Faith in Action: The True Measure of Belief
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "If you say you believe like you do, then why do you behave like you don't? Okay, and again, we're all going to have our moments where we're going to go into our default mode of our flesh, but James is calling them out in a very pastoral way. Remember, James is a kind of pastor to them. Who will speak to them what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear. He is trying to lead them and coach them and lead them to be more like Christ." [58:31]
2. "Real faith isn't just like independent where it's, there's only faith and there's, there's, there's a partnership. And I thought of it like this. It's like a coin. Faith and works are like a coin. There's two sides to a coin. Couldn't find a quarter this morning. And so I picked this up, but, but on a quarter, it says on one side in God, we trust. That's like a good faith side. On the other side, there's an Eagle and there's action that is there. You can't have one without the other. They go together." [01:24:32]
3. "Real faith isn't invisible. It's on display. The word show gets used multiple times here. John uses the word show. It's demonstrated. Some were like, my faith is a private thing. I keep that to myself. All right. James is saying, by the way you live your life, your faith should be a public thing by how you are living." [01:26:10]
4. "Jesus loves me. This I know. Do you hear? For the Bible tells me so. Jesus loves you, and he wants you in his family. Do you know one of the things that Billy Graham said? Billy Graham said that there are people who will, the way he said it, is will miss heaven by 18 inches. And what he meant by that is from the head, to the heart. There's intellectual understanding about who Jesus is and all the stuff that goes with that. We know the songs. We know, we might even have scripture memorized, whatever. But there's not been, there's not been a transformation because I've not received Christ as my savior." [01:17:16]
5. "James would say, maybe like this, real faith produces real works in the life of a real believer. That there should be something that is happening. Now, again, I want to reiterate something, and I want to show you why, that James is not trying to contradict Paul or the Gospels. That is not. James was one of the early church fathers. Remember, he's the half-brother of Jesus. He heard Jesus' teachings. He didn't even believe in Jesus as his Savior until after the resurrection. He intellectually knew everything about Jesus, which he will get to in a second about the intellectual kind of faith. He knew everything intellectually, but there was a point where he had to receive who Christ was." [01:02:55]
### Quotes for Members
1. "84%, this is what it said. 84%, I'm quoting. Of non-Christians say they know a Christian personally, yet only 15% say the lifestyles of those believers are noticeably different in a good way. Now, again, I don't know how accurate those numbers are, but this is what I would say. What he's calling out in this book and what James is calling out is what actually it can sicken most of us. It's hypocrisy. Do you hear what I'm saying? Okay? It's hypocrisy. And that hypocrisy is what we're talking about. Hypocrisy is, and we all can be hypocritical at certain points, but he's talking about a consistent hypocrisy, what James would get at." [59:52]
2. "Real faith is not indifferent. It's involved. Real faith doesn't do what James says next. And you say, you see the person. Now I want to, I want to be clear. He's talking about within the context of the church, I realize this. There are a lot of needs in this community, a lot of needs all over the city. And yes, we do our best to engage where we can. You are not responsible for every single need that is, I want to be real. And you are also called by God to use wisdom and discernment. I'm not saying, please seek wisdom and discernment from the Holy Spirit. But when the Holy Spirit within our church context, because this was within their church, because he says, brother, you see a brother, you see a sister, you see a brother, brother or sister. We're talking about fellow believers here. And instead of stepping in and getting involved, you simply just say, oh man, I really love you. Goodbye. Have a good day. Stay warm. Eat well. But then he says, you don't give that person any food or clothing. James just says, what good does that do? It's a faith that is a useless kind of faith. That's what he's saying." [01:19:50]
3. "Paul reveals the root of salvation. James focuses on the fruit of salvation. And what that means is Paul is, is more writing about how, by the means, what, how are we made right with God? Okay. And he's combating this legalism that it's in Christ alone, through Christ alone, by faith alone in Jesus, not Jesus plus something else. James, on the other hand, is focusing on the result of what happens after salvation. What should begin to be produced within our lives. And he's combating this legalism that it's in Christ alone, through Christ alone, by faith James is saying this, that if you truly have been born again, your life is going to begin to look different. Because the Holy Spirit lives in you now, and he produces this fruit within you." [01:10:45]
4. "James isn't necessarily telling us how to be saved or to be in right relationship with God. Some of you don't know what to be saved means. What we talk about there is being in right relationship with God, where God freely justifies us, right? God declares his righteousness. When we put our faith in Christ, scripture says he declares his righteousness. He transfers his righteousness into our account. We are now cloaked in Jesus Christ, so when the Father looks upon us, he sees his perfect son, Jesus. He doesn't see my sin. I'm covered by Jesus now, okay? And James isn't necessarily telling us how to be saved. James is really telling us how to be saved, and beginning to show us what a person who is saved begins to look like." [49:36]
5. "If you're saved and you know it. Here we go. You ready? Then your life will surely show it. Oh, wait. That's why we're in the book of James. Because this is essentially, essentially what James would say in chapter two. If you're saved, you've put your faith in Christ. Here's the deal. I was a church kid for a while, but then something began to happen within me whenever I was going to Boswell High School my freshman year. Again, we were going to church, and I was learning all of the things about Jesus. I could sing the songs. I knew how to act. I was doing my best to kind of live off the checklist, so to speak." [40:25]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "If you say you believe like you do, then why do you behave like you don't? Okay, and again, we're all going to have our moments where we're going to go into our default mode of our flesh, but James is calling them out in a very pastoral way. Remember, James is a kind of pastor to them. Who will speak to them what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear. He is trying to lead them and coach them and lead them to be more like Christ." [58:31]
2. "Real faith isn't just like independent where it's, there's only faith and there's, there's, there's a partnership. And I thought of it like this. It's like a coin. Faith and works are like a coin. There's two sides to a coin. Couldn't find a quarter this morning. And so I picked this up, but, but on a quarter, it says on one side in God, we trust. That's like a good faith side. On the other side, there's an Eagle and there's action that is there. You can't have one without the other. They go together." [01:24:32]
3. "Real faith isn't invisible. It's on display. The word show gets used multiple times here. John uses the word show. It's demonstrated. Some were like, my faith is a private thing. I keep that to myself. All right. James is saying, by the way you live your life, your faith should be a public thing by how you are living." [01:26:10]
4. "Jesus loves me. This I know. Do you hear? For the Bible tells me so. Jesus loves you, and he wants you in his family. Do you know one of the things that Billy Graham said? Billy Graham said that there are people who will, the way he said it, is will miss heaven by 18 inches. And what he meant by that is from the head, to the heart. There's intellectual understanding about who Jesus is and all the stuff that goes with that. We know the songs. We know, we might even have scripture memorized, whatever. But there's not been, there's not been a transformation because I've not received Christ as my savior." [01:17:16]
5. "James would say, maybe like this, real faith produces real works in the life of a real believer. That there should be something that is happening. Now, again, I want to reiterate something, and I want to show you why, that James is not trying to contradict Paul or the Gospels. That is not. James was one of the early church fathers. Remember, he's the half-brother of Jesus. He heard Jesus' teachings. He didn't even believe in Jesus as his Savior until after the resurrection. He intellectually knew everything about Jesus, which he will get to in a second about the intellectual kind of faith. He knew everything intellectually, but there was a point where he had to receive who Christ was." [01:02:55]
### Quotes for Members
1. "84%, this is what it said. 84%, I'm quoting. Of non-Christians say they know a Christian personally, yet only 15% say the lifestyles of those believers are noticeably different in a good way. Now, again, I don't know how accurate those numbers are, but this is what I would say. What he's calling out in this book and what James is calling out is what actually it can sicken most of us. It's hypocrisy. Do you hear what I'm saying? Okay? It's hypocrisy. And that hypocrisy is what we're talking about. Hypocrisy is, and we all can be hypocritical at certain points, but he's talking about a consistent hypocrisy, what James would get at." [59:52]
2. "Real faith is not indifferent. It's involved. Real faith doesn't do what James says next. And you say, you see the person. Now I want to, I want to be clear. He's talking about within the context of the church, I realize this. There are a lot of needs in this community, a lot of needs all over the city. And yes, we do our best to engage where we can. You are not responsible for every single need that is, I want to be real. And you are also called by God to use wisdom and discernment. I'm not saying, please seek wisdom and discernment from the Holy Spirit. But when the Holy Spirit within our church context, because this was within their church, because he says, brother, you see a brother, you see a sister, you see a brother, brother or sister. We're talking about fellow believers here. And instead of stepping in and getting involved, you simply just say, oh man, I really love you. Goodbye. Have a good day. Stay warm. Eat well. But then he says, you don't give that person any food or clothing. James just says, what good does that do? It's a faith that is a useless kind of faith. That's what he's saying." [01:19:50]
3. "Paul reveals the root of salvation. James focuses on the fruit of salvation. And what that means is Paul is, is more writing about how, by the means, what, how are we made right with God? Okay. And he's combating this legalism that it's in Christ alone, through Christ alone, by faith alone in Jesus, not Jesus plus something else. James, on the other hand, is focusing on the result of what happens after salvation. What should begin to be produced within our lives. And he's combating this legalism that it's in Christ alone, through Christ alone, by faith James is saying this, that if you truly have been born again, your life is going to begin to look different. Because the Holy Spirit lives in you now, and he produces this fruit within you." [01:10:45]
4. "James isn't necessarily telling us how to be saved or to be in right relationship with God. Some of you don't know what to be saved means. What we talk about there is being in right relationship with God, where God freely justifies us, right? God declares his righteousness. When we put our faith in Christ, scripture says he declares his righteousness. He transfers his righteousness into our account. We are now cloaked in Jesus Christ, so when the Father looks upon us, he sees his perfect son, Jesus. He doesn't see my sin. I'm covered by Jesus now, okay? And James isn't necessarily telling us how to be saved. James is really telling us how to be saved, and beginning to show us what a person who is saved begins to look like." [49:36]
5. "If you're saved and you know it. Here we go. You ready? Then your life will surely show it. Oh, wait. That's why we're in the book of James. Because this is essentially, essentially what James would say in chapter two. If you're saved, you've put your faith in Christ. Here's the deal. I was a church kid for a while, but then something began to happen within me whenever I was going to Boswell High School my freshman year. Again, we were going to church, and I was learning all of the things about Jesus. I could sing the songs. I knew how to act. I was doing my best to kind of live off the checklist, so to speak." [40:25]
Chatbot
-
I'm an AI bot trained specifically on the sermon from Jun 02, 2024. Do you have any questions about it?