The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
SPEAKER 02 :
Some critics say that the Bible contradicts itself. Oftentimes they’ll point to the book of Romans as an example where we read that we are justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. And then to the letter from James where he asks, So how do you explain this apparent contradiction? Welcome to Through the Bible. I’m your host, Steve Schwetz, and I’m glad that you’re on the Bible bus for another great study in God’s Word. Now, as we travel through James 2, our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, is going to clarify how James and Paul really don’t disagree at all. Our study begins in chapter 2, verse 14. So after you find your seat, turn there and let’s get started. Let’s pray as well. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would speak to us through your word. Teach us and then help us to grow more confident in trusting you. And show us how we can live each day for you until Jesus returns. In his name we pray. Amen. Here’s our study of James 2 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now, I would like to conclude what we were saying last time, this matter of the fact that God tests faith by attitude and action in respect of persons. And the contrast is made between the rich and the poor here, but it could be made on a racial basis, class basis, or even a creed for that matter. Our denomination today, that all of us stand on the same plane before God as sinners, and we must come on that basis. And therefore, our attitude toward those around us should be on that kind of a basis. The story is told that years ago in London, there was a great preacher there, a very fine young man by the name of Caesar Milan. And he was invited one time, as he was a very attractive young man, to a very large and prominent home where there was a choice musical to be put on one night during the week. And on that program, there was a young lady who was thrilling London at that time with her singing and her playing. She was outstanding. And she received a great ovation when she had finished that night. When she did, this young preacher, Caesar Milan, he threaded his way through the gathering and gathered around those that were congratulating her and applauding her. And when he finally came to her and got her attention, he said, young lady, When you were singing, I sat there and I thought how tremendously the cause of Christ would be benefited if you would dedicate yourself and your talents to the Lord. But, and he added this, you are just as much a sinner as the worst drunkard in the street or any harlot on Scarlet Street. But I’m glad to tell you that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s son, will cleanse you from all sin if you’ll come to him. And in a very haughty manner, she turned her head aside and said to him, you are very insulting, sir. And she started to walk away. And he said, lady, I did not mean any offense, but I pray that the spirit of God will convict you. Well, they all went home. And that night, this young woman could not sleep. And at two o’clock in the morning, she knelt by the side of her bed. She took Christ as a savior. And then she sat down. And when sitting there, Charlotte Elliott wrote the words of my favorite hymn. Just as I am without one plea. But that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. Just as I am in waiting not, rid my soul of one dark blot. To thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come. And then the last stanza. Just as I am, thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve. Because thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come. May I say to you, friends, that is the basis on which all of us have to come to Christ. That’s a great hymn, and it came out of an experience. Now, following through, we come to verse 14 of chapter 2 of James. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him? Now, there are those today that say that, well, what we have here is a contradiction with Paul, because Paul made it abundantly clear that faith could save you. that faith apart from the works of the law. And if you wanted to turn over to Galatians, you have a clear statement of Paul in Galatians 2, 16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Now, let me read on here and let me read again verse 14. What doth it profit my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and hath not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be you warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so, faith. If it hath not works as dead being alone, yea, a man may say thou hast faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. The demons also believe and tremble, but wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead.” I’m just going to read that far. Now, we have here in this section what I have divided up as the interpretation of faith, the identification of faith, and the illustration of faith. Now, we have here a definition here in the context of Scripture. Now, it’s not a definitive term so that we can see precisely what Paul and James are in perfect agreement. They’re discussing the same subject from different viewpoints. Now, this is what I mean, that what Paul is saying, that a man is not saved by the works or the deeds of the law. In Romans 3, 28, he says, therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without or apart from the deeds or the works of the law. He makes that very clear there. And over in Galatians, as we have seen, that a man is not justified by works, but by faith in Christ. Now, how are you going to reconcile these two? Well, Paul and James do not stand face to face fighting against each other. But as someone has said, they stand back to back fighting opposite foes. You see, there were those that were saying that the works of the law, and they were talking now about the Mosaic law, that you had to perform the works of the law. You had to come by the law in order to be saved. Frankly, Paul is saying that the works of the law will not save you, only faith in Christ. And these men, therefore, are defending the citadel of faith. Why? Well, now let’s understand the use of their terminology. Paul says, saving faith. That which is genuine and real will transform a person’s life. A revolution will take place. Paul could say what things were gained to me, why he says these became loss. You talk about a revolution, that was a revolution that took place in his life. And then will you listen to him? He says in 1 Corinthians 15, beginning of verse 1, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved. If you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you believe in vain. That is, unless it’s just an empty faith, by the way. Now, what he’s saying here, it is simply this. And James is saying this. James is not talking about works of the law. James says that faith saves you, but the faith that saves you will produce work. And Paul is saying the same thing, unless you believed in vain. And you’d examine yourself, Paul says, to see whether you’d be in the faith or not. So that James here is talking about that which is professing faith. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man saith faith have not works? Can faith save him? He’s talking here about professing faith, that which is phony and counterfeit. I think the gravest danger that we preachers of the gospel have is that we like to see people converted, and we are willing to accept a brazen and flippant yes from some individual who says, yes, I’ll trust Jesus. And it might be just an impertinent, impudent, and insolent nod of the head It’s so easy today to present that which I think is phony as a $3 bill. There’s a little story that’s told, and I’ll pass it on to you, that the devil had a meeting with his demons to try to persuade men of the non-existence of God, since they themselves believe that there’s God. And they wondered how to do it. And also to tell people that Jesus Christ never really existed and that man should not believe in fiction. And so he was asking the demons what they thought that they could do. One demon made the suggestion that it would be very difficult to get rid of the historical Jesus. And then another demon got up and said, well, I think it’d be nice if we went down and persuaded everyone that death ended it all. They should not worry about life after death. And then another demon said. I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll go down and tell everybody to believe that there is a God, that there is Jesus Christ, and that belief in him saves. But you can get by by just professing faith and go on living in sin as you used to. And they decided on that one. And the reason I’m almost sure that’s the one they decided on is because that’s the one that he uses today. Paul and James are in perfect harmony here. When Paul speaks of works, it’s works of the law. And again, Paul makes that abundantly clear. If you went back to Romans, the third chapter, verse 20, therefore, he says, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Paul is saying, yes, the law is a mirror. It reveals you’re a sinner, but it can’t save you. And the works of the law cannot save you at all. And James is saying the same thing. He is saying here that you have to have something just a little bit more. And back in the 10th verse of this chapter, for whosoever shall keep the whole law and you offend in one point, he’s guilty of all. And as someone has put it, man cannot be saved by perfect obedience. He cannot render it. He cannot be saved by imperfect obedience because God will not accept it. And the only solution to this is the redemption that’s in Christ Jesus. And James and Paul both are emphasizing that. But James is doing the same thing that Paul did. Paul in Galatians says, men are not saved by the law. But he also made it very clear over in the sixth chapter of Galatians. He says there, and let us not be weary in well doing. There’s a lot of doing that goes with believing, by the way. And he makes it very clear. Let him that’s taught in the word communicate unto them that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived. God’s not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. These are things that are very clear. He made it clear back in Galatians 5, 6, for in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision availeth anything, non-circumcision. Now listen, but faith which worketh by love. Faith has to be a working faith. In the statement I’ve given here many times of what John Calvin said, he says that faith alone saves, but the faith that saves, it’s not alone. Now, saving faith, therefore, is alive. Professing faith is dead. And we’ve got today a lot of so-called professing Christians. They’re members of churches. They’re nothing in the world but zombies. They’re walking around as if they’re alive, but they’re dead. A girl asked a teacher in a Sunday school class, how can I be a Christian and still have my own way? And the teacher gave to her Romans 8, 5, for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. You’re a child of God. You can’t have your own way. You’re going to do his way. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It’s not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. But ye, he says, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, so that the spirit of God dwells in you. Now you can produce the fruit of the spirit in your life. And if you don’t, my friend, something radically wrong. A Christian doesn’t do as he pleases. He does as Christ pleases during the depression. There was a tycoon in Pittsburgh. He went to his pastor and he was having all kinds of problems. But he says to the pastor, finally, after he talked them over, he says, I love my savior. I love my family. I love my church and I love my business. But he says, you know, there are times when I feel like walking out on all four of them. And the pastor looked at him right straight in the eye and says, well, why don’t you? And he says, why? The reason I don’t is I’m a Christian. May I say to you, friends, saving faith, that makes a Christian, it leads to good works. We’re so anxious to get church members that we bring them in on the slightest profession. And as a result, there are many churches that are filled, actually, with unbelievers. Now you have here the identification of faith. Saving faith can be recognized and identified by spiritual fingerprints. There’s a verification of genuine faith. Now, James used an illustration. And will you notice the illustration that he uses here? It’s quite interesting. If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be you warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful for the body, what doth it profit? He says, well, you could be very pious and say to this individual, brother, I pray for you and I know the Lord will provide. Well, my friend, the Lord put you there as a child of God to do the providing. I get a little weary sometimes. There are many wealthy laymen across this country today. They pat me on the back and they say, Dr. McGee, you’re doing the right thing. You’re giving out the word of God. They never have any part in this program. They can’t make me believe they’re sincere. They can’t be sincere. You just can’t piously say, oh, brother, I’m for you. Are you for him? Are you back of him? My friend, a living faith produces something. You can identify. The Lord Jesus says, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another. And you remember Paul over in Romans 13, 8 says, Oh, no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. The point of it is you can’t say I’m a child of God and live like a lawless individual. You can’t be an outlaw and say that you’re a child of God. And I don’t mean that every bum that asks 25 cents from you in order to buy wine, that you’re to give it to him. And I do not think that every character that professes to be a Christian, that we need to test the thing out and see whether they are or not. I learned of two incidents several years ago that warmed my heart of how a man was rendering financial assistance to one in need. And then a lady of means was supporting a missionary abroad and saying nothing in the world about it. And another supporting a cause here at home. May I say to you, friends, you’re telling by your life whether your faith is genuine or not. Listen to James. Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead. The faith is dead. Why? Because living faith, saving faith produces work. And you have to draw this conclusion. James is talking about the fruit of faith. Paul’s talking about the root of faith. That’s the emphasis of both. But both of them are saying that faith alone saves. Paul says faith is going to produce fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy. And the Lord Jesus Christ said that he’s the vine and the branches in order that we might bring forth fruit. Faith saves, but saving faith produces something. That’s all James is saying. He’s talking about faith, friends. And he gives an illustration of faith. In fact, he gives two illustrations. Verse 21, was not Abraham our father justified by works? And he’d offered Isaac his son upon the altar. Now, Paul says that he was justified by faith. And back in Genesis, we’re told he was justified by faith. Now, I’ve gone over this before on several occasions. And let me say this. And you can just narrow it down to this. He was justified when he offered his son Isaac. Well, the question is, did he offer his son Isaac? And the answer is, no, he didn’t. What was his work of faith then? How did work save him? His faith caused him to lift that knife and to do a thing that he didn’t believe God had ever asked him to do. But since God had asked him, he was willing to do. He believed God had raised him from the dead. He didn’t go through with it. I think this is a choice illustration, by the way. You demonstrate your faith by your actions. And the actions of this man was he believed God. Now, he uses another illustration here, and I’m going to drop down and pick up that in verse 25. In like manner also was not Rahab the hollered justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way? Now, how was she judged by works? Well, she received the messengers, sent them out the other way. Did you know that that woman living there in the city of Jericho, she jeopardized her life? She turned her back on the old life and on her own people, by the way. And what was gained to her became loss. And she didn’t say to these men, I’ll just stand on the sidelines when you enter. And I will sing praise God from whom all blessings flow. I will not say that Jesus saves and keeps and satisfies. I will not say hallelujah, praise the Lord when you enter the city. She said, I’m going to do something. I’m going to hide the spies because I believe God’s going to give you this. We’ve been hearing for 40 years and I believe God. And my friend, she believed God and she became involved by the way. She was justified before God by her faith. By faith, the harlot Rahab perished not, with them believed not. But before man, before her own people, and before the Israelites, she justified by works. Several years ago, many years ago now, I went to a nursery, bought a bare root. It was labeled Santa Rosa Plum. And it wasn’t as big as a broom handle. And it looked like it was about as much alive. I was told to put it in the ground a certain way. And I did. Watched it. And that next spring, it began to come out with leaves. And in three years, there was blossoms on it. Then there was fruit. And do you know what was on that tree? What kind of fruit is on that tree? You’re right. Plums. The root of that tree was a plum root. And faith is the root. And the root produces the kind of fruit that the root is. And if you have faith, a living faith, there’s going to be fruit in your life. Again, Paul says, examine yourselves. Whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves. And James says, for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. And Vernon McGee says that also too, my friend. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, faith is the root, and whatever the root is, that’s the kind of fruit that will be produced. You know, Dr. McGee’s illustration from his garden brings that home, doesn’t it? Many of our listeners tell us that they like to listen to a study more than once to really let it sink in. I know I sometimes do. If that’s something that you’re interested in, well, these messages are always available to you in our app and also over at ttb.org. Or if you want to go deeper into the book of James yourself, be sure to download our free Bible companion at ttb.org. And if you prefer the printed edition of our Bible companions, all of our New Testament companions are available in soft cover. You can order your copy at ttb.org or call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. You can also write to Box 7100. Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C, 6B1. And when you’re in touch, why not sign up to get our monthly newsletter as well? Each issue includes more teaching by Dr. McGee, application tips to help you make those truths your own, and inside information on our projects and ministry around the world. Sign up at ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE. In our next study, we’ll hear about freedom of speech in God’s university. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll save you a seat.
SPEAKER 03 :
All to him I owe. Sin had left the prince unsaved. He washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER 02 :
Our story on the Bible Bus today is just one step in a five-year journey through the entire Word of God. Come along for the ride, and you’ll study both the Old Testament and New Testament, discovering God’s great redemption story. Is this your story too?
