“The character of our faith is determined by the character of the God in whom we believe.”
Sermon Title: THE TEST OF GENUINE FAITH
Scripture Text: JAMES 2:14-26
Sermon Series: HERE I STAND: BUILDING A STRONG FAITH
Sermon Notes:
JAMES 2:14-26 NLT
14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?
15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing,
16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”--but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”
19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.
20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
21 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.
23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God.
24 So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.
25 Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road.
26 Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.
NOMINALISM
“belonging to a name”
James’ critical question is:
WHAT IS GENUINE FAITH?
THREE MARKS OF DEAD FAITH
JAMES 2:17 NLT
17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
JAMES 2:20 NLT
20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
JAMES 2:26 NLT
26 Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.
I. Empty Confession
JAMES 2:14 NLT
14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?
“True faith is more than what we say.”
II. False Compassion
JAMES 2:15-17 NLT
15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”--but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? 17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
“A genuine compassion doesn’t simply walk away.”
GALATIANS 6:10 NLT
10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone--especially to those in the family of faith.
III. Shallow Conviction
JAMES 2:18 NLT
18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”
“Faith is like calories, you cannot see it but you can always see their results.”
JAMES 2:14-26 NLT
19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.
MATTHEW 8:28-29 NLT
28 They lived in a cemetery and were so violent that no one could go through that area.
29 They began screaming at him, “Why are you interfering with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God's appointed time?”
JAMES 2:20 NLT
20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
“Don’t brag about your faith. Live it!”
“Ask God to use you this week right where you are.”
THREE CHARACTERISTIC OF LIVING FAITH
I. Active / Obedient Faith
JAMES 2:21 NLT
21 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
GENESIS 22:3 NLT
3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about.
“Living faith might get costly or inconvenient. It might get messy. We might get hit with questions we can’t answer. For Abraham, it was all that. Yet he obeyed anyway.”
GENESIS 22:12 NLT
12 “Don't lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
II. Growing Faith
“Genuine faith may waver but it will always be a work in progress.”
JAMES 2:14-26 NLT
22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.
“Growth (sanctification) is a process and not an event.”
PHILIPPIANS 3:12 NLT
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
PHILIPPIANS 2:13 NLT
13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
III. Courageous / Bold Faith
JAMES 2:25 NLT
25 Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road.
JOSHUA 2:11 NLT
11 No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the LORD your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.
“The kind of works that demonstrates true faith is when we put our life, our dreams, our hopes on the line for God.”
“The real test of living faith is shown at the points of our life choices.”
“It’s in … [the] decisions of life where hopes and dreams and destiny and ambition and life itself is on the line that true faith always reveals itself.” — John MacArthur
“The character of our faith is determined by the character of the God in whom we believe.”