Answers Bible Curriculum Year 3 Quarter 4 Lesson 7
This week in Sunday school, we return to the New Testament epistles and investigate the apostles’ teaching on the relationship of faith and works. Are Christians really saved by faith alone? Can a person be saved without a life of righteousness? And what should be the source of a Christian’s assurance of salvation? We’ll take a look at these questions and more.
Our main texts for this lesson are Ephesians 2:1-10 and James 2:14-26.
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let’s begin welcome to Sunday school happy Mother’s Day tinium in our study of the New Testament in the epistles our next four lessons are gonna highlight certain great themes of the epistles and today that great theme is faith and works our title is sacked saved by grace but really we’re talking about the relationship between faith and works and historically this has been a very contentious issue in Christianity it was central to the Protestant Reformation a works centered gospel is very popular among those who profess to be Christians today but on the flip side so is they works less gospel it doesn’t matter what you do is all about faith it’s all about loving Jesus just pray this prayer and by Jesus in your heart and you’ll be saved this is a lot of confusion over this issue today and our time our culture so it’s definitely worth our exploring more fully so today I want to do that by looking at two different passages with you we’re going to be looking at first Ephesians 2:1 to 10 and then we’re gonna look at James 2:14 to 26 what seemed like contradictory passages but passages that are actually both very important for a full understanding of the relationship between faith and works and then we’ll talk about how those fit together and some of the applications of those passages at the end of our class let me pray briefly our Lord in God I pray that you’d help us understand this truth and apply it to our lives Jesus name Amen please let’s first turn to Ephesians chapter 2 friesan chapter 2 verses 1 to 10 and we’re going to take this passage in tiny bites remember the context of Ephesians Paul’s remaining these this church of mostly Gentiles of their full salvation so that they will walk worthy of it in Chapter 1 he gives his greetings he gives this doxology of praise and then he shares a prayer for them that they would know Christ more but then in chapter 2 he begins to talk a little bit about their salvation or it’ll talk more fully about their salvation especially as it relates to the past let’s look first at verses 1 to 3 in chapter 2 each in chapter 2 verses 1 to 3 we’ll look at verses 1 to 10 in total but we’re taking it in small verses or full small sections so verse 1 and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and we’re by nature children of Wrath even as the rest let’s notice a few things we’re gonna follow our method of observe interpret apply notice a few things in this first couple verses in Ephesians 2 who is the you of verse 1 where he says you were dead in your trespasses and sins it’s the effusion believers these Gentile Christians you Christians were dead you were once dead in your trespasses and sins that was your condition so this is their former state notice verse 2 says in which you formerly walked this is their condition before what they are now before they’re being saved and notice what he says is true about them in the past says first of all that they were dead yet no power no life no cognition nothing they were dead in trespasses and sins they weren’t physically dead obviously that he’s talking about but they were dead in another sense spiritually and the trespasses and sins and what if his deadness consistent how did it manifest itself well they walked according to the course or the age of this world they walked according to the ruler of this a certain ruler the Prince of the power of the air they were sons of disobedience they were pursuers of fleshly lusts they were by Nature children of rats but notice he is not just laying it on the Ephesians because verse 3 says that we – we – all formerly lived now whose though we this would be the Apostle Paul his companions and their by extension Jews Jewish believers and Gentile believers together all once were in this condition we – formerly lived according to our lusts this wasn’t just a Gentile thing yet you Gentiles are really bad this is the way we all were and you see that further emphasized in verse 3 he says we to all everyone is included or when he says that you were children of Wrath or we were children of Wrath even as the rest that doesn’t leave anybody out we were just the same as everyone else he says so from this first couple of verses we can already ask some interpretation questions or Nick come to some conclusions interpretation wise who is the Prince of the power of the air this is Satan he’s also called of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience so he says you all walk according to the will of Satan and so did I so did we you know interesting here he says on the one hand that they were dead and on the other hand that they were walking how can those two things fit together well the dead the deadness describes the helpless and rebellious spiritual condition that they had while the walking that’s a pretty common metaphor in the New Testament to describe their behavior how that deafness was manifesting in their lives really they were spiritually dead men walking they had this total deadness spiritually and it was showing up in the way that they thought the way that they desired and the way that they acted the theological term that we use for this condition is unregenerate and you can see how that relates to even the metaphor Paul uses they have not been regenerated they do not have life they have not been made alive like regenerated they are unread gentlemen it says that’s what you were you a fusion Gentile believers and that’s what I was that’s a Jewish unbeliever he says we were all children of Wrath what does it mean to be a child of wrath it’s kind of a vivid metaphor but you are an inheritor you it’s almost like you’re part of the family of those who are under rap that’s what your inheritance is your sinful nature and the consequent actions that come from that they have brought you under their very holy and hot wrath of God it says this is what you were this is what everyone is this is what the whole world is before anyone is saved and it is a very desperate state Paul is painted a very bleak picture of a saved person’s former condition and this describes all people this is the former state of Jew and Gentile and so for you at Calvary this is your former state and for me this is my former state do you recognize that you confess this description to be accurate of you because this is what the word says but this is only the former state because something happened and let’s read the next few verses verses 4 to 6 to see what changed look at verse 4 but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ by grace you’ve been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus let’s observe this section it starts with a contrast but God I think some of you’ve heard some pastors theologians say these are some of the two greatest words in scripture together but God indicated as terrible things can be God is able to act and to change things in contrast to our pitiful state God did something but before Paul tells us exactly what he did he reminds us who God is and some of the motivations within his heart it says he was rich in mercy being rich in mercy that was his constant state and is his constant state and because of his great love with which he loved us he acted in love he is full of love then another quick reminder who we are though we dead in our transgressions just as he said in the first three verses what did God do notice the verbs he made us alive both Jew and Gentile he made us alive he saved us by grace he raised us up and seated us with him that’s God in the heavenly places though notice all these actions they have a certain phrase attached to them what phrase is repeated over and over with each one of these actions with him together with him or through him talking about Jesus Christ all of these things happen through and with Jesus and that’s destructive again if we talk about interpreting these verses what does this repetition of with Christ tell us that all of this this change from our former state into what what we are now that came about through Christ in Christ that’s actually a great theme in the book of Ephesians it’s this idea of union with Christ all of your salvation blessings Calvary they come on the basis of your being spiritually joined to the Son of God he’s the source of your life he’s the source of your blessing when you become attached to him you are saved you were transformed now when we talk about the word saved what exactly are we saved from I’ll remember what verse 3 already said we were children of there are plenty of things were saved from there’s a purposelessness unwise way but chief among them is that we were saved from God we were saved from the anger and wrath of God and of course the self-destruction of our own way now there’s an interesting phrase here that’s worth pondering what does it mean to be seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus notice that’s a present reality since we have been seated we are seated in the heavenly places with Christ now can’t be literal you guys are all still alive so you’re not seated your souls are not seated in heaven and in a way they will be after you die so what is this talking about well this is again going back to the idea of union with Christ this is where made alive spiritually we’re also exalted with Christ and in a sense we have been brought we’ve been exalted glorified right into the very heavenly places in which Christ is glorified right now we have salvation secured through him but also our glorification has become a reality not yet fully experienced but one that is partially experienced and one that is objectively true God doesn’t just save us in Christ you also glorifies us in Christ we are glorified through and with his son it’s a present reality now we have a glory before God not none of our own but one that through Christ has been given to us and what a contrast what a contrast to our former state as described in the first three verses we were to a sinful state under wrath helpless then God did all this through Christ and we were changed now says that we were saved by grace a little parenthetical in there what is Grace yeah unmerited favor is a great definition yeah it’s something that we receive a gift that we did nothing to earn he says that’s how you were saved you didn’t do anything now if that’s true then why did God do it if we didn’t deserve it why did he do it and we get a little bit of an answer to that in the last section of this set of 10 verses verses 7 to 10 we hear some of the reasons why God did this we know that it was part of his merciful nature his love which he chose to set on us but listen to some of the reasons that come in verses 7 to 10 we also seen these verses a very clear description of what exactly happened to make us become saved verse 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not as a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them and did you catch the three reasons that are presented in these last couple of verses for why God transformed us verse 7 says that so God can show off his lavish grace in kindness in the ages to come this is all about showing off his work it’s showing his glory by saving us he’s now able to show his great kindness into the forever ages and in verses 8 to 9 he did it he did all of this he transformed us so that no one may boast and then in verse 10 it says another reason why transformed us is that so that we might walk in the good works that God prepared for us to do now we’ll come back to the idea just a second but notice what appears in verses eight to nine now I’m sure you have read and countered memorized these verses because they’re so clear and critical for understanding what salvation is this very carefully worded constructed salvation formula describes what happened we again see the phrase that a pert appeared in verse five by grace you have been saved that is it was an unearned gift it was an undeserved act of kindness from God through faith you experience this undeserved gift by the means of faith that is by means of your personal belief and trust in Jesus Christ as God as Lord and Savior as the truth so by grace you’ve been saved through faith and that not of yourselves and what does the that refer to that as a demonstrative pronoun referring to something that’s come before and it’s actually a little bit tricky grammatically to figure out what is the antecedent of this word that and just to give you a little bit of the grammar here from the Greek side boasts both the word grace and faith that appear earlier in the verse they are feminine nouns in Greek but the word that the pronoun is in the neuter sense and so it doesn’t easily refer to either one of those nouns so theologians pastors debate exactly what the the referent is here and the best understanding appears to be that the word that doesn’t refer to one or the other of those terms but both of them together and really the idea of salvation in general this grace through faith that you experience that whole paradigm that whole system that experience that is not of yourselves you didn’t have really anything to do with that you didn’t earn that you didn’t produce that so then what is it if it didn’t come from you it is as the verse goes on to say it is the gift of God God gave you salvation as a gift and just to be even clearer about that notice he says next not as a result of works I mean is being very emphatic you it’s another way of saying the same thing if it’s a gift it can’t be from works because else elsewise it’s not a gift now what do we mean by works we mean any effort and he act any deed any thing that you might do to bring about a certain result he says no your salvation did not come from any work that you did it was a gift from God so in multiple ways in this earth by using the word grace by talking not of yourselves it is a gift it did not come from works Paul has iterated again and again that this transformation from God this transformation you experience in salvation was totally of God even the belief you exercised which God uses as an ordained means of bringing you to salvation that was not of yourselves it was a gift God placed that in you he gave you the faith to believe so that you would be saved and what was the what was the outcome what’s the reason behind all of that we already mentioned that second reason is that so no man can boast he’s got nothing to say look I did that look you know these other people they’re they’re foolish they don’t understand salvation but I understand and I did it how he says that’s not the case anything that you received that resulted in your salvation that came from God I like what one I think it’s Calvin or maybe somebody else one tailored and says the only thing that you contributed to your salvation is a sin that made it necessary so we see these things in these last couple of verses and let’s let’s again interpret now what is the means that Paul most clearly identifies as what brings about salvation it’s all of God but what does the means that God uses by grace through faith its me faith in Christ now what is the relationship according to Paul in these verses between faith and works we can say two things first of all works do not contribute to your salvation that is so emphatic from Paul here but works are related they’re actually one of the reasons that God saves you not in the sense that you earned it but this it’s one of the outcomes you’re saved so that you may do good works you’re saved so that you can walk in the works that God has already ordained that you do he’s already laid them out for you so far from being a prerequisite for salvation works are a purpose or result of salvation your good deeds their righteous things that you do the holy life that you live that is an outcome an intended result of salvation not a prerequisite now how does this teaching Square with the rest of the New Testament let me just show you some verses you can turn there if you’d like but Titus chapter 3 Titus 3 verses 3 to 8 just to show you this is not an isolated idea that’s been taken out of context Titus 3 verses 3 to 8 in this passage Paulette explaining why Christians ought to be patient understanding towards all people in the world even those who do not believe in Jesus and listen to what Paul says Titus 3 verses 3 to 8 for we also were or we also once were foolish ourselves disobedient deceived enslaved to various lusts and pleasures spending our life in malice and envy hateful hating one another but when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared he saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done and right but according to his mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the holy spirit when we poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life this is a trustworthy statement and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds now notice all the parallels to the passage we just examine in ephesians 2 1 to 10 the previous state our previous state is described before we were believers we were hateful foolish cetera as an emphasis that God saved us not on the basis of deeds we did or any righteousness that we have it was God’s mercy wholly it’s his work that saved us but notice the result and verse 8 of Titus this is this all happened so that we would be encouraged we would be made to do good deeds and again we can see the same thing if we go to John go to the book of John chapter 1 John 1 verses 12 to 13 this is kind of an introductory section of the Gospel of John and the context the Apostle John is writing about the incarnation of the son as a man and man’s rejection of God in the flesh but notice what it says in verses 12 to 13 John writes but as many as received him to them he gave the right to become children of God even to those who believe in his name who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God so notice what we see again here repeated what is the means of becoming a child of God it is to receive Christ it is to believe in his name but how does this happen what brings about this new birth it’s not your will not the will of the flesh not the will of man but it’s God God does it all and we see this teaching explore even further in jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus in John chapter 3 I won’t read through that section but I’ll remind you that some of the things that are said there Jesus tells Nicodemus unless you’re born again of the Spirit you cannot be saved and we’ve even looked at this passage before ourselves and sunday-school you didn’t do anything to bring about your physical birth you can do nothing to bring about your spiritual birth God must do it all but that means he uses is the belief the faith that he himself provides and we could go to many other passages in the New Testament elsewhere but I think you understand you get the point salvation is all of God and it comes by faith righteousness and good works are an effective salvation but not a prerequisite to salvation and many of these truths that I’ve been discussing with you right now these are about the heart of the Reformation that great rediscovery and re assertion of biblical truth and salvation and those truths those Reformation truths those Bible truths are captured well in the five SOLAS even those five Latin phrases that swim up a lot of what the Reformation was about in particular when it comes to salvation each one of these phrases has a noun and then the idea of alone Sola scriptura scripture alone salvation is revealed in the scriptures alone not in man’s wisdom or religious tradition Sola gratia salvation is by grace alone Sola fidei salvation is by faith alone Solus Christus salvation is through Christ alone and soli Deo Gloria salvation is for the glory of God alone notice how these Soler’s they practically line up with the formula of salvation we read in Ephesians 2:18 not all those things were present in the context and in the words of those verses now such a teaching this biblical truth it offends the pride of man who man wants so badly to justify himself before God because he believes deep down you know what I am good but this truth that we’ve seen here describing our former condition and what was necessary to save us it shows us no none of us were good none of us were able to work for God’s acceptance God must do it all and he extends his gift of salvation to many who call upon him by faith so this teaching it confounds the Judaizers the legalist the catholic or any other person who tries to make salvation a means or a salvation a matter of works or of faith plus works which is really another way of saying salvation by works it has to either be a gift or it’s not either God gets all the glory for his loving-kindness or he doesn’t man gets some of the glory oh good question asked related to this just thinking a little bit about application is what do you place on what do you place your salvation you might affirm your belief in the Bible but practically do you put your trust in good works or rituals did you start by grace through faith but now as you continue to live as a Christian are you proceeding on the basis of works to keep you safe or to keep you acceptable to God if God did everything in salvation and there’s no more work to be done why do you try to add to his work now immediately there’s concern in all this and that’s the idea of cheap grace what are those who claim faith in God but then live like the devil or of those who professed faith in God at some time in the past but they’re no longer walking with Him they don’t even believe in God anymore doesn’t the Bible say that those who sin will not go to heaven how do we bring how to be.we night this with what we just read and learned from Paul we now need to look at another passage let’s go to James James chapter 2 we’re gonna examine this set of verses a little bit more thoroughly so this is towards the end of the New Testament right after hebrews hebrews 2 verses 14 to 26 now in this context that we’re going to be looking at right before our passage james is rebuking jewish believers that’s his primary author and audience scattered jewish believers he’s rebuking them for showing partiality to the rich and abusing the poor among them those who actually are assembled as part of their congregations a showing favor to the rich and they’re being prejudiced against the poor and he warns James warns that transgressors of God’s law even those who show partiality will be judged and then he explains this next teaching in starting at verse 14 and again we’ll take this passage in sections first verses 14 to 17 James says what use is it my brethren if someone says he has faith but he has no works can that faith save him for brother or sisters without clothing and in need of daily food and one of you says to them come on peace be warmed and be filled and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body what uses that even so faith if it has no works is dead being by itself make some observations here notice verse 14 begins with two rhetorical questions have expected answers when he says what uses it if someone says he has faith and has no works the answer is it’s no use it’s useless or when he says can that kind of faith save him the expected answer is no if a man says he has faith but no works that kind of faith can’t save say wait a second is this contradicting Paul well let’s let’s hear James out he presents an analogy in verse 15 he says faith without works it’s like someone telling a fellow Christian in desperate need I really want to see all your needs met but then he does nothing to actually meet those needs now what use are such words well they’re no use it’s a useless thing does the person who says I really want your needs to be met does he actually want those needs to be met if he does nothing about them there’s no reason to believe so he doesn’t really desired that because he’s not doing anything about that you’d know he actually desired that if he actually worked to meet the needs you know that he had compassion if he actually acted in a way consistent with that compassion he didn’t just make compassionate claims the same way James says faith without works is dead by itself now note something here or what something we should ask is James saying that this faith he describes is real but insufficient or that this faith is not really real faith just keep that question in mind is he actually describing what is real faith or something that only masquerades as faith let’s look at James next argument in verses 18 and 19 a little short a couple of here James says but someone may well say you have faith and I have works show me your faith without the works and I will show you my faith by my works you believe that God is one you do well the demons also believe and shudder now for this section James imagines a hypothetical response to his earlier assertion when there’s some debate as to where the quotation marks should end in verse 18 remember that in the original Greek there are no quotation marks they’re just part of our translations to help us understand in a new American Standard translation puts the end of the quotation at the end of verse 18 whereas the NIV and the ESV for instance they end the quotation right after the phrase you have faith and I have works that’s that’s the extent of the hypothetical according to those translations I wouldn’t lean on the side of the NIV in the ESV here that that usage of quotation marks makes more sense to me in how the argument of this verse is laid out so that’s the way I’m going to interpret it so the hypothetical contention that James deals with is the idea that you have faith and I have works or that is to say it’s possible to have either one or the other you can’t have faith without works is the assertion that’s one way to be saved but you can also have works and that’s another way to be saved but what’s James challenged in response this hypothetical assertion show me your faith without works now let me ask you as James is really asking us how would you show your faith without works tough question right how can you do that what possible way could you have there’s maybe one answer someone might suggest you could say well you say the right things you affirm true doctrine that’s a way to show your faith but that’s a trap that’s a trap answer because notice what James says in response you believe that God is one now that’s a clear allusion to the Old Testament that’s a very famous section of scripture that a Jewish believer would recognize that’s the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4 and five Deuteronomy 6:4 says here of Israel Yahweh is our God Yahweh is one now that’s a true statement that’s true doctrine that is a foundation for true dropping to true doctrine that’s why the Jews knew that phrase so well there was a key section of the law but does this affirmation that God is one that Yahweh is one does that demonstrate true saving faith hardly because who else affirms that statement the demons and they tremble James says they tremble at this truth they tremble at God’s judgment they can affirm true doctrine but they are not saved they will not be spared from the wrath in the same way if you’re going to affirm your faith by merely speaking true doctrine yeren as much trouble as the demons that’s not the way to demonstrate faith what’s the only way to demonstrate faith it’s what James says I will show you my faith by my works by what I do and notice the way he phrases them I will show you my faith I will demonstrate my faith this language is specifically about showing a faith that is present and real not necessarily adding to it but showing it now let’s take a look now at the last section here in this part of James James 2:22 26 it’s a little bit longer but you’ll see how these six or seven verses they fit together to form one final mode of argumentation for James look at verse 20 but are you willing to recognize you foolish fellow that faith without works is useless was not Abraham our Father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar you see that faith was working with his works and as a result of the works faith was perfected and the scripture was fulfilled which says and abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness he was called a friend of God you see then a man is justified by works and not by faith alone in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messenger and sent them out by another way for just as the body without the Spirit is dead so also faith without works is dead now as we observe this last section we might say uh isn’t this directly contradicting what Paul wrote in Ephesians and other places but as we understand this form one will see that it’s not real this is not a different gospel notice the kind of argumentation that James employs in this last paragraph this is an argument by example and he cites two examples from the Old Testament Abraham and Rahab James explains the justifying work of Abraham is his offering up of Isaac on the altar that’s the example that James wants to point to and that took place in Genesis 22 that way back when that’s one of the portions of the Old Testament that we examine together this offering James says perfected or completed brought to a conclusion brought to a fulfillment brought to an end Abraham state James also says this action fulfilled another scripture this statement about Abraham believing God and being accounted to him as righteousness now that you may also remember it comes from Genesis 15 Genesis 15:6 and the context of that statement was God promising to multiply descendants far more than Abraham could ever count bring his Abraham outside look at the stars your descendants will be just like these and says abraham believed God and it was accounted to Abram as righteousness Abram at that time wasn’t even called Abraham yet now that’s interesting that he refers to Genesis 22 as a completion or perfection of Abraham’s faith but then he refers to this statement from Genesis 15 this was not only earlier in the biblical record by seven or eight chapters but chronologically it was also a hearth Genesis 15 that statement occurred at least 20 years before Abraham had Abraham’s actions Genesis 22 and yet 20 years earlier God was able to report a Baberaham he is accounted righteous so we have on the one hand example of Abraham and then the other hand the example of Rahab and her hiding the spies in Joshua chapter 2 a ray of an interesting example not only because you represents an extreme as a harlot but she’s also not Jewish she’s a Gentile and yet she displays something similar to Abraham she displays a justifying work or what James describes as a justifying or completing work now notice it’s not Rahab’s lying or yeah it’s not her lying to protect her spies that is cited here as example a good work but it’s her receiving the messengers the spies from Israel and sending them out another way which would have been a very risky action for her in that city of Jericho now from these examples notice James conclusions in verse 24 verse 26 he says you see a person is justified by works and not by faith alone and as a body without a spirit is dead so also is faith without works now what do we do with this how do we interpret this especially in light of what we already know from Paul let’s ask a few questions in the example of Abraham was Abraham righteous before he offered up Isaac or only after it had to be before because that’s when God pronounced him righteous twenty years before eight chapters before abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness if he wasn’t fully righteous at that time then God’s declaration makes no sense because God doesn’t accept partial righteous righteousness if Abraham was not fully righteous then God could not have declared him to be so and yet if Abraham was fully righteous then in what sense could Abraham have become justified or have his faith completed in offering up his son Isaac what do you think if Abraham was already will already pronounced righteous fully righteous before God and what sense could his offering up of Isaac complete Abraham’s faith or justify Abraham’s can you say that again loudly yes I think that’s the way we have to see this this is about demonstrating giving evidence of the faith that has already been pronounced righteous already produced the accounting of righteousness that God announces his faith demonstrated or shown that he had real life within himself this is why I say James sounds like he contradicts Paul and other teachings in the New Testament but he actually doesn’t how do James’s teaching and Paul’s teaching about the relationship of works and faith fit together we can answer in this way true faith always produces good works as evidence of that faith true faith always produces good works as evidence of that faith in that sense that person is justified or completed or perfected James uses those terms a little bit differently than some of the other writers do another other section of the scripture but it’s about this demonstration of real life within someone it’s not that work save a person it’s faith that saves a person and that is wholly the gift of God holy the work of God but this work always produces a changed life and so if you claim faith without that change then James says you’ve got a problem because think about all the blessings that come to a person in salvation just some of them the Holy Spirit comes dwell inside him his mind is open to understand spiritual truth he is made to be in union in that with the death the burial the resurrection and exaltation of Christ these things make it so that a Christian will by simple cause and effect demonstrate evidence of faith in his life he will produce holy living and James is not the only one to lay out this truth and such strong terms consider Paul’s own words in Romans 6 verses 1 to 4 Romans 6 when the for Paul says what shall we say then are we to continue in sin that grace may increase may it never be how shall we who died to sin live in it or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father so we too might walk in newness of life there’s no contradiction between James and Paul Paul said the very same thing oh we could go to John in 1st John chapter 2 verses 3 to 6 John says 1st John 2 verses 3 to 6 by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his Commandments the one who says I have come to know him and does not keep his Commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word in him the love of God has truly been perfected hmmm same word same idea by this we know that we are in him the one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked or consider the words of our Lord Jesus himself Matthew 12 verses 33 to 35 either make the tree good froot good I make the tree bad and it’s fruit bad for the tree is known by its fruit you brood of vipers how can you being evil speak what is good but the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart the good man brings out of his good treasure what is good and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil this idea of trees and fruit isn’t is it gives us a helpful metaphor to understanding salvation and the relationship of faith and works it’s been said that the tree of set of salvation of this tree of salvation if we think of salvation or justification before God it’s like a tree faith in Jesus is the root and holy living is the fruit so if we apply this analogy to the two passages that we’ve looked at today from effusions and from James Paul clarifies that fruit are not what give the tree life it’s the root that does that’s why he says salvation is by faith but James clarifies that no how no matter how much you claim or a person claims that a tree has a good root if it doesn’t bear good fruit there’s no reason to believe so without the fruit there’s no reason to say that the root is present and all of these and they’re helpful principles for us today on the one hand when we consider these truths in the scriptures we are equipped against legalism works/righteousness trying to do things to earn God’s aver favor and salvation because we understand it is not what I do that saves me but it is what Jesus had done for me I am accepted by faith in the Sun so on one hand we are equipped to answer those kinds of temptations and objections and on the other hand we are equipped by these truths against licentiousness what’s sometimes called antinomianism no law anti law doesn’t matter what you do you don’t have to the commands of God that’s not important because we see if I truly believe in the Sun then I will pursue holiness if these realities are true I cannot tolerate sinful living in my life and this is key for us to understand because of the great confusion around these truths today we need to help people understand this even those who claim to be religious claim to be Christians they will have misunderstandings in these areas now we need to help them that’s part of our fulfilling the Great Commission but two other things I want to point out briefly by way of application before we close two questions for you to consider when it comes to assurance of salvation on when I say come speak of assurance I’m talking about that settled sense that you were at peace with God you know Jesus you will be spared from God’s wrath and you will be with the Lord forever in heaven what is the primary source or what ought to be the primary source of a believers assurance is it his belief in Jesus or is it his works of righteousness what ought to be the source of his assurance now may I submit you an answer that may be a little bit surprising it’s both your assurance ought to come from both your belief in Jesus and the works of righteousness that are produced in your life because if you only have one or the other if you only holds one or the other you’re going to find yourself in trouble if you make good deeds your only source of assurance then not only are you in danger slipping into works righteousness that idea of I need to keep doing good works to be saved to be acceptable to God but you will probably find yourself deeply discouraged whenever you sin because you will say to yourself oh how could i as a Christian have committed this sin oh I don’t even know if I’m saved every time you sin you will doubt your salvation and you’re probably struck to do a whole bunch of extra good works to make it up to God every time you’ve upset him now this right for us to grieve over sin and repentance does result in a change of life but you must never forget that it was not your righteousness that saved you or made you acceptable to God in the first place it was Christ we can consider the example of the thief on the cross when it came to his assurance of salvation did he point to his righteous works he said I know I’m going to heaven because look at the fruit in my life no you didn’t have anything to point to but he was confident he had a reason for confidence what was that reason the words of Jesus because jesus said I tell you today you will be with me in paradise I tell you that today you’ll be with me in paradise right it’s merely the words of Jesus and his belief in those words and belief in Jesus himself that he says I know that I belong to him I know that I’m saved so his assurance was based on the word of Jesus and his belief in Jesus but if anyone if any one of you makes his belief the only source of assurance you say oh I believe in it doesn’t matter anything else I know I believed if that’s the only source of your assurance then you also are in danger you’re in danger of slipping in a cheap grace and antinomianism doesn’t matter how I live Jesus will accept me you may find yourself inappropriately comforting yourself while you pierce yourself through with sins and pierce the church through with sins and many sorrows you may even believe yourself to be saved when you’re not forgetting that’s believed in Jesus will result in a change life and a commitment to love and holiness do not forget the haunting words of Jesus in Matthew 7 22 and 23 Jesus says many will say to me on that day Lord Lord did we not prophesy in you name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles and then I will declare them I never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness now in some way it might seem difficult to you unite these two ideas how come my shirts come to my from my works and at the same time come from belief apart from works I’m not exactly sure how to explain all of it but I know that they’re both true as they’re both related and important in the in the process of salvation that we’ve looked at today so they are important in our assurance it’s very interesting historically to see how depending on the climate of Christianity at a certain time one part of a Christians assurance will be emphasized over the other and today in today in our period in America we’re cheap grace is the predominant gospel the true church rightly stands up and says but you forgot that without fruit in your life if you live a life of wickedness you don’t have a right to assurance of salvation but in other periods this wasn’t the phenomena gospel in fact in the Reformation the truth about assurance that Calvin and Luther and others felt the need to proclaim was that don’t trust in your imperfect works your source assurance should be in the work of Jesus itself should be in your Lord so we need to be sensitive to both of those things of course in our culture area especially what we are you know still dealing with the idea of lordship do you really have to submit to Jesus we we err on that side of the assurance formula or at that side of assurance but it’s the other aspect we need to keep in mind – I have one other question but we don’t have time to explore today and that is do Christians have the right or responsibility to judge their fruit or salvation state of other people that takes some explanation there really the answer is yes with an asterisk we have to judge with the righteous judgment it cannot be hypocritical it cannot be a man-made standard that’s what Jesus was talking about when he said do not judge lest you be judged but to do the Christian life we have to make decisions we have to make conclusions we have to come to judgments not kind of Nations but conclusions on what is a person’s likely spiritual state how can I best speak to a minister to that person if we’re called to admonish a courage or buek how can we do that unless we pay attention to the evidence that is before us and even our apostles in our Lord they told us how to do that they told us what the fruit of the flesh looks like and what the fruit of the Spirit looks like we can never see into someone’s heart all we can do is say hey look this is what I see I’m concerned for you brother I’m concerned for you friend but can it be sweeping with our judgments and say you’re in sin so you obviously are not a Christian there may be misunderstandings about how sanctification works that we need to help that brother or sister understand but we do look at fruit as a way to help assess how we can better minister to a person now there’s a lot more we could say in the subject of faith works this is all the time we have for today in the end these truths are to help us not only be faithful to the scriptures but to glorify God this is also ludia glory for the glory of God alone next week we’ve returned to the New Testament epistles and we’re can consider a new theme another theme another very important theme and that is the idea of our being made children of God why is it important what does that mean let’s talk about that next week that’s praise be close our Lord and God we thank you that for this revelation of your truth that salvation is indeed all of you and it comes by faith and yet God we know that works are going to be a purpose and result in that Lord we struggle in this area we struggle to not forget one aspect or the other we can easily become legalist we can easily excuse Lord protect us from that and lord I pray that that we would give you the glory just as you deserve thank you Lord for performing this work for delivering us out of darkness from being children or wrath and even making us into your sons in Jesus name Amen all right thank you all I will see you next week