What “Faith Without Works” Really Means

All right, don't make lunch plans, just a high-five, all right? So good to see you. So glad, so glad you're here. We're in week two of a special series. We do this series every year. We pick a book of the Bible and we study it together. And so today is week two of that series. We're studying together through, you ready for it, everybody? Through the book of James. That's right, through the book of James. And we love it and the best way to get the most out of the series, in fact, the way the whole series is designed is I preach on Sunday through a chapter and then you read that chapter through the week. So if you really want to get the most out of the series, you can't miss a Sunday, all right? You got to be here every single week of the series. So don't miss a Sunday. You're going to want all five of these weeks. And if you happen to be traveling in the next couple of weeks, make sure you join us online because you don't want to miss it. So you join us on Sunday and then you open your Bible on Monday. That's the way to get the most out of it. You start reading through the Bible and you jump into James this week, James chapter two. Last week, I hope you read James one. I hope you read it at least once. Maybe some of you went for the gold star. You read it every single day last week. That would be pretty awesome. How many of you got through James at least once? Make some noise if that was you got through James one at least once.

That's awesome. That's awesome. God loves you a lot. And I do too. I think that's incredible. We're going to go to James chapter two today. And I got to warn you before, before we get there, this is a power punched message. This, this is a James, James two is, is a lot. It's, it's like Red Bull meets Monster Energy meets Five Hour meets Four Shots of Espresso. It's a lot y'all. James, James, James two. And it's so, it's so much, I'll barely be able to scratch the surface in this little three hour sermon I've got prepared. And that means you got to be committed now to read it, to read it all throughout the week. A little context for those of you who maybe weren't able to join us last week. James is a little book in your New Testament, probably the earliest book ever written. The first book of the New Testament ever penned. Now that doesn't mean that it's first in your New Testament. It's kind of tucked away toward the back of your New Testament, but, but it was written around the year 44 or, you know, 49 AD somewhere in that time period. And it's written by James. That's who writes it. James happens to be the brother of, of Jesus. And, and that's a pretty fascinating idea. If you think about it, just think about your brother for a moment, right? What would it take for you to believe your brother was the Messiah, right? You're like, that ain't happening. I know that ain't happening. And for actually for James, it wasn't happening either.

James didn't believe that Jesus was who he said he was until Jesus was crucified, buried, and he rose again. And then James saw Jesus resurrected and James knew that Joker was dead. Now he's alive. He is the Messiah. He is who he said he was. That's what it would take for you to believe your brother was the Messiah too. If you see him dead and risen again, you'll be like, oh yeah, I believe him now. And that's the way it was for James. James became a believer so much so that he went on to become a leader in the Jerusalem church and ultimately James gave his life for his faith. James was a Christian martyr. He was killed for believing in Jesus Christ. And Bethany, my friend here, just scared me to death, everybody. Can I just tell you? It's okay. And you're, and you're wearing all black and I thought, Lord, have mercy. Is this, is this an angel or the devil? I wasn't quite sure which one. And I have no idea what I was saying, but my heart is palpitating right now. Oh my gosh. She just snuck. Did you see how sneaky she was, y'all? And nobody even warned me. On the front row, nobody's like, she's out there. Nobody gave me that. Nobody gave me that warning. This is actually a letter, a letter written under the inspiration of the Holy spirit, but written to all Christians, all Christians who are now being scattered. These Christians that James was writing to in the first century were scattered all throughout

the region because of persecution. And and I want to start James two by taking you back to the end of James one. Is that all right? Everybody back to James one. And let me tell you why. Because when you read the Bible, when I read the Bible, we read it with these chapters and verses, but that's not how James wrote it. James, James wrote it as one continuation. It was, it was a one continual flow of the Holy spirit's thoughts through him. And so, so when we read it, the editors gave us these chapters and verses so we could read it more easily. But, but James just. I wrote it as one thought. So I wanna take you back to the end of chapter one, cause I think that's what's gonna help us jump in to chapter two. Here's the end of chapter one. Let me take you down to verse 20, down to 27. There it is, there it is. James says this, verse 27, he says religion. And I want you to notice this word closely, religion. We talk about religions like world religions or what religion are you? That's not what James is saying. James is using this word religion and talking about true faith or true worship, authentic worship. He says religion, true worship, authentic worship that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this. Now he's about to tell you

what true authentic faith really is. That's what James is about to describe. And this is what he says. It's to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world, period. Everybody say period. That's what James says, period, that's it. That's what true authentic worship, true authentic faith is not just a faith that sounds good or looks good. It's not a Sunday morning faith. That's not what James is describing. James is describing a faith that matters, a faith that changes things, a faith that works, a faith that makes a difference in your life, a faith that doesn't just change eternity, but it changes tomorrow. A faith that doesn't just one day hope to get to heaven. No, a faith that brings heaven here to earth. And James says with this kind of faith, two things are gonna happen. Two things are gonna happen. Number one, he says this, look at it. He says, you're gonna care for orphans and widows. Those who are vulnerable and those who are helpless, your faith will move you to do something for them. That's what James says. If you have true authentic faith. So let me ask you, do you have that kind of faith?

The kind of faith that will care for widows and orphans? Because we have some widows in this church. Did you know it? And they probably need their grass mowed this week. Would you do that? We have some widows in this church. They probably need the oil changed in their car this week. Would you do that? We have some widows in this church who probably need a ride to a doctor's office or who may need a trip to the grocery store. Would you do that? If you have true faith, according to James, you'll care for the widows. And I just checked the website earlier this week. There are over 5,800 children in the foster care system here in Virginia alone, orphaned. 5,800 of them. Do you have the kind of faith? I told you this was gonna be caffeinated, y'all. I told you, I warned you. Do you have the kind of faith that says that's somebody else's problem? Or do you have the kind of faith that says, no, that's a problem I need to do something about? Because according to James, this is pure and faultless faith. This church has never been so quiet. I know, I know. And if that's not enough,

James says there's something else though that pure and faultless, this kind of undefiled faith. There's something else. James says, look at the verse again. He says this, he says, and it's to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself by being polluted by the world. In other words, when you have true faith, when you have true religion, authentic worship, you aren't gonna be polluted by the world. You aren't going to allow the garbage of the world to inundate you. You're not gonna think like the world thinks or you're not gonna watch what the world watches. You're not gonna hear what the world hears. You're not gonna speak the words the world speaks. You're not gonna look at what the world looks at. You aren't polluted by the world if you have authentic faith. And then James goes on in chapter two and he starts with this. Let me show you. He starts and he says, he says, my brothers and sisters, this is James two, verse one. Believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. He says, you don't show favoritism if you're a true believer in Jesus Christ.

And then he goes into this verse two. Suppose a man you meet comes into your meeting. He comes to church. and he's wearing a gold ring and fine clothes and a poor man comes in and he gives this illustration and it's awesome. He says, hey, let me give you an illustration. If a rich man comes to church and a poor man comes to church, don't you dare give the rich man a good seat and a poor man the bad seat. Don't do that. Don't give the rich the best seats and the poor the bad seats. Don't show partiality. Don't judge a book by its cover. Don't ever elevate. Not if you have true faith. Don't ever elevate someone or dismiss someone because of their skin color or because of their social status or because of their wealth or the lack thereof or because of their rank or because of their appearance or because of the number of followers they have. That's not how a person of faith will act. That's what James says. Not if you have true faith. And then James gives us this smack down verse, okay? You're like, what, that wasn't it? No, there's another one.

Smack down verse. Let me show it to you. Let me skip down to verse 14. Verse 14 says this, there it is. Verse 14. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, James says, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds, what good is it? What good is it, James says? What good is it if you say you love Jesus but you're mean to people? What good is that? What good is it if you claim to have faith in Jesus, you sing the songs, pray the prayers, read the scriptures, go to the church, that's awesome, but you never help someone in need, what good is that? What good is that faith? He says, what good is that faith if you never serve at your church? What good is it if you never help in the parking lot or down in the kids' hallway, what good is it? What good is your faith if you love Jesus and have no deeds? I know, I know. I've been living with James chapter two for the last several weeks, processing these words in my own heart, in my own life. I was as quiet as you were. I mean, every once in a while, I would let out one of these, oh my.

I mean, I haven't heard that one yet. Oh my. Everybody say it with me, oh my. Yeah, you're in trouble, all right. I mean, it feels like we just all got called to the principal's office. What good is it, James says, if we have faith. And then he tells another example. You'll read it this week on your own. He tells another example about helping someone in need. And he says, hey, what good is it? What good is it if you say you have faith, but you never help someone in need? What good is it if all you say to someone who has a need, if all you say to them is God bless you, God bless you? Have you ever done that? If you hear somebody pat on the back, God bless you. What good is that? It's like this, when I was a kid, my mom and I joke about this all the time. When I was a little kid, I had a problem. I loved eating snacks late at night. I loved it, I loved it. Some things you never outgrow of, y'all. You know what I'm saying? I was like, I loved it. And so I would say to my mom, like at bedtime, I'd say to my mom, I'd say, hey, I'm hungry, I want a snack. And she'd say the same thing back to me every single time.

Every single time. I don't know if this is good parenting advice or not, but you might take a note of it if this relates to you. But I would say, I would say I'm hungry and she would say, go to bed. That would be her solution. Every time, every time, I'm hungry, go to bed. I'm like, that doesn't solve the problem. Now I'm just going to bed hungry. Like that's no help, that doesn't help me. And James says, that's the way it is for a lot of us with our faith, we say we have faith, but we don't help somebody. We don't put our faith to action. That kind of faith is no good. It is no good. And then probably one of the most famous verses of the whole letter. Let me show it to you. Verse 17, chapter two, verse 17. James says, in the same way, in the same way as you say you have faith, but you don't help anybody out. In the same way, James says, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is, say it with me, everybody, is dead. That's what faith without action is. According to James, it is dead. If you've got faith that has no action, if you've got faith that never works,

if you have faith, but you never show it through your deeds, according to James, it's dead. And most of us who are paying attention to this message right now. are feeling very convicted right now. And the great news for me is you're not mad at anything I've said. You're only mad at what James has said. Hello. It feels good. Like I haven't even offended anybody yet. It's just James has. That's, this is the best sermon I've ever preached because I had made anybody mad, but you're mad. And I like it when you get mad because anger will often lead you to something. And so you're thinking about it, but I haven't had to make you mad. Just James has had to make you mad. So you know how I like to get very, very, very practical when I preach. I like to give you an action step, a takeaway. Hey, this is what you do with this message. I wanna do that now. I wanna give you, I wanna give you the action step or the way to apply James chapter two in your life this week. This is the application part of the sermon. I'm giving it to you right now.

The way to apply James two, if you really wanna live out James two in your life is this. Sign up for serve day. There it is. You're welcome. That's it. That's it. That's the application. Some of y'all are like, wait, isn't there more? No, there actually, that's it. That's the application of James chapter two. Sign up for serve day. You just heard about serve day. And a bunch of you heard Pastor Eddie describe serve day. And here's what you thought while you sat in your seat. You thought that's awesome for somebody else. That's what you thought. That's great for someone else. But James would say, no, no, no. No, that's actually great for you. If you have faith. If you have faith, sign up for serve day. Don't sing those songs and then not show up on serve day. That's what James would say. Don't give your worship and then sleep in on serve day. No, no, no. James would say, if you really have a faith, then that faith should have some works. So what better way to live out James chapter two than to show up for serve day.

It's almost like we planned it that way. Surprisingly, can I just tell you a little secret? We didn't. God planned it that way. It all worked out. So sign up for serve day. All right, y'all, just sign up. Let me show you where James continues in case I haven't yet convinced you. James 2, 18 says this, but someone will say, maybe you're saying this. You have faith and I have deeds. Show me your faith without deeds. James says, and I will show you my faith. How? By my deeds. By my deeds, I'll demonstrate. I'll demonstrate my faith. And that's what we'll be doing on Saturday. All day, all across our cities. Anybody can talk about faith, but talk is cheap. Anybody can sing about faith, but singing is easy. Anybody can do that. On Saturday, why don't you put some action to your faith? Why don't you show some deeds in your faith? Why don't you pull some weeds at an elementary school? Why don't you take some flowers to some widows? Why don't you pack some of those 100,000 meals for the hungry? Why don't you organize some school supplies

for some kids in need? Why don't you give some blood at the Red Cross? Because Jesus gave some blood for you. Hello, everybody. Why don't you put some action to your faith? Because James would say, that's real faith. So have you picked your serve day project yet? Okay. You can do it right now. I'm not offended. People do far worse things on their phone while I preach than that. So I'm okay. You can sign up now, because that's a faith that works. And that is the application of today's sermon, really. It is. In fact, because now I've given you the application of the sermon, we're going to do a little bit of prayer. The application of the sermon. We could actually wrap it up, get out of church early, beat the Methodist up the road with a cracker barrel. It would be awesome. It'd be incredible. We could do that right now if we wanted to. But I don't want to. because there's actually a challenge in James chapter two that we have to spend a little time now understanding and we're gonna go to school together

and we're gonna learn a little bit here and I wanted to present this to you because my hope and prayer really is truly that you go home and read James chapter two this week and when you read it, you're gonna come across, you're gonna come across a verse that some, that some would use to try to suggest to you that the Bible contradicts itself. You're gonna come across a verse that presents a concept and when you read it, it might prove to be a little challenging to you because some would say, well, this particular verse and I'll show it to you in a moment, creates a problem and it proves that the Bible is contradictory and that you can't trust it and it's not reliable. Some would say that to you and I don't want you to get to that verse and see that problem and come to that conclusion because let me just tell you before I, and I'm gonna show it to you, but let me just tell you, the Bible does not contradict itself. The Bible is one true, accurate and complete story from beginning to end. There is no contradiction and it is fully reliable. So I'm gonna show you so that when you get to this in James chapter two, you're not thrown off or confused by it, but you actually understand it more and it gives you greater confidence as you read it. The challenge comes, the challenge comes in verse 24 of James chapter, James chapter two.

And I wanna show it to you here in James chapter two, verse 24. And I'm gonna read it to you because I think this is maybe gonna be the greatest way for you to see it from the New American Standard version of the Bible. Verse 24 says this, you see that a person is justified. And I wanna work on this word with you for just a moment. This is a word you see a lot in the Bible and maybe aren't quite familiar with what it means. This word justified just means being made right with God. So what James is saying is you see that a person is made right with God. This is how a person is made right with God. This is my favorite definition of justified and you can see it. Justified means this, just as if, you see it in justified, just as if you had never sinned. Because that's how God sees you when you're made right with him. You're made right with him and he sees you just as if you've never sinned. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, if you've accepted his gift of salvation, if he's your Lord and savior, I got really good news for you today. When God looks at you, he sees you as justified. What does that mean? He sees you just as if you had never sinned.

He sees you being right with him. That's awesome news, by the way, everybody. That's an incredible thing that that's what happens when a person places their faith and trust in Jesus. So James says a person is justified, is made right with God, is seen just as if they never sinned. James says they are justified by how? By, he says, by works and not by faith alone. Now, if you know your theology, or even if you're like, well, I wouldn't say I know theology, but I've been at this church for a while. Okay, if you've been at this church for a while and the preacher has done his job, then you know that verse should sound like heresy to you. That should sound like, no, no, no. That's not what we believe. That's actually not what we teach. That's not the gospel you preach, pastor. That's not the gospel that I believe. In fact, the word gospel means good news. This is not good news. If what James is saying is truly accurate, if you just take it from that one verse, then what James is saying is that we are made right with God through our actions, through our works. That's not good news for any of us, because that means we got to try harder, do more, be better.

That means that every one of us need a serve day every day. Right? Because if we're going to be made right with God through our works, oh my gosh, then I got to work really hard. That's not good news. That's actually, that's actually bad news. That's contradictory to this idea of the gospel. Because the gospel is, the gospel is, is good news. And so what some people will try to argue is, is that James in verse 24, where he says a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Actually, James is contradicting what the rest. of the Bible teaches and specifically what the Apostle Paul writes. And this is where people get all crazy and up in arms. So I just wanna show it to you. Let me show you what, let me show you what Paul writes. Let me take you to Romans chapter three, verse 28. By the way, some people might wonder why are we using this little iPad and drawing on it and all this? Because I'm trying to show you that when you're studying the Bible, when you're reading it, you're digging in a little deeper than just looking at the page. You're interacting, you're living in it. I'm giving some of you permission to go home

and get out a pen or a pencil or a highlighter and mark up your Bible a little bit. It's okay, it's okay. Let me show you verse 28. This is Paul's writing, Romans 3, 28, where he says, for we maintain that a person is, now here's our word, justified, made right with God, seen just as if they never sinned, a person is justified, how? Well, this is what Paul says, by faith apart from works. Wait a minute, James just said, we are justified by works, not by faith alone. No, no, no, Paul says, we are justified by faith apart from works. So which is it? This is a pretty big deal. This is a pretty big deal, can we agree? This is a pretty big deal? Like this is about our salvation. This is about the means by which we are saved. This is a pretty big deal. So we gotta know, how are we made right with God? Are you made right with God because of what Jesus did for you? And therefore you just place your faith and trust in Jesus and you're made right with God, or are you made right with God because of what you do? The answer is yes.

You're like, wait a minute, that doesn't make any sense. Well, let me see if I can help you understand who is right, Paul or James. I heard a pastor named Louie Giglio explain it like this once. I thought it was really helpful for me. James and Paul are using the same word justified and they're using it, the same word, but they're using it in two different ways to two different audiences and two different contexts to ultimately have two different meanings. And we do this too. We actually do this as well with the word justified. And let me give you the two examples and help you see it. We use justified in a couple of different ways. Here's one of the ways. We use justified when a judge justifies us for a set of actions. Let's say you've been accused of some wrongdoing. You get taken to court, the evidence is shown, and the judge finds you not guilty. You don't have to pay the fine. You don't have to do the time. You didn't do the act. You are not guilty. The judge declares you are justified, that you aren't guilty. You are made right, declared justified by the judge. That's one way we use that term. The other way we would use the term

is that there are times when we have to justify ourselves. You know what I'm talking about? When I justify myself. Like when I see a bunch of Amazon packages getting delivered to the front porch on the ring camera, and I call Tabitha and I'm like, hey, what did we just buy? And she starts to justify herself. And she says, oh, but we needed that. And the other thing stopped working, and so we needed that one. And by the way, it was on sale. It was actually on sale for 40% off, so I actually made you 60% profit. And now I'm saving an extra 10% because we're subscribers now, so they're gonna deliver it, and you don't even have to use your time. So I'm actually making you money by having those packages delivered. What's Tabitha doing? She's justifying herself. See how it works? All the women are happy about that explanation. You're like, that's girl math. It works every time. The math don't math. But she justified. She justified herself. That's different than when a judge does the justifying. When the judge justifies you in the courtroom

declaring you're not guilty, you're justified, and then you justify yourself proving something about yourself. You use the same idea, the same term, in two different ways within two different contexts that mean two different things. And Paul and James, they do the same thing. When Paul's writing, those verses I just read to you in Romans, when Paul's writing, he's writing to say, When Judge Jesus declares that you are justified, that's all it takes. That's it. There's nothing more. In Paul's context, he's writing to people who are Jewish, who have grown up in Jewish tradition, who have grown up with all the laws and all the rituals and all the rules, and they value those laws and rituals and rules. And so when Paul's writing to his group of Jewish audience, he's writing to say, hey, I know you think it's Jesus plus something. I know you think it's Jesus plus your works. I know you think it's Jesus plus your rules. I know you think it's Jesus plus your pedigree. I know you think it's Jesus plus all the things that you've done or accomplished or all the things that your parents and grandparents and all the times they went to synagogue

and all the times they kept the rules at all the feasts and all the celebrations. I know you think it's Jesus plus all those things. But Paul writes to say, I need you to know, it is Jesus plus nothing that gets you salvation. It is Jesus and Jesus alone. And he writes to say, that's all it takes is faith in Jesus, which is true. It's true. And then James comes along. And James is actually writing to a different context. James isn't writing to rule followers and people have grown up in the Jewish tradition and kept the faith for the centuries and gone to synagogue every single day. That's not what James is writing to. James is writing to Christians who think I get Jesus for free and it costs me nothing because it's by faith alone. And because I get Jesus for free and it costs me nothing by faith alone, I don't have to do anything else. So I can actually treat Jesus and my relationship with him. I can treat my religion, this idea of pure faith, I can treat it like it is meaningless, like it's worthless. I can trample over the blood of Jesus in my life and do anything whenever I want

with no concern about what Jesus would want for me in my life. And James is writing to them and saying, well, wait a minute, hold up. That's not really the way this faith idea works. Same idea, two different contexts. In fact, let me take you back to Paul's writings just to show you what I mean here. This is Romans 3, verse 21. Paul says this, Paul says, but now apart from the law, apart from the law, separated from the law, the righteousness of God has been known to which the law and prophets testify. This is righteousness. This righteousness is given through faith, how? In Jesus Christ to all who believe, that's it. That's what Paul says. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are justified, there's our word again, freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. How are we justified? Freely by God's grace. That's how we're justified. He goes on to write in another book. This is Ephesians chapter two. You might've heard these verses before. I love them so much.

Ephesians chapter two, verse eight. This is what he says, for it is by, look at this. It is by grace that you have been saved, how? Through faith. And this is not of yourselves. This has nothing to do with your works. It is a gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. So you don't get to boast about this gift of salvation. You don't get to say, look at all my good deeds. You don't get to say, oh, I went to serve day every year. I got the gold star to prove it. You don't get to show that. You are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. It is Jesus plus nothing, which means you can't work for it. You can't earn it. You can't merit it. It's a gift and you can't lose it. Thank you, Jesus. That's awesome. That's awesome. And that's Paul's message. But James has a message. James says you're justified. You were made right by the judge, but because you're justified, you're gonna have some actions that follow. You're like, well, that seems to contradict. No, it actually doesn't contradict. So let me show you right after Paul says,

you're saved by faith through faith. Look at the next verse. This is verse 10 of Ephesians chapter two. For, right after he says, this is how you're saved, you're saved through faith. For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do what everybody? To do, say it, good works. So there are works that follow salvation. There are works that follow this free gift that God offers to you, which God prepared in advance for us to do. So you're saved by faith, but your faith will work and you're saved. So Paul's agreeing with James and James actually agrees with Paul. Let me take you back to James chapter two. Y'all getting something out of this? Is this helpful? Okay, all right. Hang with me. We're almost there. James two, verse five. James actually agrees with Paul where he writes this. Listen, my dear brothers and sisters, has God not chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith? And to what? And to inherit the kingdom he has promised those who love him?

Now, how do you inherit something? You don't work for it. You don't earn it. You don't merit it. It's freely given. I'm just, I'm trying to help you see. It's the same salvation. It's the same faith. It's the same works. It's just being explained differently to two different audiences within two different contexts. You're saved by faith and your faith works. I love the way one scholar said it this way. They said, faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone. That's so good. We don't add anything to faith for salvation, but we have a faith that works after our salvation. And that's why James would say to you, just believing in God, just saying, no, I believe in God, I go to church. I've read my Bible. I say a prayer. Just believing in God, James would say isn't enough. It isn't enough. In fact, I wanna give you just one more verse from James 2, and I hope I've got you fired up and excited. I hope I've whet your appetite to go read James chapter two on your own this week. I wanna just show you one more verse.

This is James 2, verse 19. It's really the way the chapter ends. And I want you to take this in because this is what James is trying to get across to us. He says, verse 19, you believe there is one God. Good, good. By the way, he's writing to a culture in which most people don't believe there's one God. He's writing within a culture where most people believe there's this polytheistic view of God. There are many different gods. And James was saying, hey, I'm writing to some Christians who have finally decided, no, there's only one God. Good, that's like the most basic tenet of our Christian faith. There is one God, good for you. You believe the right thing. But then James says, even the demons believe that. And they shudder. They believe in one God too. And it sends chills down their back when they think of the one God. The demons believe it too. Just like you say you believe. And the hair on the back of their neck stands up when they think of this one true God. The demons believe, and they shudder. James would ask this as he ends chapter two.

He would ask this. You say you believe it. And what do you do? Because the demons shudder. If you really believe it, your life will show it. Your life will show it. Whew. That's strong. So I already gave you the application. Sign up for Survey. But there's actually a second application now that we've dug a little deeper into James two. And I just wanna spend a few moments here with you. And I wanna be as clear and direct as James was in James two. I wanna try to bring the application home to all of us in the same way that James was doing. is bringing it home to us. Because you really can't read James 2 without asking this question of yourself. You really can't read it without asking, do I really believe? Do I really believe? Because I'm just gonna be honest with you, there are some days when I don't feel like serving others. There are some days where I really don't wanna do. Serve day. There are some days where I wanna put myself first. There are some days where I wanna do life my way.

There are some days where I'm not thinking about widows or orphans, and I am very much polluted by the world. There are some of those days. And so I read James chapter two and I have to ask this question. Do I really believe? And I would say to you today, you have to ask this question. Do you really believe? And I'm just gonna be honest. I'm just gonna be honest. For some of you, for some of you serve day is the furthest thing from your heart and mind. You saw us talk about it. You've heard us mention it. You even heard me just preach about it and nothing on the inside of you stirred or moved. For some of you, in just a moment, I'll invite you to give like I do at the end of every service. We think that you cannot outgive God. It's the best way to respond to what God's done in our heart, in our life. And when I talk about giving in just a few moments, some of you will not be stirred at the slightest. You won't be moved. You could care less about generosity. For some of us, for some of, and I'm just being honest. You sing the songs, you say you love Jesus, but the idea of going home to read the word

and try to apply it into your life every day, that's just, that has no appeal to you whatsoever. You'd much rather scroll on TikTok or Instagram or watch SportsCenter on TV. There's no desire in you whatsoever. And I told you, I'm just trying to, I'm trying to help you see the true application here. That some of us say we have a faith, but our lives, the priorities of our lives, the passions of our lives are so far from what we say we believe. And what is that? Because you can't read James 2 without asking, do I really believe then? Do I really believe? I think it's just two things. And I'm gonna present these to you for you to consider for your own life like I've been considering for mine. Either, either we aren't allowing Jesus to fully be Lord of our life, meaning in control, master, king of our life. And so we have these moments where we struggle with our own will over God's will, where we struggle with our own self over God, where we try to put ourself on the throne when God wants to be on the throne. We have these moments. And yes, we truly believe, but there's still a struggle. None of us are perfect.

None of us have arrived. We're all still progressing. We're all still growing. But James 2 would point us to say this, that in those moments, the Holy Spirit convicts us and we repent. And I'm calling our church today to repent. You hear me? If you are not living for Jesus, don't say you love him and keep living for yourself. That's James 2. Repent, come back to him. He will welcome you with open arms because he loves you and he knows what's best for you. So read James 2 this week and repent. That means turn direction. Come back to him and live your life. Align your life with your Lord. Let me say that again. Align your life with your Lord. Here's the second possible scenario when you ask yourself, do I really believe? Maybe it's I just need to repent because I'm trying to be Lord, but he's my Lord. Yes, I really believe. Be my Lord. Here's the second possible scenario. You don't really believe. You said a prayer, you got baptized, you went to church, you read your Bible, but you don't really believe.

The Bible says this, that when you place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you are a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. That doesn't mean all your ways, all your bad habits, all your sin gets changed instantly. It does mean it's all forgiven and in the past. But if you truly believe, then something in your life should show it. Something in your heart should sense it. And you cannot read James chapter two without asking the question. Do I really believe? Maybe I need to repent. Or maybe today I need to believe in Jesus Christ. There is no shame, there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus today. All are welcomed. All are wanted. And Jesus' blood can cover all of us today. But let's have a faith that actually shows itself in the way we live our lives. Can I tell you, that's what will bring Jesus the most glory, and that's ultimately what we want. So would you bow your heads and close your eyes? And I know this has been a challenging message for so many. It's been a challenging one for me. But right now, would you just ask yourself, do I really believe? Do I really believe? Well, maybe you need to repent.

Or maybe you need to truly believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If that's you, I'm gonna lead you in a simple prayer. Listen, this prayer isn't magical. It's your heart condition. And if you're ready to truly believe in Jesus Christ so that He changes your life, so that He becomes the Lord of your life and you follow Him, I'm gonna invite you to pray this prayer with me and truly mean it. If that's you, on the count of three, I want you to shoot your hand high in the air. I want you to keep it up while you pray this prayer. One, two, three, hands in the air. You're praying this prayer to believe in Jesus Christ today. Come on, lock that elbow, keep it high. God bless you. Pray this now and really mean it. Say, Jesus, I wanna know you. I want my sin forgiven by you. I wanna be made right with God through you. And I wanna live my life for you. Come into my life, be my Lord and Savior. And put your hands down. God, we thank you for every person believing in you today. For all of us, given our hearts and lives. For some who are repenting, we come back to you. We thank you for the truth of your word. It changes us. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen? Amen. Come on, everybody. Thank God for His word. We're so grateful for it. Amen.