
So how do you discover what you truly believe?
The Bible gives us an infallible test in *James 2:14-26*.
In these verses, James describes what you truly believe as living faith.
Let’s begin reading in *vs.
14-17* and learn how to discover what we truly believe.
*PRAYER*
* *The original audience for James’ letter seems to have had a problem understanding the relationship between faith and works.
This makes sense when you remember that most of them were Jews who often saw works as a way to earn salvation, and now they were being told (maybe by Paul?) such things as
*Eph 2:8-9 */8//For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, lest anyone should boast./
/ /The new emphasis on faith seemed to be saying that what you really believed and what you do don’t have much, if anything, to do with one another.
James wants to correct this error by reconnecting faith and works.
He does this by reminding us of 3 very important truths:
*1. **What you say doesn’t necessarily demonstrate what you really believe.
(v.
14-17)*
We’re about to enter the thick of election season, when politicians love to tell you what
they really believe.
The problem is what they really believe usually changes with the polls.
I fear it’s often as some anonymous wiseacre says:
There are three types of politicians: those that cannot lie, those that cannot tell the truth, and those that cannot tell the difference.[iii]
In spite of politics, the Bible does connect what you really believe with what you say.
*Mt 12:34* /…For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks./
*Ro 10:9-10 */9//… if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation./
*1 Jn 4:15* /Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God./
But as important as our words are, they are not the ultimate demonstration of what we truly believe.
Even Jesus says in
*Mt 7:21* /Not everyone who *says* to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven…/
James makes this same point in *vs.
14*.
He asks a question: /does a person really have faith in Christ just because they say they do?
Can a faith that is mere words really save us?/
He answers this question with a hypothetical situation described in *vs.
15-16*.
Suppose you cross paths with another brother~/sister in the Lord who is in desperate need.
They’re wearing rags to cover a thin, hungry body.
You exchange pleasantries—/how are you doing?
Oh my, that must be terrible wearing rags, going hungry.
But you know, brother, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor.”
/You quickly find a way to end the conversation, and as you walk off, you call out /I’ll be praying for you!
Hope everything turns out all right!
Stay warm and full! /
What good is all these religious words when a person needs clothes and food?
No good-no good at all.
This kind of faith is dead, because faith is more than mere words.
What you say doesn’t always demonstrate what you truly believe.
I have a friend who pastors a church down in Statesboro, GA who told me one of his biggest problems is that nobody he talks to is lost.
Everybody he meets tells him they’re saved, they were baptized several years ago, that everything is OK between them and God.
They still cheat on their spouse, they still cuss a blue streak, they never come to church, but they say they believe.
They know the right words to say, they’ve prayed the sinner’s prayer, they’ve read just enough of the Bible to keep their conscience quiet, but deep down inside, they don’t really believe in Jesus at all.
/Can such faith save?
/James says /no. /
What you say doesn’t necessarily demonstrate what you really believe about Christ.
Words are important, but they are not supremely important when it comes to your faith in Him.
James also goes on to tell us
*2.
**What you know doesn’t necessarily demonstrate what you really believe.
(v.
18-19)*
While studying in the Holy Land, a seminary professor met a man who claimed to have memorized the Old Testament—in Hebrew!
The astonished professor asked for a demonstration.
A few days late they sat together in the man’s home.
“Where shall we begin?” asked the man.
“Psalm 1, ” replied the professor.
Beginning with Psalm 1:1, the man began to recite from memory, while the professor followed along in his Hebrew Bible.
For two hours the man continued word for word without a mistake as the professor sat in stunned silence.
When the demonstration was over, the professor discovered something even more astonishing: this man was an atheist!
[iv]
I suppose this sounds so incredible is because you and I often mistake knowledge for faith.
We think just because somebody knows a lot of religious facts, that must also mean they have a deep faith in God.
But that’s not necessarily so.
What you know doesn’t necessarily demonstrate what you really believe.
James makes this point in two ways.
\\ In *vs.
18* he imagines someone who tries to disconnect faith from works completely.
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