Demonstrated Faith

James chapter 2. We are still in our series, Good Works Flow From Good Faith. And I tell you that series title has really been coming alive as we have gotten into these verses in chapter 2. Now we've realized as we've continued just verse by verse, word by word, that this portion of chapter 2 that we've been in, really beginning in verse 14, we have seen James in this particular role. I think you've noticed I've carried this theme, the last two messages in the introduction to the message that James has become this protester. He's protesting the false faith that he has seen infiltrated the lives of these believers.

Now let's just think for a moment. You know James had his headquarters there in Jerusalem. We know that there was a persecution that scattered and drove these Christians out into the highways and byways out of Jerusalem. And he knew these people. He loved them. He had this loving heart. And he had seen this false faith, this cheap grace infiltrate their lives. And he's just really driving a stake in the ground. And he's becoming this protester. And we're seeing this theme starting in verse 14 and it's carrying on. Now we've also learned that James is not alone. We've seen that there are other men in the scriptures who were protesters.

I thought about the prophets of old, the Old Testament prophets. Did they not protest the false teaching and the godlessness in the lives of the people? But we learned last week that John the Baptist was a great protester as well. And see for me as we're in James, that just shows me that James is in pretty good company, is he not? I mean he and John were hand in hand in protesting false faith, cheap grace, this false, unsaving faith that has come into the lives of these Christians and in the lives of these churches that he's writing to.

Now if we follow church history, we will see through the generations that there have been many men, there have been many peoples who have protested. I've spoken of some of these men. I mentioned men like Whitcliffe who was an Englishman in the 1300s and of course those famous men in the 1500s during that great Protestant Reformation. Men like Luther and some of the others. They were obviously more famous.

But as you study these men through the generations starting even in the gospels and in the scriptures, going back to the Old Testament prophets, there have always been men that God has brought up to protest and to stand firm on the fundamentals of the Word of God. That's what protesting is. Just standing up and saying no to the falsehoods, no to the false teachings that it's in the church. Now in the verses that we're going to be in this morning, we begin to see James in a slightly different role. And what I mean is we start to see James as a reformer. He starts to put on the hat of a reformer. It is easy to protest.

I was telling Brother Keith this yesterday. It's easy to protest. All you need is a platform. All you need is a stump to stand on. But see, as a reformer, it becomes more difficult because reformation, it takes rolling up your sleeves and listen, reforming is in the trenches. See he's in the trenches with these people and he loves them. Brother Keith and I have had this conversation before. You know a lot of people like to talk about the reformation and the reformers and I enjoy that. We should study that. But I'll tell you, I don't want to just keep looking at the past. I want to look at the present and the future. We are reformers.

We are reforming a church. We are reforming a work. We are reforming a people. We are standing on the truths. And I just tell you, I find myself in the tradition of these protesters. I've done my fair share. I've climbed up on the stump and I have protested. And now God's put us in a place where we can be the reformers that God wants us to be. Now we've seen James describe their faith. We saw that in verses 14 through 17 as we looked at their dead faith. Now last week we saw James dissect their faith. He cut that faith open, did he not? And he showed us what their faith was. It was called demonic faith out of verses 18 through 20.

Now this week we're going to see James delineate their faith. That was a step further. He's going to delineate, now listen, true faith. He's going to delineate the real faith, the saving faith. John MacArthur calls this portion of text the living faith. Warren Wiersby, he calls it dynamic faith. And then this week as Brother Keith and I were talking, he just threw out this term demonstrated faith. I kind of grabbed onto it and that's the title of the message this morning. Demonstrated faith out of James chapter 2 starting in verse 21. Let's pick up where we left off last week.

James says, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? It's a question. You see that faith was working with his works and as a result of works, faith was perfected or completed. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, and Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers 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 the title of the message I've already shared is demonstrated faith and you see on the screen the two main truths that we're going to dive into this morning. If you're taking notes, I trust that you write these down and we're going to flash these out in the message. But number one, we see faith is completed. We see that faith is completed. Number two, we see that faith is imparted. And then number three, we see faith is demonstrated. So we see faith is completed, faith is imparted and faith is demonstrated.

Now in dealing with these verses, obviously we have more verses at hand than verses 22, 23 and 24. But in dealing with these verses, I want to take them a little out of order. Now at the end of the message, I'm going to grab the leftover verses and I'm going to tie it all up together. But what we're going to see at the end of the message, there are examples, examples that help us understand. James is illustrating as James now is delineating true faith. See in the last two messages, he's identified dead faith, he's identified demonic faith, he has described their faith, he's dissected their faith.

And now in this reformation, what he's saying is, this is the faith that you must have. This is true faith. See, it's a twofold word. It's not just that he stands up and says, this is wrong over here. He has to turn right around with a reformer's heart and say, this is right, right here. And that's what he's doing this morning. He is delineating true faith, what we call demonstrated faith. So let's dive into these verses. Let's see what we can learn this morning. So number one, number one, we see that faith is completed. Go to verse 22. Faith is completed.

James says, you see that faith was working with his works and as a result of the works, faith was perfected. Now this pertains to Abraham. We're going to pick up with him later, but there are some truth here that we must see and we must be careful here in this verse. What I mean is James is not teaching faith plus works are required for salvation. Now let me say this to you. There are quote unquote Christian denominations in churches that do believe that there are certain works that you must have. My wife and I had a conversation this weekend with someone who believes in faith plus works for salvation.

James is not teaching that you must have faith plus works. That is a requirement for our salvation. James is teaching that works are a natural outgrowth of genuine salvation. Let me show you some things out of the verse. First, I want you to see that faith is operative. Faith is operative. Go back to the verse. You see that faith was working with his works. It wasn't just in the past tense and we know it's in the past tense because he's talking about Abraham, but what he's showing you is it is an operative operating work. This faith is alive. This faith is not dead.

It does operate day by day and James is stating and James is restating that genuine faith works. It is not dead, but it operates. Second, I want you to see that faith is completed. Faith is completed. Go back to the verse. You see that faith was working with his works and as a result of the works, notice faith was perfected. Perfected. Faith was perfected. In this verse, there is a key word and that is this word perfected or completed. The English Standard Version uses the word completed. Now the King James, it says made perfect. Now this word here, it means that the individual's faith is completed.

It is brought to a level of maturity and fruitfulness. Now when the word perfection or perfect is used here, it does not mean that it is brought to a place of flawlessness. No, that would be sinless perfection, but what it means is it is brought to a place of fullness and a place of maturity. That's why really for us in our day, the word completed is a better translation because it helps us understand what James is teaching. He's saying that this faith is operative and this faith is completed. Let me give you an example that will help us get our mind around this.

We know that summer is winding up, but we also know that in the springtime, some of us get excited to break up our little garden plot and to plant our gardens. My garden is looking a little rough. I'm still gathering a little ochre and I got a few tomatoes and there's some peas out there if I want to go get them, but most of them are dried up. But I think most of you, even if you've never worked a garden in your life, you know how it works. Someone breaks up the ground, there is a seed that is planted and that seed grows and then one day in the right time you hope and you pray for what? Produce.

I enjoy planting snap beans, I plant peas, I plant some squash for my wife and no matter what that seed is, I expect to get produce and I can watch outside and I see the seeds, they begin to sprout and then as they begin to mature, they bloom and then when they finish blooming, I know that there is fruit coming soon and then when I see that fruit come to maturity, I get to go out there and I get to pick the peas and the snap beans, whatever it may be.

But in that seed, which I can put in my hand, there is the potential for fruitfulness and when I plant my garden, I don't get out there and I don't shout hallelujah and jump for joy when it is halfway grown. I don't get out there and shout hallelujah when I see blooms on my tomato plants. No, I get excited when I see mature fruit and when I go out there, whether it is snap beans or ochre or peas, no matter what I plant, when I go out there and I begin to pick fruit, that is when I know that that plant, whatever it may be, is to perfection. It is to completeness. It is reached full maturity and it is reached full fruitfulness.

That's what James is teaching. You see that faith was working with these works and as a result of works, faith was completed. Faith was perfected. This isn't the only place that this is taught. You don't have to turn there, but I will mention to you, Matthew chapter 7 starting in verse 19. Matthew chapter 7 starting in verse 19. Notice what Jesus says. Excuse me. I guess I need to get out of Mark and get to Matthew. Apologize for that. Matthew chapter 7 verse 19. I'm going to back up to verse 16. "You will know them," Jesus says, talking about people, "by their fruits." Then he gives an illustration.

"Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and it is thrown into the fire, so you will know them by their fruits." What Jesus is saying is this. A good tree will produce good fruit. He's talking about real Christians and what he is saying is they will grow to maturity. They will grow to completeness. They will grow to fruitfulness. And I saw James this saying right here.

He's talking about Abraham and he says, "You see that faith was working with his works and as a result of his works, his faith was perfected. It was completed." You know, it's been fun to watch God work here. It's been fun and studying this week and just gazing out at who you are and see as a pastor, as the overseer, as the shepherd, I see where some of you are. Some of you, you're just little tiny, tender sprouts. "Oh, you've been born again. Maybe you've been born again a few short years ago, but you're just a tiny, tender sprout and yes, you're growing. Yes, you're trying to grow, but it just takes time." Some of you are younger plants.

What I mean is you've had a little time to grow. You've got a little height on you, but you're still needing to grow. Some of you maybe are at a place where there's some blooms in your life. What I mean is there is potential for real fruit. But then some of you, you're at a place of fruitfulness. Maybe we should all desire to get to a place of being used by God to bring about true Christian fruit to be used of God in maturity in kingdom work wherever God puts us. It's not that we should ever be excited to just sprout about Nihai and stay right there. And this is what we see. Faith is completed.

And in this completeness, we see maturity and fruitfulness. Let's move on to number two. Number two, I want us to see, faith is imparted. Faith is imparted. Look at verse 23, "And the scripture was fulfilled which says, 'And Abraham and Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called the Friend of God.'" Now, really in our language, we can say it like this. James is just giving Abraham's testimony. James is giving Abraham's story of conversion. Now, I want to stop here for just a second. This is a little side note. Every person who has been biblically converted has a story to tell.

Every now and then, I run across people in the life of the church, and you'll begin to talk with them, and you'll get down to the point of their "conversion." And they don't have a story. They don't have anything to say. It's vague. It's wishy-washy. It's just kind of, you know, gray. But not people who are truly born again.

See, Abraham had had an experience with God, and what God is showing us here is from Genesis, but yet James is repeating, "He's just giving us his testimony." Some people might say, "Brother Chris, why do you have to be so black and white?" Jesus said it in John 5, verse 24, when he says that we have gone from death to life. See, that's what has happened with Abraham, and James is just giving Abraham's testimony. But let's just break this verse down, and let's see about this faith that is imparted. First, I want you to see that there is revelation.

Go back to the Scripture, and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." But what I want you to see is there are certain things that went on behind this verse. What I mean is, if we study the life of Abraham, we know that God called him out of that pagan land in Genesis, chapter 11, but his conversion didn't take place to Genesis 15. What do we see here? There is a work of God in Abraham's life. God is calling Abraham to himself. God is about revealing himself to Abraham. This is that personal work of revelation.

God, I guess I can say it like this, is got Abraham on the line, and he is just reeling him in. He's drawing him to himself. This is the revelation work of God. It happens to every person who is ever born again. God draws them. God changes their life. God supernaturally works. That's the revelation of God. Second, I want you to see there is belief. We see this clearly stated in the Scripture, and Abraham what? Believed God. Every translation uses that. Abraham believed God. This is the responsibility of man.

Abraham had a responsibility when he came to that point in time to trust by faith to believe in God and therefore trust God in salvation. That's what we see. This is the responsibility of man. This is where I want to go. Third, we see there is impartation. There is impartation. Our faith is imparted. Go back to the verse. Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Now, this word "reckoned" here is the key word. This word "reckoned" here can be translated in other ways. It can be translated "counted." Now, this is the work of God. This is God justifying Abraham. This is God making Abraham right with himself.

This is a pure grace gift of God. There is nothing that Abraham could do. This is the supernatural work of God, of God making Abraham right with himself. You don't have to turn there, but I'm going to turn over to the book of Romans. If you really want to study justification, you can get neck deep in Romans chapter 4 and chapter 5. But I want to read from you what Paul says in Romans about Abraham. I'm going to read the first five verses. "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

For what does the scripture say? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned, or counted to him as righteousness. Now, to the one who works his wage, is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness." What is Paul doing? Paul is separating grace by faith from those who believe that they can work to attain it. And he is showing us that Abraham did not work to attain his faith, it was imparted to him. Again, this word right here in Romans is reckoned or counted.

And this word reckoned or counted in the original, it is a financial legal term. It means to take something that does not belong to someone and to credit it to another's account. There is action, but it is one-sided. God is the one who is doing the work, and Abraham is the recipient. Abraham didn't do anything for it, otherwise it wouldn't be grace. It wouldn't be a grace gift. And what we see in James and what we see in Romans is the same thing, and that is, Abraham was made right by God by an imparted righteousness. This is what Bible theologians call justification. Christ's righteousness was imparted, given to Abraham.

Righteousness was credited to his account. But then I want us to move on. There is something we could miss. Fourth, there is a declaration. Verse 23, "And the scripture was fulfilled which says, 'And Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.'" Notice what it says now, "And he was called a friend of God." Now, what's the deal with that phrase there? What God is saying is, God is declaring that he is justified because he is declaring Abraham's relationship to him before he was an enemy of God, but yet we saw the love of God drawing Abraham, but after this point, he is a friend of God.

And what we see here, this is God declaring Abraham's position before him. He is justified. It is counted to him. And you know what? He is a friend of God. I have really pondered this truth all week. And I have really pondered, I like illustrations. I have pondered for an illustration that would help teach us this. This is not a perfect one, but I think it helps. If you watch on the news very much, if you watch it or read it, you will know that one of the hot topics in our culture today is immigration. We know that our borders are pretty much open and lots of people are coming to America.

But see, this isn't the first time immigration has been an issue. I remember a few years ago, I went to New York City. And we did a little sightseeing and we went to Ellis Island. I don't know if you know what Ellis Island is, but Ellis Island back in its day was called the Gateway to the New World. And when people were coming from Europe in so many other places and they were coming to America, they were immigrating, they would come to and through Ellis Island. It was opened in 1892 and it served as a place where millions of, we would call them maybe refugees, people were coming to the New World and it was closed in 1954.

It's a small little three acre block of land right in the New York Harbor, right by the Statue of Liberty. And so many people, now listen, legally immigrated into our country. But some of us might not know what happens, but when someone immigrates, now listen, and they become a citizen, you know what happens? Citizenship is imparted. Yes, they swear allegiance and all that good stuff. There is a certain amount of factual information that they have to know. But what happens is they are an alien, they are from a foreign land and they come for whatever reason.

And when they come and they become a citizen, citizenship and all of its rights, it is given. It is a free gift. It is imparted. The difference today in immigration is so many people come illegally. See, it's just like today in the life of the church. There are people, they have come into the life of the church legally. They have a righteousness that is imparted. They have been born again. They have trusted. They have believed by faith. They have received the new birth. They sit in a pew. They call themselves Christian. And look, they are citizens legally. But there are a lot of people sitting in the pews of the church. They're illegals.

That's what James is dealing with. That's why last week he said, "It doesn't matter what you say. You're just like the demons. It is a demonic faith and you hate God as well." They were illegals. And I guess my question for you this morning is, what side of the immigration issue are you on? What way have you come into the four walls of the church? Have you come illegally by your works, by your profession, just by what you say? Or have you come because you've experienced the new birth? God has saved you. God has come. God has worked in your life and you had a righteousness that you know you could not earn. And you did nothing for it.

That's why when you come across someone who has been saved that way, they'll just look up with tears in their eyes and they'll say, "Oh, I was a worm." But praise God, he saved me. What is that? That is righteousness imparted. See, we always have this struggle in the life of the church. There are some that come and they're illegals. There are some that come and they have a righteousness that is imparted. I like what Warren Wiersby says about this verse. He says, "Justification is an important doctrine in the Bible.

Justification, it is an act of God whereby he declares the believing sinner righteous on the basis of Christ's finished work on the cross. It is not a process, it is an act. It is not something the sinner does, it is something that God does for the sinner when he trusts Christ. It is a once for all event and it never changes." And that's what Abraham had, a faith that was imparted, a free gift. Let's move on. Number three, I want us to see faith is demonstrated. Faith is demonstrated. Look at verse 24. "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." That's a shorter verse, but yet it's so much.

Now, you have to pay attention to verses 23 and 24. And if you pay attention to verses 23 and 24, it's almost contradictory. Let me go back and read them. "For the scripture was fulfilled when it says, 'Abraham believed God and it was reckoned in him his righteousness.'" Verse 24. "You see that a man is justified by works." Now, what does James say? It just seems like there's a contradiction. How can Abraham be justified before God by faith in verse 23? But yet now it says that he's justified by works in verse 24. James is not teaching salvation by works. He's not teaching that Abraham could earn this salvation. Now, what is he showing us?

We know that James taught this salvation was a grace gift. We saw that earlier. We've seen that in other verses. James is teaching and Paul is teaching that it is a grace gift. We also see that this was a grace gift from the Old Testament. Paul quoted in Romans 4. James quotes here in verse 23. But what is James doing? Is this a contradiction? No. What James is teaching is, first, man is justified before God by faith. That's faith imparted. And second, man is justified before man by works. You get that? Man is justified by faith before God and man is justified before other men by works. You must get that. That's what James is trying to say.

Remember there's this empty argument. They had words. They had words. They had arguments. They had words. But they did not have works. And what he is saying is, if you have a faith that is imparted by God, you will have a faith that will justify you before mankind. Again, another illustration from our culture. Fall is right on us. Football season is here and everybody gets excited about football. I'll catch a game or two, but I'm not going to go crazy over it. But in professional sports, it's a little different. You watch these young men, they come out of college and they try to make that professional team and they go through the process.

Maybe they're drafted. Maybe they're a free agent and it's picked up. But you know, it does not matter what college they played for. It does not matter how fast they run the 40 or how good their hands are or what their skill set is. It doesn't matter about the intangibles and all that good stuff. Really what it comes down to, they must get out on that field and look, they must demonstrate that they are professional. Good enough to play in that league. And see, after a period of time, look, they are justified before their peers. Before they are justified before their peers, all they have is words.

I can play, I can play, I can do this, I can do this. But yet when they make that roster and they get out there and they prove themselves, those others who are professionals, they look up and they give them respect, they give them what they do, why? Because they're justified in their sight. That's a great example of what James is teaching. This faith must be demonstrated for the world to see. And that's what he's teaching us in verse 24. Faith is demonstrated for mankind. But you know, most people in the church these days have words. It's a charade. It's a game. I'll tell you an illustration. It's a little comical, but it's very serious.

When I moved to Brook Avon, I went to some church events and I started noticing this young man in our community. He had some struggles that maybe mean you don't have. But I would bump into him and you would see him, he would have on, now listen, I know it's going to be comical, but it's serious. He would be dressed from head to toe in a basketball outfit. He would come up around certain schools and he would have on these athletic outfits. And then he was just, he would have on Michael Jordan jerseys, he had on the shoes. I mean, he was dressed from head to toe like a basketball player. But he couldn't beat you in horse. It was a game.

It was a charade. Now he had some struggles, I understand. But you know, everybody knew how this young man was. I mean, how's he going to dress up this time? What is he going to act like this time? And you know, we look at it and we laugh. We, you know, we give him a pass card on it because he struggled a little bit. But the seriousness of it is this. There are so many people in the life of the church. That's exactly what they're doing. They put on the clothes, they grab their, their Bible and they have those words like James is talking about. But yet the lost world looks at you and they look at you just like that young man. They laugh.

They say it's a charade. I worked in the lost world. I spent 10 years full time student ministry. You know, I was a professional Christian. My wife used to say, you get to go to church and read your Bible and get paid. It was true. But yet when God took me out of that and I started working in the real world, I saw how real people thought. I saw, I heard what real people said. I heard what lost people, their values, their morals.

And you know, we would be working and I would hear them talk about this church and that church and these deacons and these church leaders and that guy that teach a Sunday school and look, they could describe them to the tee. And then they would laugh and scoff and they would talk about how they really do live. As a matter of fact, because I was a preacher, they'd look at me and they would just look. I just shrugged my shoulders. I knew it was true. It's a charade. Their faith was not justified before the lost world.

And what we're seeing in verse 24 is James is saying, you see that a man is justified by works, not by just words, not by just faith before the lost world. Now we've been looking at verses 22 through 24, but what about the rest of the verses? This is kind of coming to the conclusion of the message. What we see right here is James gives us two examples for these readers. He is delineating true faith. He's teaching true faith right here from verse 22 to 24, but in the other verses he's giving examples. He's trying to show the, on what true saving faith looks like. Now last week the message was demonic faith. We dealt with this empty argument.

Now he is simply saying, listen people, let me just show you what real saving faith is. Let me show you demonstrated faith, dynamic faith, living faith. First we have Abraham. Go back to verse 21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar. Then he goes on to say, you see that faith was working with his works and as a result of the works, faith was perfected. It was completed and the scripture was fulfilled when it says Abraham believed God and it was reckoned into him as righteous and what he was a friend of God. This is his first example.

And you know, all week I've just been pondering this, pondering this. What did Abraham have that was so dynamic? First we've seen that he did have true saving faith. Second we've seen, we see that he did walk in obedience. Now he had his struggles, but he walked in obedience. But let me tell you what is just stands out for Abraham is this, the tremendous sacrifice that he had to make. Go back to the verse. Was not Abraham our father justified by works? Notice when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar. What did God call Abraham to do?

God said to Abraham one day, he said Abraham take your son, your one and only son and I want you to sacrifice him. Some of the study I came across this week said that God had never required human sacrifice. I've never seen that before, but what did Abraham do? He lived by faith. He walked in obedience. He did not question God. It said that he split that wood and he took that wood and he took that fire and he took some of his servants and he traveled and he then he left those servants and he took the wood for the sacrifice and he put it on Isaac's back and he journeyed three days into the wilderness. He built that altar.

He put that wood and he took Isaac and he tied him up hand and foot. He put him on the altar and he raised a knife to slay his son and God said wait. But the word of God says that before he went up to make that sacrifice, he left his servants and he said I will return me and the boy. Notice what he's saying. I'm going to fully obey God. I'm going to slay my son, but he says to the servants, me and the boy will come back. What is he saying? I believe God because God promised to give me a son and I will have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. So the scripture says that even Abraham believed that he could raise the dead.

And what we see is Abraham had counted his son dead. And although he did not plunge the knife in his body, listen, he offered up his one and only son. The great sacrifice that Abraham had to make. And you know today we just we don't have a sacrificial Christianity today. No one wants to sacrifice, but yet this is all through the scriptures. What does Jesus say in Mark chapter seven? You don't have to turn there. Mark chapter seven. What do we see? Peter as he is confess Christ, verse 27, Jesus says, who do people say that I am? But notice what Peter says. Peter said you are the Christ, the son of the living God. This is a profession of faith.

But what happens is Peter begins to argue about the crucifixion and then Jesus in verse 34 says, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up what? His cross. This is a sacrificial religion, folks. To follow Christ, you must sacrifice, sacrifice all. Jesus is telling Peter, you must shoulder your cross and follow me. That's why so many people just couldn't follow Jesus. They didn't want sacrifice. They wanted Jesus to do the dying and they wanted to do the living. That's just words. It's a charade. Second, look at the next example.

Verse 25, and in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messages and sent them out by another way? What do we have here? This might be a less familiar story. Joshua is leading the people after Moses has passed. They're getting ready to take the promised land. They're getting ready to cross the Jordan and Joshua sends two spies into the city of Jericho. All of the people of Jericho had heard all about what God was doing for Israel. They had locked up the city tight, but yet the spies came into the city and they stumbled upon a Rahab. She was an innkeeper, a harlot. And what did she do?

She took those spies in and what did she say? She said, we've heard all about your God. We are trembling with fear, but somehow, some way in the midst of that, just like Abraham, she had believed God and it was credited to her as righteousness because what did she do? She exhibited saving faith. She walked in obedience just like Abraham, but what did she do different? She took tremendous risk. Think about this. If her own people would have discovered that she hid the spies, that she lied to them and she sent the spies out, she would have lost her life in an instant. What did the spy say?

The spy said, you hide behind this scarlet thread, hide this scarlet thread in the window, hanging in the window. And when we come in and take the city, if you are behind the scarlet thread, we will spare you. But they said, if you come out from behind the scarlet thread, we are not responsible for your blood. That's a picture of Christ. But what happened? Not only was Rahab behind the scarlet thread, but all of her family. What did she do? She went out and she evangelized and she took risk. She risked putting up the spies. She risked lying to the people of the city. She risked sending the spies out. She risked going to her family.

She risked everything and she hid behind the scarlet thread. See what's wrong with our Christianity today is this, we can't take risks. That's not in our vocabulary. That's not in our plan for our life. Sacrifice and risk, that's not part of the deal, God. No, I want my 401K and I want my nice house and I want a nice wife, a nice family and I want a good job and I want to live on the corner and my kids to grow up. I want the American dream. Abraham had to sacrifice all. See, she had to risk all and I want to ask you, do you have a faith that when it is put to the test and it is demonstrated that you could sacrifice and risk?

I've had to make sacrifices. Not like son. I've never been stoned or beaten. I've never been put in jail, but I've had to make sacrifices. I think every true Christian can trace back their walk with God and see sacrifices that they've had to make in obedience to the lordship of Christ as they love God, serve God and walk with God. The Lord comes and says, "Son, daughter, I want you to make this sacrifice," and you say, "Yes, Lord." If we're going to live for God in this country, we might have to take risks. Tonight, you're going to hear Luke talk about India. I'm sure you're going to mention him talk about a man named Jeevan. I met Jeevan.

He was the one that has six or seven orphans living in his house. I met his wife, Maryam. I saw the little thatched hut that he lives in. But see, the joke with Jeevan and some of the other Indian Christians, you know, they joke like we do. Jeevan was arrested at one time for taking orphans and providing them Christian education. He was arrested and thrown in jail. He didn't know if he was going to live. And I heard some of the other Indian pastors talk about how when they would come to visit him and how his beard was grown out and he was dirty. But he took a risk. Why? Because God burdened him for the orphan.

He went out and he took the orphan and he brought them into his home. And what did he do? He risked his life because you can be killed for being a Christian in his culture. But you know what's amazing? He didn't just risk his life. Yesterday, he still got orphans. And do we have a faith that when it is put to the test and it has to be demonstrated, would we offer sacrifice of all and would we risk all? But look, according to what James says and you back it up with what Jesus teaches, that is the standard. Everything else is substandard. And according to James, it's dead and demonic. Y'all are probably tired of these statistics by now.

Remember in 2012, we had 15,872,404 church members in our Southern Baptist Convention. But yet we only had 5,966,735 who attended. 9,905,669. Two-thirds of those who profess Christ and are on the church roll, know where to be found. Dead faith. Demonic faith. You can knock on their door. They can take you down the Roman road. They will probably tell you that they taught Sunday school. But they cannot make a sacrifice and they do not risk anything. The numbers don't get any better in 2013. And you might say, "Well, you know, Pastor, I've noticed that you've been a little more animated these past messages.

You've been a little more into it." Yes, I have because I've been protesting this dead faith for years. It won't save. It won't save. And it doesn't save. And what we see here is, this is a demonstrated faith. It is delineated for us. And I want to ask you as we close, do you have a faith that when it is tested, you will sacrifice all?

That means that if the living Lord Jesus were to come to me and say, "Chris, I want one of your children from the mission field and they might never return," I have to say, "Yes, Lord, they're not mine." That means if the Lord chooses to bring hardship, whatever sacrifice, if He wanted to take all the money I have and use it for Kingdom work and be poor the rest of my life, I must make sacrifice. If He wants me to risk my life, if He wants me to put my life on the line, day in and day out, day in and day out, listen, all you've got to do is follow the news. There are Christians on the face of the earth. They are dying for the faith.

Do we have this kind of faith? Now, as I close, verse 26, "For just as the body without the Spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." One more image and we'll close. I was keeping up for a little while on the news about the Malaysian flight that was shot down over the Ukraine. If you watched much of it, you will see that they only recovered a portion of the bodies. The hostility, the rebels, the conflict there just kept those peoples who would go retrieve those bodies for those loved ones. I could still see it.

I saw a picture as I was reading and there was a picture days after the plane came down and they had pictures of wreckage. And as I scanned that picture, I started picking up images. Yes, that's a body. Yes, that's a body. Yes, that's part of a body. That's a body. Days. And I thought, what a petrifying sight. What a petrifying smell. That's what James is saying. "For just as the body without the Spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." So many of the people at our churches, even some of you, you have a dead petrifying faith and it's not working. And I love you enough to tell you.

Tired of the message this morning is demonstrated faith. Let's pray.