Relationship of Faith to Works

Scripture Reading: James 2:14-26

0:03 Bibles as I read from the second chapter of James, the letter of James, chapter 2, verses 14 through 26. James chapter 2, beginning with verse 14 and reading to the end of the chapter.

0:31 What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but have not works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and in lack of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it have not works.

1:01 is dead in itself. Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show thee my faith. Thou believest that God is one, thou doest well. The demons also believe and shudder.

1:25 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, And Abraham believed God.

1:53 And it was reckoned unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. You see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith. And in like manner was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works, in that she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith

Review of Eleven Weeks on Justification by Faith Alone

2:23 apart from works, is dead. In our ongoing consideration of some of the pivotal doctrines of the Christian faith, we have for some eleven Lord's Day mornings been examining that glorious provision of God's grace that the Scripture sets before us in the word justification.

2:52 Using the larger catechism as an outline or as a teaching framework for our examination of the major biblical materials touching this doctrine, we have covered seven major categories of the biblical doctrine of justification. Having established that the word itself means to declare righteous, that it has to do with the court of heaven, and a pronouncement of God with respect to our relationship to the court of heaven, we saw in our use of the larger catechism that God himself is the author of justification. Secondly, that free grace is the source. Thirdly, that sinners are the objects. He justifies the ungodly.

3:49 that an act of pardon and the acceptance of our persons is the essence of justification, in the fifth place, that the ground of justification is nothing done by us or wrought in us, the negative, but only the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Jesus Christ,

4:13 In the sixth place, we saw that the divine method is imputation by God imputed to us. And lastly, that the means of receiving this blessing is faith and faith alone. And in our study of the word of God last Lord's Day morning, it was that final category that formed the focus of all of our concern, that this divine justifying grace is received by faith alone. And having examined some of the explicit and implicit testimony of the Word of God, we then saw what the nature of justifying faith is and why it is that faith and faith alone is the appointed means of receiving justification.

5:08 Because of the peculiar nature of faith, it is wholly receptive. And because of its appointed effect, it is the bond of our union with Jesus Christ. Now, the truths embodied in these seven categories that we have examined over the past weeks are of supreme importance in the great concerns of the souls.

The Devil's Two Fronts: Legalism and Antinomianism

5:34 Let a man or a woman be unclear or uncertain of any one of those categories of truth. And that man or woman, facing the great realities of his own sin, God's inflexible justice, God's unbending standard of righteousness, And that individual who is uncertain or unclear on any one of those seven major categories of biblical truth will suffer to a greater or to a lesser degree. Now the devil knows this. And so through history he has done his diabolical best or worst, I'm not quite sure which word is most proper, either to silence, to blur,

6:26 to confuse or to distort the testimony of the Word of God concerning these matters of justification by faith alone through the infutation of the righteousness of Christ. Whenever he has succeeded, spiritual life has waned. The history of the church is in great measure a history of how well this doctrine has prevailed in the consciences and in the understanding of the people of God. But when through faithful, Spirit-anointed preaching and the blessing of God, the devil is driven from his ground in the consciences of men as touching this great doctrine of justification by faith alone, he retreats,

7:23 and he sets up his line of attack at a different front using different ammunition aimed at a different aspect of God's truth. When he has failed to obscure or to pervert the major issues involved in the doctrine of justification by faith alone,

7:48 He then seeks to pervert the biblical doctrine concerning the nature of that faith by which we are justified. And so He changes the biblical teaching, which is expressed in the language, we are justified by faith alone, to be stated and understood this way. We can be justified by a faith That is alone. Do you see the difference? Now, it's not just a play on words. The clear teaching of the Word of God is indeed captured in that language. We are justified by faith alone. It is the only appointed means of our coming into union with Christ and thereby

8:43 in the virtue of that union being constituted righteous in the eye of God and declared righteous with that perfect righteousness imputed to us. But the devil comes along and says, sure, we'll not dispute that. We are justified by faith alone, but we are justified by a faith that is alone. That is a faith.

9:13 that is devoid of a living principle of spiritual life, of faith that stands alone in terms of the other graces of the Christian life. And in the face of that, we must say, though it is indeed true that we are justified by faith alone, it is not true that we are justified by a faith that stands alone alone. but by a faith which in its initial actings is permeated with repentance, in its intended end unites us to Christ and thereby makes us partakers of the virtues that flow from that union with Christ. And the faith which in its essence is a living, active principle of spiritual life

10:07 productive of all the other graces that are characteristic of a child of God. The framers of our old confession understood this well. In the section on justification, having outlined these major lines of thought, upon which the larger catechism, of course, is based, they say in paragraph two in the statement on justification, a very interesting and necessary word of caution. Faith

10:37 Thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness is the alone instrument of justification. Yet, is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces and is no dead faith, but a faith which worketh by love. Now, isn't it interesting that the framers of the old confession, who knew well those chapters in church history which record the tragic results that come when people allow the devil to take God's truth and turn it into poison, in the very sense

11:32 that we are justified by faith alone, they clearly and emphatically assert that that justifying faith is never alone, but is always accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, taking the very language of the passage in James which I read in your hearing, but a faith which works by love

11:59 taking the language of Galatians 5 and verse 6. Now some of the saddest chapters in the history of the church are those which record the victories of the father of lies on both of these fronts. Whenever he has been able to obscure the doctrine of justification as we've expounded it in these past weeks, people who take seriously the matters of their relationship to God

Turning the Guns to the Second Front

12:28 are crippled with legalism, with guilt, with bondage, and they find no release. All you need to do is read the spiritual biography of Martin Luther for a classic example of what happens when this great doctrine is obscured or blurred and men seek acceptance with God on the basis of their own performance. And who can measure the dishonor that has come to God's name

12:58 and the great grief to men and women by the millions where legalism and works righteousness have prevailed in the church. But when the devil has been driven from that ground, no sooner is he driven from that ground than he sets up his artillery on this second front, the front of antinomianism and a mere notional religion where multitudes say, ah, I accept

13:27 this wonderful teaching. Salvation is based completely on the doing and the dying of another, and I rest all of my hopes in what Christ has done. I'm justified by faith. And their lives give little, if any, evidence at all of a vital relationship to Christ. There are not those subsequent acts of holy obedience, and when they are challenged, they say, ah, My performance has nothing to do with my acceptance before God. That's legalistic teaching. And they cry down anyone who would dare to put a prod in their consciences as to the validity of their claim that they are truly the children of God. Now, having attempted with all my powers to drive the prince of error from his influence in any of your consciences on the first front,

14:25 For 11 weeks, we've done nothing but zero in our guns on that first front. You will never have peace of conscience till you are driven out of yourself to rest solely in the work of another. And that note has been sounded. All our artillery, our 20-inch guns, our artillery, our 6-inch guns, our machine guns, and our BB guns and everything have been aimed at.

14:55 at that one point, to establish that great truth. And I feel before God, if any of you is yet crippled, because you have not gone out of yourself to rest solely in Christ, that my hands are clear of your blood. But now in love to the truth of God and to the God of truth and to your souls,

15:22 I want to turn all the guns and all the ammunition at this second front of the devil's attempt to take this glorious truth that we've established and expounded from the Scriptures and to twist it into poison for the souls of you who sit here this morning. And why do I do this? Well, for two very fundamental reasons. I hope that it will be a corrective or an offensive movement for some, since both legalism and antinomianism are in every human heart, I would not at all be surprised if there are not some of you who have sucked sweetness from the teaching of the past weeks who have no grounds to suck sweetness from that teaching. And your own antinomian spirit manifested in some areas of conscious controversy with God

16:20 You've been trying to derive peace while you still have a controversy with God. And I hope the teaching of this morning will correct your false thinking and drive you from your refuge of lies. But primarily, I have a preventive or a defensive motive. It's my desire that you may be immunized to change the figure by the truth of God so that when that wicked one, would come to you in a point of temptation, when you ought to be resisting Him, when you ought to be fleeing from sin, and when He begins to, as it were, re-preach in your ears the wonderful truth that we're accepted in the Beloved, we're justified on the grounds of the doing of another, go ahead and sin that grace may abound, that when He thus comes to change this truth into such poisons,

Paul and James as Two Armies Firing on a Common Enemy

17:17 that God will bring to remembrance what you heard this morning, and thereby enable you to resist him steadfastly. Now, it's precisely at this point of concern that the contrasting dominant emphases of Paul, particularly in Romans and in Galatians, with that emphasis that dominates in the epistle to James, are so vital and so necessary.

17:47 Now you see, the great task of the Apostle Paul, not the exclusive task, but the great task of the Apostle Paul, was to expound, establish, and guard the great truth of justification by faith alone. He does it in a positive way in Romans and in a very negative and argumentative way in the book of Galatians. And those two letters stand as the great immovable pillars of

18:17 of the truth we've been expounding for 11 weeks. We are justified on the grounds of the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to us as sinners and received by faith alone. But now James was given a vital and necessary task in the purpose of God, namely to expound

18:43 to establish and to guard the great truth that justifying faith is never a dead or an inoperative thing, a mere acceptance of gospel facts and promises and provisions, but that justifying faith is always a living, active spiritual principle accompanied by the other graces which produce faith. and are manifested in good works. Now, for any to say, well, we desperately need Romans and Galatians to guard and expound justification by faith alone. But James' emphasis, expounding and guarding the nature of justifying faith, why, that's secondary. We declare ourselves wiser than God.

19:39 and show ourselves to be hopelessly naive concerning the power of the devil to pervert truth and the potential of the human heart to do the same. In seeking to make plain why it is that on the surface the language of James and the language of Paul appear to be contradictory, I came across some thoughts in

20:07 a recent reprint of an excellent commentary on the epistle of James by Robert Johnstone, published by the Banner of Truth. And he made these remarks, and I thought of paraphrasing them, and I said, no, he says them so much better. And I hope it doesn't sound like reading. I've read them over enough to be familiar, and I hope they come to you like preaching. But it's his thoughts. They are his thoughts, not mine. It is important to remember that that the apostolic epistles are not in the technical sense of the phrase confessions of faith. They are not systematic statements of doctrine built up with passionless exactness, but they are the outpourings worn from the hearts of men glowing with zeal for souls and who warn

21:01 teach, and plead with their fellow men in their letters, just as they did in their sermons. And they do so in forms that vary according to the problems that they are addressing. Paul and Peter and James are not geographers seated on a hilltop, quietly mapping out the features of the country round about them.

21:28 But they are soldiers in intense, earnest fighting on the plain for the honor of their Lord. They are captains marshalling their troops of arguments and appeals against various manifestations of error and of sin. Then he goes on to use a very graphic illustration. Back in the days when foot soldiery was the order of the day in a military sense,

21:54 we might be approaching a certain battlefield and we see off in the distance men clothed in the uniform of a certain army. And we look across on another hill and we see men with the same uniform, but lo and behold, they seem to be advancing at one another as though they were about to shoot at each other. And we wonder what kind of a strange battle is this? Soldiers in the same army facing one another with their rifles drawn and marching towards one another. But Johnstone goes on to say, upon closer examination we discover that they are not marching to fire upon one another, but there is a common enemy down in the valley upon which they are both firing but from two opposite flanks.

22:47 The one army advancing from the front, the other advancing from the rear, both attacking the one common army. Now, he says, when we read Paul and we read James, from a distance it appears as though they are contradicting one another. We know, says Paul, that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

23:14 James comes along and says, it is obvious that we are justified not by faith alone, but by works. And we say, ah, they're shooting at one another. Who's going to win the day? No, no. There's a common enemy down in the valley that they're both shooting at. And that enemy is error. Error that would say on the one hand, we can do something to make ourselves acceptable to God.

23:42 And Paul aims all of his guns and all of his foot soldiers are marching upon that great error saying, no, a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. But there is another error down in that valley that says, ah, yes, granted, wonderful truth, we're justified by faith alone. But it is faith that can stand alone, that exists in merely claiming the promise of pardon and mercy and all is well. And James gathers all of his riflemen and he zeroes in on that particular enemy and says, no! If our justification before God is real in the fundamental sense that the Apostle Paul declares that it is, why then we also will have, as it were, a second justification, that is,

24:39 God will be able to declare by what we do that we are indeed true believers, that we are not mere notional believers, that our faith is something more than a bunch of facts imbibed in our heads. Well, that's been a very lengthy introduction, I know, but I hope it has set the field of my concern. Now what I want to do is to give you a very brief exposition of the passage read in your hearings.

James's Argument Part 1: Question, Parallel, Conclusion (2:14-17)

25:10 Turn, please, to James chapter 2. Now, what is the major concern of James in this passage? Well, the repeated emphasis in the passage answers that question. Now, I want to read several of the verses with a peculiar point of emphasis.

25:39 And see if you can glean from that James' concern in this passage. Verse 14. What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Can that faith save him? Verse 17. Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead in itself. Verse 20.

26:07 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith, apart from works, is barren? Verse 23, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Verse 26, For as the body apart from the Spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead. Now, do you see the point of repeated emphasis?

26:36 The point of repeated emphasis is the subject of faith. The subject of James' concern is not works in relationship to the ground of a sinner's acceptance with God. And for anyone to read that into James is to read into James something entirely foreign to the overall emphasis of his letter, particularly this section.

27:06 The subject with which he is dealing is the subject of faith. What kind of faith is it that brings us into union with Christ, that brings us into the possession of that perfect righteousness? Is it a dead faith? A barren faith? A faith that is like a body devoid of the Spirit? Or is it a living faith?

27:35 A faith that produces self-denying obedience, as in the case of both Abraham and of Rahab. You see, the subject that James is dealing with is the subject of faith, and what kind of faith it is that truly brings us into the possession of justification. Now then, follow the major development of his argument. Section 1 is verses 14 to 17.

28:06 It begins with a question. A question is raised. What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith but have not works? Can that faith save him? Now, you see, James has no argument that faith saves in the sense that faith is the instrument of bringing us to possess salvation. He has no debate on that. His question is, what kind of faith saves?

28:35 So he raises the question. Here's the man who runs off at the mouth talking about his faith. What does it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but he has no works that manifest the reality of that faith? Can that faith that exists only in his profession, can that faith save him? He raises the question. Then he suggests a parallel in verses 2.

29:05 15 and 16. If a brother or sister be naked and lack of daily food, and one of you say unto him, Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled, and yet ye give them not the things needful to the body, what doth it profit? He suggests a parallel between faith and the grace of love. Now his question is, what good is it if a man says, Oh yes, I have love.

29:34 But then in a situation where love will work, there is no work of love. What doth it profit in the language of John? If we see a brother have need and we shut up the bowels of compassion from him, how doth the love of God dwell in us? Is love just a notion expressed by words? Or is it a grace that produces deeds consistent with the need and one's ability to meet the need?

30:04 You see, he suggests a parallel. You say you have faith, but no works to back it up. What if someone professes to have love, but has no works that answer to love? And then he draws a conclusion in verse 17. Even so, as with professed love that doesn't work, even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead in itself.

James's Argument Part 2: Challenge, Comparison, Conclusion (2:18-20)

30:34 So the first section then raises a question, draws a parallel, and then makes an inescapable conclusion. An inoperative, unworking faith is a dead faith. Then the next section, he issues a challenge, verse 18. And commentators differ as to the precise way we should understand this. I cast in my lot with those that say...

31:01 This is the language of a believer who could challenge the character envisioned in the first three verses. Yea, a man will say, thou hast faith, he says to this person who's talking. You've got faith. He says, all right, I've got works. Now I want to throw a challenge out. You show me your faith without your works. Go ahead and do it, sir. You tell me you believe. All right, show me your faith.

31:28 without its demonstrable evidence in deeds. Do it if you can. Bring me a faith-o-meter and put it on your heart and let me see it register and say, saving faith. You see, he throws out the challenge. You say you've got faith, but you have no works? Show me your faith without your works. He says, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll demonstrate to you the validity of my faith by my works.

31:55 So you see again an unanswerable challenge is given. And then a comparison is suggested in verse 19 that is shocking. Thou believest that God is one, thou doest well. The demons also believe and tremble. You see this person says, but wait a minute, my faith is an orthodox faith. I accept every tenet of revealed religion, starting with that fundamental tenet. Yea, the Lord our God is one Lord.

32:25 He says, very well, if you say your faith then still exists in your notions and your confession, you've got company. The demons go that far, and furthermore they tremble. And then he draws a conclusion again in verse 20. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works, and now he uses a different word, is barren,

32:54 useless, unemployed, idle, lazy. The word is translated all of those ways in the New Testament. Now you see what he's doing? He's drawing the noose on this character. He begins in that first section by asking the question, drawing a parallel, making a conclusion that results in the language, it is a dead faith.

Historical Examples: Abraham and Rahab (2:21-25)

33:20 Now he issues a challenge, makes a comparison, draws a conclusion, and he says it's idle, useless, lazy, unemployed faith. And then in the third section, he gives two historical examples of how true faith operates. The example of Abraham, and then the example of Rahab, verses 21 to 25. Was not Abraham our father?

33:49 justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect, and the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. Now never take a passage out of its immediate and general context.

34:19 What is James dealing with when he takes up Abraham? Is he dealing with the question on what basis does a sinner find acceptance with God? His own righteousness or the righteousness of another? Is that the question he's been dealing with as Paul deals with it in Romans chapter 3 and 4? No! The question he's been dealing with is the person whose faith exists only in his mouth and in his head.

34:49 And he brings in Abraham in pursuit of dealing with that problem and no other. So when people say, Aha! Here we have James teaching. We're justified by works. The language is plain. The Bible means what it says. And they seek to overthrow all that we have been studying for weeks. They are doing what Peter says, The ignorant and the unstable do. They are twisting.

35:19 the Scriptures to their own destruction. But now he does say, Was not Abraham our father justified by works? Now the great question is, is James using the word justified here in precisely the same sense that we find it used primarily in the writings of the Apostle Paul? Is he speaking of that initial declaration that all his sins are pardoned He is accepted as perfectly righteous before the law of God based upon the righteousness of another. Is that the justification that James is speaking of? Of course not. Because you will notice in the setting, he takes an incident that comes at least 20 to 30 years after Genesis 15, 6, in which it is said Abraham believed God

36:16 And it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Some twenty to thirty years later, God says, Take thy son, thine only son, and offer him up as a sacrifice. And you remember, Abraham obeyed. And when he was done, he had raised the knife. God held his hand. God speaks to him, tells him that there is a provision made. And then he says this,

36:45 He said, I know now that you fear me, that you truly love me, that I have the place of supreme affection in your heart. Now notice the language of James. Was not Abraham our father justified by works in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? You see, that justification was not the initial justification that occurred in Genesis 15 and verse 6. But this was a declarative justification. God was declaring that Abraham's faith was indeed real. That Abraham's faith was indeed more than a dead or a notional faith. For do we not read in Hebrews 11, by faith?

37:38 Abraham offered up his son Isaac. So this was a work of faith, and when God declares the validity of his faith and his religious experience, in that sense, Abraham is justified. He's declared to be truly a man of God, a true believer, a true fearer of God. You see, this was not his initiality.

38:07 justification, but it was a subsequent declarative justification. And in so doing, look at the language of verse 23, and the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. In other words, Abraham's subsequent history brought to its

38:39 Genesis 15, Abraham believed God. With what kind of faith? A dead, inoperative faith? No, a living faith. That when called upon to perform a deed of self-denying obedience, by faith he obeyed. By faith he offered up his Son. And therefore the validity and the reality of that faith is justified and

39:08 in the language of verse 22, and his faith wrought with his works. If it was to do that, it had to precede the works. The faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect, in the sense that God says to Paul, my strength is made perfect in weakness. It comes to full and glorious expression. Well, Abraham's faith came to full.

39:39 when he offered up Isaac upon the altar. And so, here are these people who say, well, we're the real sons of Abraham. Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. We believe God. It's reckoned unto us. He says, wait a minute. In the language of our Lord Jesus, if ye were the sons of Abraham, we would do the works of Abraham. Was Abraham's faith a dead notional faith?

40:05 Was Abraham's faith a faith that just claimed the promises? No, no. It was a faith that moved him to self-denying obedience in the light of the revelation of the will of God. And then he takes Rahab as a second example. Verse 25, "...and in like manner was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works?" Now notice the particular action.

Final Conclusion: Faith Apart from Works is Dead (2:26)

40:35 in that she received the messengers and sent them out another way. Now in terms of her initial justification that came when she believed in Jehovah, that preceded this activity. For you remember she told the spies, I have heard of your God. And she makes the confession of her faith in that God. But now she was justified in this sense, that there was a declaration of the validity of her faith, her deeds when she risked her neck for the sake of the people of God. She received the spies and then sent them out another way. Faith parallel to Abraham's. It produced an act of self-denying obedience. Then he draws the whole argument to its final conclusion in verse 26. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead,

41:35 When the spirit, the life principle, leaves the body, the undertaker, the mortician, takes over. The body is there in its form and substance, but it's dead. When the spirit leaves, the life principle is gone. Nothing's left but the carcass. As the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so,

42:07 There is not the animating principle of loving attachment to Christ that produces acts of self-denying obedience to Christ. He says that faith is dead. As the body apart from the Spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.

42:33 Is there any contradiction between Paul and James? None whatsoever. For the same apostle who teaches we are justified by faith alone is the one who uses this language in Galatians 5, 6. In Christ, well, let's look at it. Galatians 5 and verse 6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor

43:04 But faith, now notice what kind of faith, working through love. The Apostle Paul knows of no justifying faith that is not also a faith which works through love. Justifying faith is never alone, but is always accompanied with all those other graces of love.

43:34 its faith, a love that is operative in obedience to the object of its faith, an obedience that is marked, as in the case of Abraham and of Rahab, by deeds of self-denial to the will of God in the face of His revelation of that will. And so we come around full circle then,

44:03 To see that there is no antithesis, there is no enmity between Paul and James, but there is this beautiful coordination of this wonderful and liberating truth that we are justified by faith alone. But, lest we deceive ourselves and sink into hell claiming an imputed righteousness,

44:32 That justifying faith is never alone. Now do you understand why every verse that speaks of the judgment of the last day says we'll be judged not according to our profession, but according to what? Our works. By thy words thou shalt be justified. By thy words thou shalt be condemned. And that's spoken in the context of the day of judgment. We shall be judged, every one, according to his works. You see, in the last...

45:01 believers will be justified. That will be their final justification, not their initial. That's already been established. But God will openly declare that they are indeed His own, and He'll do it, not on the basis of the faith that He alone can see in the heart.

Searching Questions to the Conscience

45:34 have works to display in His justification of you in the last day, you'll hear Him say, Depart from me, ye cursed, I never knew you. Now in closing, let me press some questions upon the conscience of every hearer. The first one is this. Have you seen your sin and inability to recover yourself?

46:03 And in the language of one old writer, have you cast your anchor into the sea of God's perfect righteousness in Christ? Can you say as you sit there this morning with the publican's pain, with the publican's posture and with his plea, can you say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner? Can you say, language of Bonar, on thy grace I rest my plea. Nothing in my hands I bring. Have you come to that conviction that if you are to be declared righteous, it will be on the basis of nothing done by you nor wrought in you, but solely on the grounds of what Christ has done in life

47:03 Why not? If you're not in that place, why not? It can only be because you doubt the severity of the law or the sincerity of the gospel. The only reason you've not cast your anchor in the sea of His perfect righteousness is you're either indifferent to whether or not you have a righteousness before the court of heaven

47:29 you doubt the sincerity of the God who says, Cast your anchor. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. But now my second question is this. Having professed to cast your anchor in the sea of His perfect righteousness, do you seek to walk with all your heart in obedience to Christ? Out of love

48:01 to perform the works required by Christ? Are you pained when you fail in your obedience? Are you grieved when you do not render all the obedience of which He is worthy? Is your faith a faith that is mingled with repentance?

48:26 Someone has very beautifully said that repentance is the tear in faith's eye. And true faith is never tearful.

48:57 displease the object of its faith. And if your professed faith in Christ for justifying grace has left you a stranger to the ongoing activities of penitence and grief and positive obedience, my friend James has a word for you. Wilt thou not know, O vain man, that such faith is dead?

49:30 Do you feel more comfortable with the Pauline emphasis of the past 11 weeks than you felt with the James emphasis of this morning for one week? If so, it's for one of two reasons. Either you misunderstand Paul or James or both of them, or you've got a controversy with God. For the true child of God is as comfortable with James as he is with Paul.

50:00 He says with David, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right. Therefore, I hate every, every false way. We have manifested, I trust, in our understanding, in our hearts, holy hatred.

50:23 any influence that would undermine the perfection of the righteousness that God holds out to sinners in His Son. And have we not, from this platform week after week in these past several months, tried out against the weaving of one thread of human merit into the perfect righteousness that is the sinner's portion believing in Christ?

50:54 Every false way that would militate against that truth. But we must hate with equal spiritual hatred. The false way of notional faith.

51:37 of universal obedience, a panting after universal holiness. It is a dead faith, but without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Though he can give the most able exposition of the doctrine of justification by faith, he'll perish with the demons and the devil in hell unless he's been made a holy man and is pursuing a holy life.

52:05 You be honest in the port of your own conscience. Do you feel more comfortable with Paul than James? If so, you're either in a self-deceived state or you've been influenced by the father of lies and you have a perverted understanding of the nature of justifying faith. What about some of you? You feel more comfortable with James. Oh, you like what you heard this morning. Why? Why?

52:34 Because you've got a legal, self-righteous spirit. You've not been able to rejoice in what we've been expounding for weeks. Because you've said it's too simple. It's too easy. Just to trust in Christ and what He's done. No, no, no. There's got to be something I do. My friend, if you rejoice more in the emphasis of James than the emphasis of Paul, you may be held in the bondage of a works-righteousness deception.

53:02 For if you are a Christian, you are defective in your understanding. Oh, would to God every believer in this place this morning could say with judgment day honesty, Lord, thou knowest, I rejoice in all you've said through your servant Paul, and I rejoice in what you've said through your servant James. I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate

53:33 false way. You say, Pastor, there are times when you speak when you almost appear angry. There is a place to be angry. We are to hate every false way. Why? Because falsehood, if believed, damns the souls of men. We're not dealing with just ideas in the marketplace. One is good as another. The Scripture says they all shall be damned who believe a lie

Closing Charge: Embrace Both Paul and James

54:05 May God grant that we as His people will have no sympathy with any gospel but the gospel of free grace, no ground of a sinner's hope but Christ, no method but imputation, no means to receive the imputed righteousness but faith. May there be no preaching from this place of conditions and qualifications and additional revelations.

54:33 but the free, unfettered offer of mercy to all who will have the Savior who is offered in the gospel. But all with equal clarity and urgency, may we have no sympathy with a mere notional or a merely emotional faith that has no practical obedience to Christ, no grief for sin in coming to Christ and walking with Christ, no ethical conformity to Christ. And may this pulpit never tolerate any preaching,

55:02 that seeks to comfort anyone who is not striving for universal holiness, who is not grieved over sin, who is not seeking to obey the Word of God. It's only thus that we who preach and teach will be able to say with Paul, I take you to record I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

55:28 My friends, the whole teaching of the Bible is not what we've had in the past 11 weeks. It is a vital, necessary teaching. And we've spent 11 Lord's Day mornings opening it up. But that's only one dimension of the truth of the Bible. And it's the whole Bible that is given for our whole salvation in a whole Savior. May God grant.

55:56 That we'll embrace the Apostle Paul with one arm and James with the other. And thank God that they are both our gifts to mark out the path of eternal life. Life that is in Christ alone. Life received by faith alone. But life received by a faith that is never alone. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

56:32 Our Father, we thank You for the whole revelation of Your will in Scripture. And we pray that this part that we've considered this morning may come home to our hearts with power, and that the enemy, if entrenched in any mind and spirit in this place today, may be driven from his entrenchment by the power of truth under the influence

57:04 O Lord, establish us in all of your ways and seal this word to our hearts, we plead. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.