Monday, September 3, 2007

By Faith... Or Not? Israel's Exodus and Conquest, Part 13 of 41

TEXT: "But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only" (James 2:20-24).

IDEA: Good works are those which are a response by faith.

PURPOSE: To help listeners understand what James means by “good works.”

HADDON: I was riding on a train in Turkey. A young man on the train was a Mormon; he approached me to tell me about his Mormon faith. After he spoke, I said, “Let me tell you about the Christian faith. You become a Christian by trusting Jesus Christ alone without depending on your works.”

He replied, “You don’t know your Bible. James says that ‘faith without works is dead.’”

I said to him, “What works do you have in mind when you say, ‘faith without works is dead’?”

I. Works that we commend are often good deeds and good behavior.

The young man said that for him it meant taking two years in a foreign country to tell people about the Mormon faith. It was feeding the poor and keeping the Law of God.

II. James uses two illustrations in the Bible of works produced by faith.

Abraham (James 2:20-24 above) was told to sacrifice his son.

What is it that Abraham believed that led him to be willing to sacrifice his son? God had made him a specific promise about that boy.

In his case the good deed was sacrificing his son.

Rahab (James 2:25-26) betrayed her city in order to save the foreign spies. There is no mention that she had become a better woman and was rehabilitated.

I don’t think anyone who would say that being willing to slay your son or betray your country could count as good works.

III. What does count as good works showing that we really have faith?

It is those works that come as a response of faith to God’s promise in a particular circumstance (Abraham).

It is a response in a particular circumstance where your faith has to show itself in action or you have made yourself an enemy of God (Rahab).

Good works in James were not just general good behavior. They are the result of faith.