Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

This story is told by the captain of a ship on which George Muller of Bristol was traveling.

During his life he received more than 1,000,000 pounds from the Lord, without advertising—every penny came as an answer to prayer.

“We had George Muller of Bristol on board,” said the captain.

“I had been on the bridge for twenty-four hours and never left it and George Muller came to me and said, “Captain, I have come to tell you I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.”

“It is impossible,” I said.

“Then very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way.

I have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years; let us go down into the chart room and pray.”

“I looked at that man of God and thought to myself, “What lunatic asylum can that man have come from, for I never heard of such a thing as this?” “Mr.

Muller,” I said, “do you know how dense this fog is?”

“ “No,” he replied, “my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.”

He knelt down and he prayed one of the most simple prayers.

When he had finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray.

“As you do not believe He will answer, and as I believe He has, there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.”

“I looked at him and George Muller said, “Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years and there has never been a single day when I have failed to get an audience with the King.

Get up, Captain, and open the door and you will find the fog has gone.”

“I got up and the fog indeed was gone, and on that Saturday afternoon George Muller kept his promised engagement.”

—Sunday School Times

Transition:

In our passage this morning, the apostle James clarifies what strong, (almost) unbelievable faith looks like:

Two weeks ago, we saw a seemly contradictory position with James’ soteriological beliefs in a supposed contrast to Paul’s, “by faith alone” theological assertion.

This week we see a even greater potential problem as James details his position on faith and deeds—especially in verse 24!

I.

A Surprising Objection v.18

Questions emerge from this verse which are common to diatribes (imaginary, sometimes factitious opponents for the sake of engaging in argumentation).

Is James referring to real people saying this or is this only to emphasize deeds in the Christian walk?

Where exactly does the opponent stop talking and James starts again?— is all of verse 18 the opponent or just the first half?

What about verse 19?

What you need to understand about ancient Greek is that there was no punctuation to start quotations or end quotations; therefore, in instances like these, it is hard to be dogmatic.

But one thing we can all agree on is that the first sentence is the naysayer against James.

What is faith?

Well, in the Greek mindset, faith and belief are synonymous.

Pistos is the Greek noun for faith; whereas pisteow is the verb form of the same word, but in English we don’t say, “to faith” or for example “Sure, I faith in Jesus Christ” rather we translate pisteow as the verb “to believe”.

Faith has objects.

In context, the object is God, but there can be other objects of faith which scripture is clear are wrong objects of faith (i.e.

idols, “other” gods, self, etc.)

Faith/Belief involves deep trust and deep love!

And finally, right faith results in salvation!

David Nystrom, in his commentary says:

The speaker of 2:18 holds a position in opposition to that of James.

His argument is:

(1) Faith and deeds are separate entities; for

(2) if faith is validated by deeds, then it can be said to have some existence prior to this validation; thus,

(3) faith is both prior to and superior to deeds; and

(4) the demons believe without deeds, so therefore a nonsaving faith does indeed exist.

While both James and his opponents believe that a faith with deeds exists and is a saving faith, James cannot agree with his opponents that there is a saving “faith” that exists without deeds.

While both James and his opponents believe that a faith with deeds exists and is a saving faith, James cannot agree with his opponents that there is a saving “faith” that exists without deeds.

In response James argues that :

(1) faith and deeds cannot be [divided];

(2) the only faith that is worthy of the name is faith that expresses itself in deeds; and

(3) faith without deeds is false, since it “does not work”; it fails to accomplish its purpose.

This last is a potent point and is able to survive the interpretation of Laws.

Faith has a purpose, and that purpose is for the word to grow within us (1:18) until we are mature and complete (1:4).

Any “faith” that does not move toward the goal of salvation is therefore not “true” faith.

The idea is similar to that of , where God declares that his word always accomplishes the purpose for which he sends it.

Anything less is evidence that what is in view is not the word of God.

So what about those demons?

II.

A Surprising Comparison v.19

Roger Ellsworth in his commentary says:

We are saved only by faith in the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus.

Let us never be mistaken about that!

But there is such a thing as true faith, and there is such a thing as false faith.

One of the marks of false faith is that it contents itself with mere belief in the existence of God.

James’s readers were Jews who had been converted to Christianity.

Their Jewish background meant that they were very familiar with the ‘Shema’, the Jewish confession of faith: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!’

Is it good to believe that there is one God?

Absolutely! James says that those who believe this truth ‘do well’.

But is belief in the existence of God sufficient for the saving of the soul?

James answers by pointing to the demons of hell.

They also believe in God!

They know the truth about God, and the truth they know makes them ‘tremble’, or ‘shudder’.

It makes them ‘bristle up’ like a frightened cat!

But is their belief saving [faith]?

Of course not!

And neither is our belief in God, if it consists of nothing more than nodding in agreement with various propositions and statements about God.

Gordon Keddie writes of the demons,

They actually have a more informed ‘faith’ than human hypocrites!

Men and women can make their easy professions of faith and live their worldly lives as if there were not God at all.

Their casual blasphemies about ‘the man upstairs’ can roll off their tongues with never the slightest tremble at the consequences of offending a sovereign and holy God!

Why is it that demons tremble, while sinners can sail on in blissful unconcern?

The answer is that the demons are not so blind as people.

They know their latter end … They really fear the wrath to come.

But careless sinners say they believe in God positively, go on in daily life to live as if he did not exist and yet can dream that they are safe in the everlasting arms!

Posing arresting questions, creating a hypothetical situation, stating a firm conclusion, handling an objection and drawing a startling comparison—James has put his readers through their paces and us through ours.

The deadly faith which only amounts to intellectual assent is now pictured as, at best, just as good as the faith of demons, but at worst, not even as good as demons!

So much for beating around the bush!

James is a straight shooter!

III.

A Surprising Account v.20-24

So now James transitions to two actual concrete examples unlike the last few verses where he used hypothetical examples.

Naturally, he wants to prove his position.

First, verse 20 is really a great display of his emotion by jumping in and responding to this sort of false thinking.

James 2:20-

So he points us to Abraham.

This makes sense, after all Abraham is in the “Hall of Faith” fame in Hebrews chapter 11.

What might not make total sense right now is how he is using Abraham as proof.

The first thing that throws people off is how in verse 21, he is asserting that it is by works that Abraham was saved.

Well, the answer really comes in the next verse, v.22.

In verse 22, he admits through his grammar usage that he recognized Abraham had faith before being asked to sacrifice Isaac.