James 2:20-26

Derek Del Rosario

James • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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Today we are going to continue with our verse by verse Bible study series through the book of James.

And as you can see up on our video screens, the focus of our Bible verses today in James Chapter 2 is:

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EXAMPLES OF FAITH THAT WORKS!

Because in our Bible verses today, we are going to be taking a look atTWO DIFFERENT EXAMPLES of Old Testament believers that had FAITH THAT WORKS! (INTRO SLIDE #1)

But speaking of examples, that reminds me of the story of the Father that was trying to USE AN EXAMPLE, to teach his lazy teenage son a lesson.

This Father told his lazy

son…“son, when Mr. Tom was your age, he was studying, he was working hard at a job, and he helped out his parents!”

The Father continued… ‘

“but all you do son is lay around the house, watch TV, and complain”

The lazy son answered his father and said

“that might be true dad… but when Mr. Tom was YOUR age…He was president of a Fortune 500 Company!”

But examples are important for us to learn from. (INTRO SLIDE #2)

Now to help us understand these examples in our Bible study today, I need to remind you of what our main topic was last Sunday.

Last Sunday James taught us about the important connection between FAITH AND WORKS in the life of the believer.

We learned that every true believer will have good works or fruit that will be an outward sign of their true inward Christian faith. (INTRO SLIDE #3)

And for those that claim to be Christians but have NO WORKS to prove it, James described them this way in…

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James 2:17 “…Faith without works is dead”

But in our Bible verses this morning, James is going to bring up two well known Old Testament believers that were examples of FAITH THAT WORKS.

Both of these Old Testament believers are so WELL KNOWN, that they are found in the famous

Hebrews Chapter 11 - “Hall of Faith”

Now let me tell you who these Old Testament believers are!

Our first example of a believer with a FAITH THAT WORKS is Abraham, who was the very first Jew and the Father of the Jewish nation!

The 2nd believer that James is going to use as an example was very different, she was a GENTILE PROSTITUTE named RAHAB.

But both of these believers who had a FAITH THAT WORKED are presented to us AS HEROS OF THE FAITH!

Now there is ONE FINAL BELIEVER that we are going to talk about today that is also an example of faith that works.

And that is YOU AS A BELIEVER!

As a Christian, the Bible points TO YOU as a believer with a faith that works, and that makes you a hero.

Now we all know that we don’t always act like spiritual super heroes do we?

But as a Christian you my friends, are also examples of FAITH THAT WORKS!

So let’s get started and please open up your Bibles with us to the book of

James Chapter 2.

And we will begin where we left off last Sunday, by reading verses 20 to 22.

James Chapter 2, and we will begin by reading verses 20 to 22 together.

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James 2:20-22 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made [perfect?

As we get started, keep in mind that James has been bringing this topic up in an effort to get us to examine our own faith.

DO WE have a living faith that is listening to the Holy Spirit and daily walking with Jesus, or do we have a dead empty faith that doesn’t make any effort to walk in the good works that God has prepared for us?

And last week we saw James prove to us that a true living Christian faith will always be shown through good works done for Jesus.

So getting to our text here, James begins this section by asking us an important question.

We see that question right here in verse 20…James asks…

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20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

And in the following verses, James answers this question by proving this is true by bringing up an Old Testament believer named ABRAHAM.

Now all of us know the story of Abraham, he is one of the main characters in the entire Old Testament!

And we find… The Story of Abraham OVER IN…

(The Father of the Jewish Nation) - Genesis Chapters 11:27-25:11

And after bringing up Abraham, James brings up a story from his life that shows us an example of Abraham’s FAITH THAT WORKED!

Listen to this story with me again here in verse 21…

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21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?

Now this is actually one of the most amazing stories in the Bible.

In this story, Abraham and his wife Sarah had supernaturally conceived their first promised child at the advanced ages of 90 and 100 years old.

And God had promised Abraham that the long Promised MESSIAH (who we know is Jesus) would come from the family line of this child named Isaac.

But then in Genesis Chapter 22, God came to Abraham and said…

“Abraham, take your only son Isaac whom you love and go up to the mountain and Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering to Me”

I don’t know about you, but if a voice came into my head that said, take one of your children and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to me, I would say, “Get behind me Satan”

But not Abraham, he knew the voice of God, and he was ready to do whatever good works it was that God wanted him to do, so Abraham prepared to go and obey and DO IT!

Now we do find out later in the story that God was only testing Abrahams faith, and God DID NOT allow Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.

But for everyone of the many GOOD WORKS that Abraham did, he did them all because of his FAITH IN GOD!

Let me read you an example of that from the HALL OF FAITH found here

in…

(SLIDE)-

Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

We also see the Faith of Abraham found in this same GOOD WORK of being willing to sacrifice his son just a few verses later in the FAMOUS HALL OF FAITH of HEBREWS.

And in Hebrews Chapter 11, we are also told WHY Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only son.

Listen to this in

(SLIDE)-

Hebrews 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

Abraham was willing to go through with this great work, because he HAD FAITH in God that God would resurrect Isaac from the dead if he had too.

And did you notice what James says about how the Faith of Abraham worked right here in verse 22?

Verse 22… You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.

We will see James continue to talk about the faith and works of Abraham as we continue on by reading verses 23 and 24 together.

(SLIDE)

James 2:23-24 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

So here in verse 23, James quotes the Old Testament book of Genesis to show us the important MOMENT that Abraham was saved.

Verse 23 is taken from…

(SLIDE)- where we read…

Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

Abraham’s moment of conversion happened probably 50 years BEFORE those good works that Abraham did with his son Isaac.

So the first thing that we learn here is that the author James understood that it wasn’t the good works that saved Abraham, but he was saved by faith alone.

And that is why James quotes this KEY VERSE in regards to salvation right here.

Abraham is thought of as the Father of the faith for the Jews, Christians, and even the Muslims and the Bible is crystal clear on how he(AND EVERYONE ELSE) can be saved.

All people can be saved by believing, by faith!

This is how Abraham was saved, this is how you as a Christian were saved, and this is how EVERY OTHER NON BELIEVER that you know can be saved today!

So for Abraham, he was saved by faith and faith alone!

But all of the good works that Abraham did AFTER HIS CONVERSION EXPERIENCE although it didn’t save him, those good works or good fruit proved that his faith was real.

So Abraham was saved by faith and faith alone, and that salvation began a brand new relationship for him with God.

Look at what God called Abraham at the end of verse 23?

At the end of verse 23 we read that Abraham WAS CALLED GOD’S FRIEND!

Do you know WHO ELSE IS CALLED GOD’S FRIEND IN THE SCRIPTURES?

YOU ARE as a Christian.

Listen to what Jesus had to say about believers over in…

(SLIDE)-

John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. (JESUS)

As a Christian, as a child that has a relationship with the living God, God has called you HIS FRIEND!

So that is how FATHER ABRAHAM WAS SAVED!

Now some of you in here are thinking… well this Abraham guy was an amazing believer… he is known as the father of the faith… but come on, how can you expect my faith to measure up with a guy like that?

Well James is going to give us one more example of a faith that works.

But this example is going to be a lot easier for us to relate to, because this is going to be a BIG SINNER, that still showed her saving faith through her good works.

And we will look at her example as we finish up this morning by reading

verses 25 and 26 together.

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James 2:25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

So here in verse 25, James brings up our SECOND OLD TESTAMENT

EXAMPLE of a believer that had FAITH THAT WORKS!

But this example is A LOT different because it was… Rahab the Prostitute

We find the story of RAHAB THE PROSTITUTE BACK IN the Old

Testament book of… Joshua Chapters 2 and 6

Rahab is also mentioned for us in Matthew 1:4 (in the Genealogy of Jesus)

Did you know that Jesus had a GENTILE PROSTITUTE in his family line?

And James brings up part of Rahab’s faith filled story right here.

And in verse 25 James writes… In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?

Verse 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

Listen to what the Bible says about RAHAB in the Hall of FAITH over in…

(SLIDE)-

Hebrews 11:31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.

Now for those of you that don’t remember the story of Rahab, let me summarize it for you.

Rahab was a non-Jewish gentile woman that lived in a city called Jericho that made her living by being a prostitute.

And Rahab lived during the time right after God had delivered his people from Egypt, and the Hebrews were moving into the promised land under the leadership of their leader Joshua.

And the city of Jericho where Rahab lived was the first city that God wanted the Israelites to conquer!

So Joshua sent in two spies to spy out the city, and this prostitute Rahab met these two spies and immediately placed her faith in their true and living God.

And then, after believing and being saved, Rahab proved her faith was true through her good works.

Rahab put her life on the line and protected the spies and even helped them escape from the city.

And because of that, when the Israelites did conquer Jericho, Rahab and her family were spared and they survived, and she is in heaven today.

James closes verse 26 by reminding us one more time of the main point of this long section by saying….

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James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

And in our verses today, James has gives us some powerful proof that TRUE SAVING FAITH is going to result in good works or good fruit in our lives.

And the two people that James used to illustrate his point are Abraham, the father of our faith, and Rahab, a harlot who laid it all on the line to demonstrate her faith.

And I don’t think that James could have chosen any two people that were more different than Abraham the Patriarch, and Rahab, the prostitute.

Think about it, Abraham the father of the Jewish nation, Rahab a Gentile woman and a prostitute, you couldn’t get any lower than that in that day.

So why do you think that James used these two extreme examples?

Let me tell you why, because everyone of us as Christians FIT IN somewhere in between these two believers.

Now Abraham and Rahab did have a few things in common, and let me remind you of FIVE THINGS that these two believers DID HAVE in common.

And these are important because as Christians we have these same 5 things in common with them.

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We as Christians have these 5 things in Common with Abraham & Rahab

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#1- Both Abraham and Rahab were saved by faith!

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#2- Their saving faith was proved by their works for God, by their good fruit.

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#3- Both Abraham and Rahab were sinners

This might surprise you but,

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#4- Both Abraham and Rahab struggled all the way through life to follow God.

In fact, both of these believers never saw all of the fulfillment of what God had for them… that means they lived with let downs and disappointments just like we do.

How do we know that?

Listen to what it says in the hall of faith about them and all of the others

up in…

(SLIDE)-

Hebrews 11:39-40 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

A fifth quality that these two believers had in common was that ¡

#5- They never quit following God!

Even when Abraham and Rahab sinned and failed and times were tough (and that happened a lot), they never quit and walked away from God.

And as true believers today, we can’t quit.

Listen to what Jesus said about that in…

(SLIDE)-

Matthew 24:13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved..”-Jesus-

So why did I mention some of the sins and failures of these Old Testament heroes of the faith?

Because, many times we view these Old Testament believers, these heroes of the faith like they were perfect… THEY WEREN’T PERFECT

Then we look at our lives and compare our lives and go… OH NO, I still struggle with sins every day, my family is messed up, I have things going on in my life that I don’t understand…

And it is easy for us to lose hope and even be tempted to quit and give up!

THESE OLD TESTAMENT BELIEVERS WERE JUST LIKE YOU

AND ME!

They believed in God and they were saved…

But still day after year after decade they struggle and fought to complete the good works that God had prepared for them.

And when they sinned and stumbled, and they did do that, they rose up and repented, and kept going.

And as we read today, the end result for them were that God and His word point to them as EXAMPLES of FAITH THAT WORKS.

And I want to finish up this sermon by reminding you of ONE FINAL

EXAMPLE of a believer that has FAITH THAT WORKS!

And that final example

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IS YOU!

Every one of you that are Christians here this morning have your own story of FAITH THAT WORKS

EVERY SINGLE BELIEVER has a story about being saved by faith, and then of struggling and trying to do those good works for Jesus.

You have a story of your faith that works… Every Christian does!

And no, we aren’t going to make it into the pages of scripture with our story, but I can promise you, that your story is known by GOD and your story is IMPORTANT to him!

And God is blessed by you, He loves you, and God has HAS CALLED YOU HIS FRIEND!

And F2S, that is today’s good news about these EXAMPLES OF

FAITH THAT WORKS!

Amen?

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