Authentic Faith: The Inseparable Link to Works

### Quotes for Outreach

1. "You're saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. Some of you will recall the kids' song growing up if you grew up in church. If you're saved and you know it, then your life will surely show it. We've all met people who are saved, people who have claimed to be Christians, and they will make that claim based on the fact that they have been baptized or confirmed or they read a catechism or they walked forward at an altar call at some point, or they might say, well, I wear a cross around my neck, I have a bumper sticker on my car, I even have Jesus tattooed on my arm. But do you have him imprinted in your life?" [02:01] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "Faith is simply acting on what we know to be true. Acting on what we know to be true. It's not believing in spite of evidence, but it's rather obeying in spite of consequence. That's what he is aiming at. I will say that a lot of people get very nervous whenever we go through sections of the Bible like this. James chapter 2 was sort of top of the list. They kind of squirm a little bit, and they think, oh, here it goes. And I know my life isn't what it should be. This is not about being perfect. This is about being real. It's about being authentic." [08:35] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "No one can come into contact with the real Jesus Christ and stay the same. Any more than a person can come in contact with 220 volts of electricity and stay the same. It's going to change that person. So a faith declaration, that does not result in life transformation is nothing more than false information. It's fake news. I'm a Christian. Fake news, just words, just a creed, just a claim. Beware of merely intellectual faith. It's all up here. It's just a statement of faith and nothing more. If words are genuine, then works will follow." [15:18] (51 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "If your faith hasn't changed you, your faith hasn't saved you. You're saved by faith alone. But a faith that saves is never alone." [41:11] (14 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "You can believe all the right things up here and be eternally lost. Remember the conversation with Nicodemus and Jesus? Nicodemus had a faith after seeing Christ perform some miracles. And it says, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus would not commit himself, to them, because he knew what was in men. And then it says, Nicodemus comes to Jesus and says this, we know, collectively, we, some of us believe, we know you are a teacher come from God. For no one can do the signs and miracles you do unless God is with him. And Jesus fired back and said, unless you are born again, you will never see the kingdom of God." [37:13] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


### Quotes for Members

1. "James is writing to his audience about adulting, maturity. How do you know that you are growing and mature in your faith? So he gives several tests. First test is how we handle trials. That's the first part of chapter one. The second test is how we handle temptation. Third test, how we handle the Word of God. Let everyone be swift to hear the Word of God. Fourth test, how we handle people. That was last week. And the fifth test is sort of a compendium. A summary of all of those. Do our lives produce fruit that validates our salvation? Faith and works." [06:43] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "Paul and James do not contradict each other. Rather, they compliment each other. They're not, they're not enemies fighting face-to-face. They're friends fighting back-to-back. They're in the same army, but they're fighting two different enemies. The enemy that Paul is speaking against were Jewish legalists who believed that you have to keep the law of Moses in order to be saved. James is fighting easy believism that says all you have to do is have this little intellectual knowledge. I believe in God. I've always believed in God. I went to church all my life. Baptized, confirmed, tattooed, the whole thing. But that's all they got." [28:14] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "So, if you're to compare what Paul said and what James here says, it sounds like they're contradicting each other. Paul's going, faith, faith, faith. James is saying, works, works, works. And so Martin Luther's going, what is a man to do? Right? They contradict each other. No, they don't. Paul and James do not contradict each other. Rather, they compliment each other. They're not, they're not enemies fighting face-to-face. They're friends fighting back-to-back. They're in the same army, but they're fighting two different enemies. The enemy that Paul is speaking against were Jewish legalists who believed that you have to keep the law of Moses in order to be saved. James is fighting easy believism that says all you have to do is have this little intellectual knowledge." [28:14] (59 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "So Paul is describing the root of salvation, faith. James is speaking about the fruit of salvation, salvation, work. If you have a root in the soil, it will produce fruit. Something else. The word justified here is used. James uses the term justified or justification a little bit differently than Paul does. James and Paul use the same word, but they mean something slightly different. Let me explain. Paul in Romans and Galatians speaks about being justified before God. James is speaking about being justified before us, before people, before mankind. Living your faith out so that people can see it." [29:39] (54 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "You can be enlightened in your mind. You can be stirred in your heart and you can be lost forever. And the change is when you go from believing that God exists, believing that Jesus is something, the Son of God, and believing in God and believing in that Jesus on a personal level. Back to John Bunyan and the book Pilgrim's Progress, which I highly recommend. I quoted to you something that was at the beginning, beginning of the book. This is now the very end of the book. Christian has made his journey through life from the city of destruction through all the peril, all the dangers, and he is now at the gate of the celestial city itself. He is about to enter into heaven with many others. But he is with a final character whose name is Ignorance. Don't you love all the names of these guys? Ignorance. And Ignorance has also traveled his whole experience through the troubles and toils and hardships of life, made that perilous journey and now is at the very gate of heaven, just outside the gate. And at the very end, he is cast through a door on the side of a hill and he vanishes. And John Bunyan closes his book by saying, Then I realized that there was a way to hell even from the gates of hell." [39:20] (93 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)