Faith Without Works Doesn’t Work
Download MP3We often, here at Redeemer, we take time to, for people to come up and share testimony, testify to the Lord's goodness and grace in their life. And tonight, I've asked Arliss where is Arliss? He didn't bail on me. Oh, the column was blocking you. Alright.
Joel Brooks:There we go. If, if Arliss would come up here and testify to the Lord's goodness in his life.
Speaker 2:Hello there. I think this is the first time I ever had to say say a testimony to a lot of people. Nobody's been, like, 2, 3, 4, 5. That's as much as I've had, but, well, Joel Joel want me to say that he rescued me from the sun dark alley drugs and everything. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But it didn't happen that way. Sorry. Let me start with, my background I guess real quick. I'm originally from Honduras, like many of you know already. And then, my family, I have, 1 sister, 4 brothers, and, of course, mom and dad, and then, still together.
Speaker 2:They're everybody's down at home still, you know, they work hard. I got 3 brother 2 brothers are going to college, and then one's still in high school. My sister is married. She's got, one daughter and niece. So and, she's doing great.
Speaker 2:And my dad works, you know, as well as my mom. So but, how I got here is, it's been it's been a long trip, I guess. And so everything started when I was 4 years old. My dad, used to work for the Red Cross. I know you, you know, know that they do a lot of work from other countries and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:So, back then, my dad was working for them, and then, there was a problem with Nicaragua. I don't know. Many of you probably know that story. So my dad was helping taking some refugees from Nicaragua into Honduras, you know. There was a communist party called the Sandinist, you know, having burritos and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:So, so he's doing that, helping, some of the people from Nicaragua, bringing them into my town. They set up a little little camp for them, you know, where they can leave and, you know, temporarily stay there. One day, he used to drive a big truck, and one day he decided that, he needed to, you know, fix the truck. And normally, he does it at the shop, you know, Red Cross the shop, but if he figured that would be easier to do it at the house, you know, the backyard, and then, it'd be, you know, he can do it with his own time and get it done quick. It was an after I think it was somewhere at noon, and then, we were my sister and I were playing in one of the rooms.
Speaker 2:He told us, you know how to get out, you know. Stay inside, and we're working outside. You know, it's dangerous. He locked the door and everything, but he forgot to lock the windows. My sister and I got bored playing, you know, just, you know, just regular games, toys, and I decided that I wanted to play the mechanic.
Speaker 2:You know, I wanted to be like my dad, you know, go, you know, fix the truck. So we both got out through one of the back windows, and, my dad had left. He went next door to get some tools that he was missing. So we didn't see him. So we my sister got in the cabin.
Speaker 2:I got under the truck, you know. I was directly, I was right by I was in the driver's size and the back tires, the, the the double in using the big, semis. You know, it's not as big as the semi, but it wasn't one of them sizes. It's one of them Russian's trucks. I wasn't I was under it right beneath, the back tires.
Speaker 2:I don't know how it happened. The truck decided to move. I don't think it was my sister's fault at all because it had a it had something to block from rolling, but it did. It caught me right here at the abdomen, area. At the same time, my dad was coming from next door.
Speaker 2:He rushed. First, you know, first thing that he thought doing is, you know, stop the truck. You know? He didn't want nobody else getting hurt out on the street or the truck hitting the house. So he got on quick, didn't realize that I was underneath the truck, had the emergency brakes.
Speaker 2:Of course, you know, it dragged me. I still got some scars. It used to be bigger than this, actually. It used to be all the way up to here and here, and I got a few over in this side. He saw me to the one of the mirrors, the driver's side mirror, and then, that's that's when he freaked.
Speaker 2:He jumped out, let the truck went down the down the street, hit a house. Nobody got hurt. My sister was okay. I was the only one that got hurt, you know. Oh, thank god.
Speaker 2:It was only me. You know? He would probably die, had a heart attack. It would have been both of us. There was a German doctor back then in my town.
Speaker 2:We don't have big clinics, you know, like here. You know, usually, it's just small, you know, they only have, like, little medicine for, like, small things. Nothing serious, like, you know, that I went through. German doctor took me in. He didn't know what to do, of course.
Speaker 2:And then, I lost 90% of my blood at that point. And then, he didn't know what exactly was happening inside of me. So he know that my stomach had grown, you know, like, 10 times the size, and and then he didn't know what to do. So they rushed me to the Capitol, which is one of the hospitals over there. It was about 4 hour drive back then, because of the road, and then, through my mountains and everything.
Speaker 2:So that's how had to take me over there. And then, on the way over there, actually, and I, the ambulance almost wrecked, like, 3 times. Like, It was like first was, like, cows in the streets, a dog in the street, and then a horse fell off one of the mountainsides. And then, it was just crazy. I remember one occasion, the doctor actually fell on top of me.
Speaker 2:And then, I do remember that clearly. It was it was horrible. And then, but, but, the the most amazing thing about it is that, even though we had that problem on the way over there, I if I would have been 5 to 10 minutes late, you know, I would die actually. That's what the doctors told my parents, you know. It was only it was that close, 5 minutes.
Speaker 2:When I got there, I could still I I couldn't see actually. Everything was white. Like many people say, actually actually, it's true. You see white. And then, this is crazy, but, I can hear voices.
Speaker 2:I hear my mom crying. I heard my dad talking. And, like, in a second, I woke up. You know? Actually, the surgery was for, like, 4 hours, I think, they'd say.
Speaker 2:And I've for me, it was just seconds. And I just remember it was wide and then it was up. So, doctors in Honduras for 3 years, they try and try, and they couldn't do anything. So it finally came to true, you know, the the real reality to my parents, you know, the doctor had to tell them the truth that there's nothing they could do about it. And then, that, you know, it was a big complication.
Speaker 2:You know, I had, my my hip got displaced and my urethra had got torn apart. And then, and of course, it hasn't damaged anything internally. And then, and then, you know, the only way they can actually have me going, I had I was using catheters actually. That's how they got me. And then I'm going.
Speaker 2:And then, but they told after 3 years, they told my parents, you know, you know, we can't do anything for your son. You know, you gotta go somewhere else, you know, internationally, anywhere. So that was devastating, of course, from my parents. They didn't know what to do. So, you know, they pray.
Speaker 2:You know, my mom is is is a big Christian woman. I mean, she's so strong. So, you know, friends, family, church, you know, everybody pray. And then, amazingly, that same year that they they told them, you know, she found out there was a mission trip actually coming to my town from the med I was the Baptist Medical Dental Missionary National. I don't I think many of you have heard it maybe.
Speaker 2:I don't know. They're I got an office in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and then they had a group coming actually, missionaries. Usually, you know, like you guys know, usually it's just dentists or, you know, or your or, like, you know, nurses or, you know, for hearing or eyes, you know you know, usually that's what they, you know, what they bring. And then, so my mom heard about it, and it they she took me there. And then, they were they were just overwhelmed.
Speaker 2:You know, they were amazed at the you know, how I was and how was that was still alive and everything. So I I touched their heart. And then, so they couldn't do anything then, you know. So they took pictures, you know. They checked me and everything with the people they had there.
Speaker 2:And then they told my mom, it's like, we'll we'll do everything we can, you know, to help you. And then, to, see what we can do for him. And then I it could take months, take years, you know, we don't know. And then, so they left, took pictures, everything, everything they could. And then, and again, the Lord was there 2 months.
Speaker 2:Only took 2 months to send a letter to my mom. They had, they had everything ready, actually. I was we were amazed. They had paperwork for 2 visas. It will be it will be my mom and and I, of course.
Speaker 2:And then, they had, like, doctors ready in Jackson, Mississippi, you know, housing, people that could take care of us. And then, we left. Our our first trip was back in 19 89, actually. There, I think it was December we first came to the United States. And then, it was just it's just so different, you know.
Speaker 2:My mother know any English. I didn't know the fucking English either. And then, so the hospital had to contact, a person, which now I call my mom, American mom. And then, they contacted her, and she knows she spoke Spanish and so they asked you to come and translate for, you know, for them to talk to us. And then, that was another blessing actually, which let her I'll let you know how that was a blessing.
Speaker 2:My mom and her, actually, they got they became really good friends. You know, after surgeries while I was passed out, dragged out, on the bed, they would talk for hours and nights. And then, mama told the story, you know, about, you know, our lives back in Honduras, and and then, she felt touched too. And she said that, you know, promised her that eventually one day when I became old enough and, after I finished high school, that she was gonna do, you know, her best to actually give me a scholarship at Southern Miss. And then, so all that went through there at the time.
Speaker 2:And then, well, finally, after, 6 surgeries actually, that I had to go through to rebuild everything, which was it was it was throughout that time between 4 14 years old. That's my last surgery when I was 14. It was it was it was a nightmare. You know, it was a lot of prayers, and there was a lot of blessings at the same time and, of course, concerns, you know. There's a couple of times I got down, actually.
Speaker 2:I I felt that I maybe I will never get better. I remember that, I was walking in my town one day, and I saw an old man with a catheter sticking out his belly. And then, it shocked me, you know, because, you know, I have one too, and, and I didn't wanna see myself that way, actually. It was just, you know, it was devastating. So so, hopefully, you know, thank God that I was blessed with that opportunity to come up here and, you know you know, had, you know, get me fixed up, I guess.
Speaker 2:You know, I was like, I speak a little bit of regnag sometimes. So but, so those years, what I was trying to actually trying to let you guys know through everything that I've been through is that, you know, that missionaries is is very important thing. A lot of you guys go out there to other countries, and and sometimes you don't realize. You you think that it's something small and, you know, it's not big deal, but, you know, it actually it is. Something very small can actually change somebody's life and actually can actually help more, you know, help you change more lives.
Speaker 2:It's just you don't know. This blessing or this miracle, which I call, you know, happened back in 19 I mean, since I was 1989 when my parents first met the missionaries, and that took 10 years, you know, to see how the Lord actually worked through so many people. You know, it's not him directly working, you know, directly to me, you know, it was him knowing what kind of gift each person had and him touching their hearts and, you know, calling them to actually help. So it's amazing how the Lord works, you know. So, yeah, you you don't you don't expect somebody coming and, you know, and actually, you know, doing something.
Speaker 2:I mean, just imagine, you know, a complete stranger coming from another country telling the, you know, you know, the cons, you know, you face them, you don't know what they're gonna do, you know. I mean, you tend not to believe them, you know. It was like, well, I can really do it. But, you know, that's that's one of the how's that that's how faith works and prayers and and and love, you know, that you got for God that actually those things will actually come through even through strangers. And then, so, 14 years old, my last surgery surgery, and then I it was amazing.
Speaker 2:Everything went well. No complications at all. Act after I finished, high school, actually, my mom, actually, she came through for her promise. Actually, she actually got me scholarship for Southern Miss. So I went to Southern Miss.
Speaker 2:I moved up here in 2001, you know, you know, completely. And then, I was able to get a degree in, construction management engineer like you guys. I'll have a lot of people I told you that now that's, Bill Howard's interstate, which I love doing. And then, because of it as well, I'm able to help my family back home. I actually, I'm sending my brothers through a call, to college, 2 of them.
Speaker 2:And then I help my mom with her problems, medical problems, you know, wherever I can. Other family members or any others. I actually, even people here, you know, anything small, even just go paint the wall on the other side of the door or, I mean, stuff like that. You know, it just makes a difference. You know?
Speaker 2:So, all of that, you know, just one accident after many years of misery, you know, you actually can see hope and light and everything. So, you know, it's just like it can do many things. So there's this little scripture that I found that I want to share. Let's see. Let me see.
Speaker 2:It's in Romans 8. I got it right here. Okay. It's, Romans 825 through 28, And it says, but if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently. And the holy spirit holy spirit helps us in our distress.
Speaker 2:If we don't, for we don't even know what we should pray for nor how we should pray, but the holy spirit prays for us, with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the father who knows all hearts, knows what the spirit is saying. For the spirit, please for us believers in harmony with god's god's own will, and we know that god causes everything to work together, for the for the good of those who love god and are called according to his purpose for them. So I just wanted to let you know that don't lose hope. If you tend to lose your hope, just pray.
Speaker 2:It like he's actually said it many times, you know, just pray and pray. And, actually, it helps you, you know. It might take a day, it might take a month to see something that you're praying for, It might take years, but just don't lose that hope, you know, in God's everything will come through. So it's just amazing how it works. And then, I like I wanna close with 2 things.
Speaker 2:1 with a small prayer and the other with a little I don't know. That's it's not a joke, but but it's a little story. There was this, there was this flood in this town, and then, this guy, you know, was at the top of the roof. The water was already up to the roof, so he couldn't go nowhere. So he was pleading and praying to God to come to the rescue, you know, that he wanted he didn't wanna die.
Speaker 2:And then, so a small couple goes with a kayak through, and they told him, hey. You know? Jump. We'll, you know, we'll save you. We got plenty plenty of room for 1 more person.
Speaker 2:And he's like, no. He's like, the Lord's gonna come to rescue me. So the couple looked at him, okay. Well, they left, you know, they couldn't convince him. So and then a rescue boat came by, and then, he also denied.
Speaker 2:You know, he didn't want the gold rescue. He said that the lord was gonna come and rescue him. So they left, then a helicopter came by. You know, it was the last helicopter came trying to rescue the man, and he told him that, no, that he didn't wanna go, that the lord was actually gonna come and rescue him. So like you Everybody knows him, he die, you know, he drown.
Speaker 2:And then now he gets to heaven, and the first thing he does is complaints to God. And I was like, hey, you know, what happened? What happened? You know, I pray, and you didn't come to save me. And the Lord told him, he was like, well, I did.
Speaker 2:I send you a kayak. I send you a rescue boat. Finally, I send you a helicopter. What do you want me to do? So, yeah, the morale of the story is that, you know, it's just, you know, you know, you don't know who's gonna come, you know.
Speaker 2:It could be somebody you don't know and he's just might be kinda scared about him, but it could be the Lord working through that person. So don't ignore it. You know, take that opportunity and end up because it could be a blessing. So
Joel Brooks:Thank you so much, Arliss. It is amazing. I I think as Arliss was telling me this story for the first time, I was just thinking of some of our trips to Haiti and just like, the little impact you might have on one little child, and you just don't think. It's like, okay. I just maybe did something with a little child, but you don't think, okay.
Joel Brooks:That child can grow up. And and the impact that they might have. And, you know, Arliss, just because some missionaries, didn't forget about when they came back, took care of him, paid for his college education. He's been able to pay for his brother's education. It's, it's it's been astounding to see the lord's grace.
Joel Brooks:Thank thank you, Arliss. If y'all would turn to James 2. And, we're gonna begin reading at verse 14. We've been working our way through James, and we're gonna finish up James chapter 2 tonight. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works?
Joel Brooks:Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to him, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body. What good is that? So, also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works.
Joel Brooks:Show me your faith apart from works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that god is 1. You do well. Even the demons believe and shutter. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
Joel Brooks:Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. Lord, I ask that you would come and that you would speak truth deep into our lives. And the falsehoods that we cling to, may you shatter. May your word go forth like a hammer shattering a rock. God, I ask that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
Joel Brooks:But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Well, the first thing I guess I I should address is Jesus did not have a wife. Okay?
Joel Brooks:Kinda kinda feel like I should put that out there. I mean, I mean, it's astounding what people will, will put out there, you know, to gain a little notoriety, to stir up a little controversy. If you haven't heard, there's been some kind of 4th century document. Documents too strong of a word, A scrap of paper with a few words on it that has the word Jesus and wife, from the 4th century. To put that in perspective, this would be like me, finding a post it note or getting a post it note and saying, you know, George Washington's great great granddad, had an affair.
Joel Brooks:And then that is found in the year 38100. And then somebody finds that and says, oh, wow, wow. Did you know that George Washington's great, great granddad had an affair? I mean, that's, that's kind of the perspective that you should have. When you come across something like that, it's, it's really ridiculous.
Joel Brooks:It's not a controversy. What we're gonna look at tonight is a controversy. Okay? This is something that you actually should spend time thinking about. Okay?
Joel Brooks:This is something that the church has, spent many 100 of years discussing. And that's do Paul and James differ in their theology? You know, if Paul and James were in a cage match, who who would win? You know, that's that's kind of like were they were they at odds with one another? Did they have different views of salvation?
Joel Brooks:The one, you know, Paul say it's salvation by faith alone. And then James says, no. It's it's salvation by faith and works. Certainly seems what they're saying. That's been the controversy.
Joel Brooks:And this is one that we need to spend time working through. And so we're gonna take time to unpack some doctrine. I know, doctrinal sermons aren't the most, you know, riveting. But I'm gonna take at least a few minutes to to go through this issue. It's a serious issue.
Joel Brooks:Alright, James 224 is the crux of it. It says, you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Turn in your Bibles to Romans 3/28. This is Romans 328 listen to Paul's words on the matter. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Joel Brooks:So so James here is saying, you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And Paul is saying, for we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. A couple of things need to be said here. And this this sounds simple, but it actually really is a a good point. The people who put the Bible together were not idiots.
Joel Brooks:Okay? They understood Paul's preaching and teaching, and they didn't have to put James's letter in our canon of scripture. But they chose to because they did not see it as any way as contradictory. They saw we need both James's view of faith here and Paul's view of faith here in order for us to get the full picture of what faith needs to look like in our life. And so they included James in there.
Joel Brooks:Now when Paul says that one is justified by faith and and not by works, first of all, he's talking to the pre converted person there. The person's not saved yet. He's saying you're justified by faith and not by works. He's saying that there's nothing you can do to earn your salvation. You can't walk enough elderly people across the street.
Joel Brooks:You can't give enough money. You you can't do enough good deeds to ever merit heaven. And so you have to just believe the gospel. It's through the works of Jesus that you're justified. And for Paul, the word justification here means to be made righteous, To be made righteous.
Joel Brooks:Alright. Now, look at James. James says that a person is justified by works and not faith alone. Let me say first off, we know he already agrees with Paul and he's hinted at this in several places, but but just go back to verse 5. When he says, listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith when he calls us an heir, what he's saying is you don't work to receive what you're gonna what you're going to get.
Joel Brooks:Somebody else has done all the work. Somebody else has accumulated all the wealth, and you are the heir. It will simply be given to you. So right there, he's using language that Paul uses all the time, which is that we are saved by grace here and that we are heirs to the kingdom. And then the reason James phrases it this way, so so shocking that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone, is because he wants to shock you.
Joel Brooks:It's a literary device. He he wants to shock you. If you can remember, some of you got, or read an article I wrote, which was actually an email I sent to a friend of mine when the whole Chick Fil A thing was going full force. And I think it's about to go full force again, but you know, the the month ago or whenever, when it was in full force, and, one of my friends said, I can't believe or I can't support anybody who's full of hate or any organization that has hate. And so I responded to her in an email.
Joel Brooks:I said, actually, I believe God has called us to hate. And I said it like that. God has called me to hate. And I did it to shock her. And then I unpacked what I meant.
Joel Brooks:He's called me to hate injustice and to love justice. He's called me to hate evil and to love good. But I use that literary device to shock her so she would then read it. James is doing the same thing here. He knows what Paul's been preaching.
Joel Brooks:He wants to teach something. And so he says, no. No. We're not by saved by faith alone. There's faith and works.
Joel Brooks:And so, we we lean in. Now, James here is not talking about the pre Christian. He's talking about the person who knows the Lord, the person who is a Christian. And he's using the word justification differently. Justification can be made like Paul says, can be used to be made righteous.
Joel Brooks:You're justified. But it can also be used to prove one is righteous. That's the context actually we use it most. That's what James is using here. If I was your boss and, you were turning in your expense reports to me, And I'm looking at your expense reports, and I noticed there's a, you know, $80 bill from Highlands Bar and Grill for lunch.
Joel Brooks:I'm gonna call you into my office, and I'm gonna be like, excuse me, could you could you justify this? And when I say that, I'm not asking you to make it right, like, you know, whip out your wallet and hand me the money. I'm asking you to explain it to where it's a legitimate expense. This was a legitimate, you know, business lunch. Prove yourself right.
Joel Brooks:Can you justify this? James is using that, that word this way here in James 2. He's saying that works prove that we really have had our heart changed by God. It's our justification. And so Paul and James are in perfect agreement here.
Joel Brooks:And just for the record, James isn't talking about faith verse works. Most people say that. He's actually talking about 2 different types of faith. Faith alone and then a faith with works. But he's talking about faith in both of these.
Joel Brooks:A faith that's alone or faith with works. And both Paul and James are in perfect agreement that it is faith with works that justifies us. Kind of the catch phrase that's been used a whole lot is we are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that stays alone. Okay. We're saved by faith alone, but not by faith that remains alone.
Joel Brooks:Faith without works is dead. And you're gonna find this all throughout scripture. You know, when Paul says, work out your salvation and fear and trembling, he's like, you work out you're working it out what god has already put in. Or Jesus, you know, just talking about you'll know them by their fruits. If you have genuine faith, it will manifest itself in works and fruit.
Joel Brooks:James says, faith without works is useless. Literally, it's faith without works doesn't work. You know, it makes a good bumper sticker. You could put it on their t shirt. Faith without works doesn't work.
Joel Brooks:Now, in verse 14 through 17, James tells us what he means by this. A brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacked lacking in daily food and one of you says to him, Go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for their body. What good is that? So faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. And for the record, I've never seen that happen.
Joel Brooks:I've actually never seen somebody you know, if somebody is outside and they're freezing cold, you know, homeless man to just say, be warm. You know, walk I've, I've never seen that. We're more subtle. We say, I'll pray for you. You know?
Joel Brooks:And and then we then we walk on. One of the most common things I think we do is, you know, somebody loses their job or they they might be in danger of losing their house, and we say the words, I'm sorry, and we walk away. James is saying, how sorry are you? Are you a $100 sorry? Are you $500 sorry?
Joel Brooks:Are you a $1,000 sorry? What what kind of faith is it? Is it just a faith in your head, or does it is it a real kind of action Sorry. He challenged it. He pushes you on it.
Joel Brooks:Because just a general, I am sorry is dead. Alright? That kind of faith is dead, and it's useless. Tell me how that helps the person. And so we're a lot more subtle when it comes to that.
Joel Brooks:I, you know, I think what if the mission team that came to see Arliss had that kind of faith? Wow. You know, there's nothing really we can do. We'll pray for you. And then the then they leave.
Joel Brooks:But but they go back and their faith wasn't useless. So they start getting what doctors can donate their time and their money and their facilities and operate him? I mean, it's phenomenal that that's not dead faith. Real living faith that cost people something. James gives here 2 specific examples of what this faith should look like.
Joel Brooks:He goes to the old testament, and he pulls out Abraham and Rahab. I mean, obviously, he could've picked a number of different people. I think what he's choosing is here you have responsible moral Abraham, father of the Jewish faith. Here you have Rahab, the prostitute as an example of faith. He's he's picking the ends of the spectrum here and saying, look at their lives and how they demonstrated faith through works.
Joel Brooks:He goes to Genesis 15. And Genesis 15 is where God makes his covenant with Abraham. He says, come outside, look at the stars, Abraham. That's how many descendants you're gonna have if you can count them. And Genesis 15:6 is one of the most important verses in all the Bible.
Joel Brooks:It says, and Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him or counted to him as righteousness. He believed God, and God said, that's enough. You are righteous. And then James pulls out and, you know, he he's justified by by his work later and offering up Isaac. That happened 30 years after Genesis 15 and that Abraham believed God.
Joel Brooks:30 years of trusting and believing, finally proving his faith here in this act. And then he goes to Rahab, the prostitute. He would heard all about the Israelites and their God coming in and destroying everything. And so when she comes across the spies, she had two choices. She could turn them in, and she could probably get a lot of money, probably get a new house, probably be rewarded by the king.
Joel Brooks:But because she had faith, it manifests itself as she hid the spies, and she was saved. That's how she was justified. That faith saved her. You know, both Abraham and Rahab are mentioned in that great chapter of the bible, what we call the hall of faith. Now, Hebrews 11 where it goes through all these saints that had incredible faith.
Joel Brooks:It could just as easily be called the hall of works. Okay? Okay? Just as easily because you you have this. By faith, Abel offered to god a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain.
Joel Brooks:By faith, Noah built an ark. By faith, Abraham offered up Isaac. By faith, Moses left Egypt. By faith, he kept the Passover. By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea.
Joel Brooks:By faith, the walls of Jericho came down. By faith, Rahab helped the spies. By faith, kingdoms and, were conquered. By faith, justice was enforced. And so you go through all of these things, and yes, it's by faith, but that faith always had an action after it.
Joel Brooks:So And so you're never gonna come come across an empty faith in Hebrews 11. Possibly, we need to redefine, the word faith or believe Because, it's so much, I guess, in our western culture, we associate believe with just mental. You just kinda believe something, and that's not the biblical idea of belief when it says, you know, believe in me and you shall be saved. A better word is treasure. Treasure me.
Joel Brooks:Because when he treasures something, that's a belief that will have an action. And treasure no longer is gonna feel like that, rote duty, but it's gonna you're gonna do work out of love, which is what belief produces. The question the question we're gonna go through let me summarize James 1 through 2 for you. Okay? We're gonna we're gonna go through this.
Joel Brooks:Let me just alright. Close this. We're gonna we have just a few minutes. Alright. Let me summarize James 1 through 2 for you and how it works out.
Joel Brooks:You you have the law mentioned several times. You have the law with with no title to it. Then, you have the perfect law. You have the royal law. And then you have the law of liberty.
Joel Brooks:He uses these different titles as he's going through James. How does the law feel to you? Is a question that that you need to ask yourself. The perfect law is this. That's like the law at Sinai.
Joel Brooks:It's the law that you know you're supposed to be doing this. You know it's perfect. You know it's right. But you fail before it. It's a weight on you.
Joel Brooks:That's the perfect law. Royal law that's introduced in James 2, which he says is to love your neighbor as yourself. This is the law that Jesus instituted. Jesus comes in, he says, These are kingdom values. Kingdom values are the poor are now elevated, the rich are now put low.
Joel Brooks:It turns the world upside down. That's the law of the kingdom now. And we're to love people just as we love ourself. And so it's called the royal love because the king commands it. Like, Okay.
Joel Brooks:I'm supposed to love people as I love myself. You can't do that for one day. So you fall before it. So then James uses this other term for loss. The law of Liberty.
Joel Brooks:The law of liberty. And this is when the law no longer feels like a weight on top of us. But because we realize it's not based on performance, that, that we can't keep this law. Christ has kept it. And so our our fear of punishment has been removed.
Joel Brooks:And now we look at the law, and we have this changed heart by God, and it's liberating. It's liberating because the things we used to go to for, for satisfaction, for our happiness, and for our identity, things like money, we've been liberated from it. And so since we no longer go to money, we no longer go to our job, we no longer go to our family for our identification. We've been free from that. Now, we can spend it freely.
Joel Brooks:Now, we can use money. It's just money, and we can give. It's a law of liberty. Let me tell you how this manifests itself. I'll close with this, with my girls.
Joel Brooks:I hope this makes sense. It made sense about 30 seconds ago in my head. My girls have a Barbie Jeep. It's it's when we found out we were pregnant with our 3rd girl, 4, 5 years ago, we went ahead and we got a Barbie pink Barbie Jeep, and it's still running to this day. Man, do they fight over that
Speaker 2:Jeep.
Joel Brooks:I mean, it's just, they, they just, they, they fight over it. Now, I could, I could pull out the perfect law before them. And I have. The perfect law is like, hey, you know kids in Haiti don't have a jeep like that. You know, there's kids in Indonesia.
Joel Brooks:I just got back from Indonesia. They don't have a barber Jeep like that. You you in great. Alright? You you need to quit fighting over that.
Joel Brooks:Alright? And we kind of bash them with this, you know, because it's not right that they should have that and other kids in the world don't have that. It's not a just system. And this is the perfect law. They agree with that.
Joel Brooks:You're right. It's not right. But does it liberate them to give, to share? Heck, no. They they just feel condemned by it.
Joel Brooks:So then I could go to the royal law. Did this today. Natalie, who's just freaking out and crying because everybody wants to use barbeque, and she hasn't had enough time in it. And like, you know, Jesus said we're to love our neighbors as herself, And you should get as much joy when you see little Noah or little Gavin or your sister, you know, Caroline driving that barbie Jeep as if you are. Yeah.
Joel Brooks:Right. But I tell her that, and she she understands that. She knows Jesus wants that. Her king is commanding that. Yes, she's incapable of doing it.
Joel Brooks:But then, I can go to the law of liberty, and I did that today too, and I said, You know what Natalie? You know that doesn't make you happy. You you know that this isn't what gonna is gonna find ultimate happiness for you. I can't remember how I phrased it for the kid. I was like, but if every child had their own Barbie Jeep, do you think there would still be fighting?
Joel Brooks:Yes. Why? It's because it's our hearts. Our hearts are trying to find joy and happiness in every little barbie jeep, and it wouldn't matter if everybody had one. You gotta ask that your hearts change and that that's not where you go.
Joel Brooks:Now I'm not saying it's sick. She was like, that's great. I understand it perfectly. Now she's sharing like crazy. Actually, she still cried.
Joel Brooks:It takes time to get those things in there. But if the perfect law, the royal law, and the law of liberty, one will change her. There's only one that she no longer feels condemned and oppressed on. It liberates her that you're right. You're right.
Joel Brooks:God needs to change my heart, and he does with the implanted word that we've seen in James. And when that implanted word hears that external law, it says yes, and it's liberating, not condemning. That's what James is saying. That's where we should be as believers. When we hear things that we need to give to the poor, it doesn't need to feel like a weight.
Joel Brooks:It needs to be like, yes. I get to do that because money has no hold on me. I don't need it. And it liberates us to serve or to work, and that is not a dead faith. Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:God, I pray that you would use the, the cliff note version of James 2. Lord, that through your spirit, you would work those seeds deep into our hearts. May the law liberate us because you have changed our hearts. May we say yes when you hear your command and what you have called us to do and how you've called us to serve because this world does not have any hold on us. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen.
