Fatal Assumption: Exposing the Myths of Being Born Again

What we’re trying to get our arms around is there is a lot of stuff out there that looks and sounds and has the word “Jesus” and “church” and “religion,” that claims to be Christianity that’s really not. And we looked at fatal deception in week number one and then a fatal perception in week number two.

And this week really, really hits home with me because it’s how I grew up. There are fatal assumptions. There are a number of people who are convinced in their heart of hearts and in their minds that they are exactly right with God and they have a fatal assumption. They don’t know the story. They don’t know the truth. And there is nothing more dangerous than having a huge need and not knowing about it.

There is an article by Kenneth Woodward, out of Newsweek. And it’s, The Rights of Americans: Religion in America, and the summary of the article is this; it’s a direct quote. He says, “Religion: Are You a Believer?” That’s the rhetorical question. And then they have all kinds of sociological reports and data.

And here’s what they conclude: “Provocative new surveys reveal a nation where most claim to be religious, but few take their faith seriously.” In fact, the article opens up, “Sociologists have long puzzled,” he says, “over surveys that show that the United States is the most religious nation in the advanced industrial West. When asked, more than,” listen to this, “ninety percent of Americans professed a belief in God.”

He goes on to say, “More than half say they pray at least once a day. And in any given week, at least according to their own report, forty percent claim to have attended a worship service.”

He goes on to say, however, that they have done some new studies and it says a bold, new sociological effort to look at the real strength, because, see, the problem is, in a world that is so secular, the sociologists are scratching their heads, all these people believe in God, all these people say this, but they’re all living like this. They are scratching their heads and saying, What’s going on here?

And so, a new study commissioned by a fellow named Green and colleagues from Furman, Wheaton, Calvin College, and Michigan all came together and they did an in depth random survey of four thousand and one Americans and they reconfigured the puzzle of American religion, along the following lines.

And what they are going to say is that thirty percent of Americans, eighteen and older, are purely secular; want really no part of God. Then they are going to go on to say there are about twenty-nine percent who are nominally religious. Like, Easter once every other year or, I believe in God. I doesn’t impact; no religious activity.

He is going to say another twenty-two percent are modestly religious. And that means they may believe in God, they have a denominational label, they may even go to church, but it has zippo impact on their values, their morals, their time, their energy, and their money.

And then, finally, their research indicates there is about nineteen percent of Americans, of any religious background, who are committed to the point that it makes a very significant difference in their morals, their attitudes, their relationships, their time, their priorities, their energy, and their money.

They conclude the article by saying, as Green and his fellow political scientists discovered, the levels of religious commitment do make a major difference on moral issues. More important, their figures helped to unravel the paradox of American religion. This is a great summary, “Half of the American population claims a religion that does not inform their attitudes or their behavior.”

Isn’t that amazing? “I believe it” has no impact on my behavior or my thinking. And by the way, before you think we’re all going to get together and be critical of those people out there, this is me. I thought about this and I thought, as I grew up, I would be in the modestly religious group or nominal. I went to church, in fact, you felt guilty if you didn’t go to church the way I grew up.

And it had absolutely nothing to do with my life. It was just something you’re supposed to do. And if someone asked me, in fact, I have to tell you this story, because for what I’m doing now, it’s God’s great sense of humor.

I’ve got a friend who his dad sold hearing aids. And he gave us a job, big money back then, like, three bucks an hour to stand all day at the Ohio State Fair in a booth as people walked by. And you know those people who bug you? Hey, take one of these, take one of these, you know, three bucks an hour back then, big money, I’ll do it. So we did it, the whole Ohio State Fair. And we are trying to get people to buy hearing aids.

Well, right across is another booth, and I still remember, it’s a bold, blue banner with big, white letters: “You must be born again!” And I’m thinking, You know, I wonder what they’re selling. We’re doing hearing aids, “You must be born again!” Reincarnation or something, I don’t know! I mean, I’ve never heard that phrase in my life.

So three or four days go by and I noticed they are kind of eyeing us we are two young guys, like sixteen, sixteen and a half. So finally this guy gets some courage up, walks across, and now I know he has been trained to ask this question and he did it in a very nice way. He said, “Excuse me.” He asked my name; I gave it. He said, “If you were to die today, are you certain that you would go to heaven?” And no one had ever asked me that.

And I leaned back and you know how your mind works real fast? I thought to myself, Well, I’m an American; I believe in God; I haven’t killed anybody; I cheat a little less than most people; I cuss a little less than most people; I’m trying to be a fairly good, moral guy; I’m an American; I believe in God. If God is any kind of guy at all, He is going to grade on the curve and I see all these people who aren’t doing nearly as good as me! And so with all that processing in my mind, I turned to him, you know, “Yeah!” He said, “Are you sure?” I said, “Absolutely.”

And that kind of blew his training and so he said, “Okay, see ya.” You know? You know what he should have asked? You know what he really should have asked? A follow-up question. He should have said, “Chip, does your belief in God have any correlation with how you think, how you act, how you treat people? Does it have any impact on how you life the rest of your life? And my answer would have been, “No, you mean it should?”

The idea, can I help some of you? The idea of a personal relationship with God was absolutely foreign to me. I had never read the Bible, I went to a church where we kind of went through a lot of gyrations and picked up on a few social causes and whoever talked did it briefly but was boring. The music was old and bad. You did your hour and you got out of there.

Now, I want you to listen carefully. Listen very, very carefully. These are the words of Jesus I am going to read. Jesus says some of the most loving, kind, awesome, hope-filled words, but He also says some words that are the most sobering and scary.

You can jot this down if you want to check it later and just listen for right now, though. Matthew chapter 7, verses 9 to 23. It’s the end of the Sermon on the Mount. He has just been teaching about life in the kingdom, about life with Him. He says, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them,” genuine followers, kingdom people, “by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”

And then these very, very sobering words, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did not we prophesy in Your name and in Your name cast out demons and in Your name perform many miracles?” Weren’t we involved in religious stuff? We were using Your name, we were involved in the religious action. And then notice His response, “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

It raises a very fundamental issue when we talk about counterfeit Christianity. You know that sign, “You must be born again,” is right out of John chapter 3, from the lips of Jesus. And what we know is that the Bible is very clear it’s not about trying hard; it’s not about being a good, moral person; it requires a second birth. Born again, literally is, born a second time.

You must have, just like physical life, you need to be physically born into the world. To have relationship with God the Father, it requires a spiritual birth that is accomplished by faith in Christ, His work on the cross as we had testimony of in the baptism this morning, that brings about a radical transformation.

Now, here’s the question, if I’m you, I would be asking for me and for those people I care about: How do you know? How do you know if you’re really born again?

It’s not about works, it’s not about trying hard, it’s about faith. We get that one down. But what kind of faith? What kind of faith placed in the person and work of Christ produces a second birth and then a transformed life?

And what we are going to find this morning is James is going to address that very question and he is going to say there are some myths going around. There are some fatal assumptions. There are some people who are believing there is a kind of faith that gives eternal life that it really doesn’t. And they are trapped in a system, either knowingly or unknowingly, and they are going to reach the final day and Jesus is going to say, “Depart from Me; I never knew you!” And all the while, they thought they were in.

The stakes are high this morning, people, okay? Some of you wouldn’t do us any harm if you prayed while I preached. If last night was any indication, some of you have been brought here today because God is going to introduce you to what saving faith looks like. A little bit later you will have a very clear opportunity to place your faith in Christ. And many will walk out those doors in about twenty-five to forty-five minutes with their sins forgiven, with the Spirit of God dwelling in their life, they will have a new birth, and nothing will ever be the same after today. Okay?

Let’s look at the text. James chapter 2, verses 14 to 26. A little outline is on the right hand, and the issue is: What kind of faith saves? We’ll look at, a little bit later, this is not about: Does faith save you or do your works save you? This is about what kind of faith saves you? What is legitimate faith? What’s the real deal?

Notice the rhetorical question he gives us in verse 14. He says, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims,” habitually claims or verbalizes is the idea, “to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith,” or that kind of faith, “save him?”

See, he is living in a day where people were saying, “I believe in Jesus, I think He’s the Messiah, I claim, I claim, I believe,” just like half of Americans. I believe! I’m a believer! But he says, “When we look at the life, there is no evidence of that faith making any impact on attitudes or actions or morals.”

And then he asks this question, “Can that kind of a faith save a person?” The issue isn’t: Are you saved by faith? The issue is: What kind of faith? So James puts that right out there on the table. Now he is going to give us a hypothetical situation; a little illustration, because he is going to identify a couple of myths.

And the first myth he is going to identify is that some people are going to think that their faith is real because they have an emotional experience. They are going to say, “I know my faith is real because I emotionally feel it. I had an ooey-gooey, I had a liver-quiver experience, I was sitting there in the pew and the light came through the stained glass. I went to the conference and as that person talked, I don’t know what happened, but tears came flowing down my eyes. Something happened. I had an emotional experience with God, therefore, I must be a part of God’s family.”

Notice what he is going to say – hypothetical situation. He says, verse 15, “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes,” literally the word is “naked,” or “nearly naked.” This isn’t like they need to upgrade their wardrobe. This is like they’ve got genuine need.

“So they don’t have enough clothes or daily food. If someone of you says, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about it, his physical needs, what good is it?” And, by the way, in Christian circles, that little phrase, “Go, be warmed and filled,” we use that sort of as a cliché for people who don’t really care. This was a Jewish idiom of the time. It was a genuine, sympathetic, sincere, this person sees an actual need. This person doesn’t have enough clothes and this person doesn’t have enough food! And this is an expression that is saying, “I care! I have been emotionally moved! Oh, gosh, that’s terrible!”

Something visceral, emotional, internal has happened about the response to human need. It’s like watching one of those World Vision things on TV, right? And the little kid has his belly out there and you see the tears in his eyes and then you say, “Oh, that’s terrible!” And then they push the little remote and you go on.

James is saying, “You can be emotionally moved, deeply moved, and even have a sense of God working in your emotional, sincere response, but if there is not an action that flows out of it, it’s not the kind of faith that saves.” In fact, notice the next line. He says, “In the same way,” that was his illustration, “in the same way, faith by itself,” or the kind of faith that is just an emotional response, “if not accompanied by action, is dead.”

And so the conclusion here is: Sincerity plus emotion minus action is counterfeit faith. It’s dead. It’s dead. How many of you have a friend, a relative, or maybe it’s even – actually, it happened, I’ll share in a minute, it happened to me – who went to a camp or went to a retreat or had one of those times where you were out in nature and you saw a sunset and you actually felt the presence of God? I mean, it was like, Ooooh, I mean, I know God is real!

Do you know what can happen? People can have a spiritual experience, have an emotional connect with God, and I think that’s a good thing. And think that since I emotionally connected in some way with God or His presence, I must be a part of His family now.

What James is saying is, “No, that’s not it.” Because, see, how many of you know someone who went to one of those retreats or went to a Promise Keepers or went to something and they said, “Oh, man, I was there. When the music came, tears were flowing down my eyes and this is…” and two weeks later you’re saying to yourself, There is zero difference in this person’s life. Two years later, there is zero difference in this person’s life. Five years later, zero difference in this person’s life.

There is no outgrowth of love for God’s people, there is no desire or yearning for the Scriptures, there is not a change in morality, there is not a difference in how they treat their family – zippo.

I was fifteen. And this is one of those experiences that happened that I only remembered it after I became a Christian. I think it’s one of those times where God clicks in your memory, because I didn’t even remember it.

But I was praying through this and God brought this to mind. And the way I grew up is that you had to go to church because not going to church made you feel guilty. And so if you didn’t show up you felt bad and it was better to just go ahead and go and get it over with so you didn’t feel guilty.

So I wake up late one morning and I’m not going to make it to my church. But there is this church behind our house, we unaffectionately called it, “The round church.” And it was this big, round building and cars were packed in there and I thought, You know, what the heck, a church is a church, I’ll go to this one.

So I go to this church and it’s a very different church. It’s an evangelical church and it’s a very expressive evangelical church. And I come from a tradition where no one says anything, hit the organ, light a couple candles, sit, light, stand, get out of there. You know? Let’s not talk to each other; let’s not build relationships.

So I reach out my hand and this guy shakes my hand and then he hugs me and I go, Oh my gosh. But now there is no way out and they are hugging each other and I’m going, Oooohhhh, you know?

So I do what new people do and I sit – the back row was already taken, the next row was already taken – so I get as far away as I can. And then they start playing this music. But instead of it being boring, it’s like, man, there’s joy in the room. And I didn’t know what God’s presence was really like but looking back, there was a sense of God’s presence. These people really cared for one another.

And I was used to a fifteen minute message that was really boring and get it over with and don’t talk much about God. And they had this guy, I think it was a missionary from South America and he talked about this radio ministry somewhere in South America and I had this odd feeling like these people were talking about God like He’s real!

I’m sorry, it’s just the way I grew up. Like He’s personal, like real events are happening and He is engaged in personal lives and orchestrating. In my mind, God was just, He is kind of over there and He wound up the universe and to stay on His good side, keep your nose a little cleaner than most people and try and be good and be an America, I believe and go to church. Get your hour done.

Well, as this service unfolds, they start to sing and this guy starts telling all these stories and, emotionally, something is happening. And after that, I don’t know what happened. All I knew, I didn’t have a clear message, I didn’t even know what it was all about, but with every head bowed and then my eyes were closed and then if God is doing something, I wasn’t sure what they were asking, raise your hand. And then after you raise your hand then stand up. And once you stood up then walk down forward.

I find myself in a church I have never been at with six other people down forward with tears coming down my face and some guy going, “Praise the Lord! It’s just so exciting!” I’m going, I don’t have any idea what just happened.

And so I went home, I did my hour, and I didn’t have any desire to read the Bible. Something happened, emotionally, with God. I had never been where God was before like that. So I tried, I thought I would tip God. I tried to quit cussing for three days. It didn’t work, so I decided, Forget it. I had no desire to go back, my life changed not at all. I don’t even remember that.

Now, was it a bad experience? No. In fact, I think God used that experience to prepare me later to come to Him. Here’s the deal though. I was not born again. Having a powerful, liver-quiver, tears to your eyes, experiencing God’s presence, emotive experience doesn’t mean you’re a Christian.

It means you came into the presence of God and God, being all-knowing, all-loving, all-caring and being an emotional being, because we are created in His image, you interacted with Him and you experienced something. Don’t confuse that, James is saying, with saving faith that brings about new birth, that brings about a transformed life.

I have a theory. It’s a theory, this is Chip, this isn’t from the Bible. Don’t quote it. My theory is, remember week number one? Seventy one point six million people claim to be born again Christians in the United States. Less than ten percent of them live in a way that demonstrates that their life is different. My theory is, a lot of those people are convinced that they are going to heaven because they have had an evangelical, emotional experience with God. And they think, I felt God. I must be okay.

And you know what scares me to death? That time when they meet Jesus and they say, “Hey! Isn’t it believing? And I had this deep, emotional experience and…” He says, “Depart from me.”
The way I grew up is that you had to go to church because not going to church made you feel guilty. And so if you didn’t show up you felt bad and it was better to just go ahead and go and get it over with so you didn’t feel guilty.

So I wake up late one morning and I’m not going to make it to my church. But there is this church behind our house, we unaffectionately called it, “The round church.” And it was this big, round building and cars were packed in there and I thought, You know, what the heck, a church is a church, I’ll go to this one.

So I go to this church and it’s a very different church. It’s an evangelical church and it’s a very expressive evangelical church. And I come from a tradition where no one says anything, hit the organ, light a couple candles, sit, light, stand, get out of there. You know? Let’s not talk to each other; let’s not build relationships.

So as this service unfolds, they start to sing and this guy starts telling all these stories and, emotionally, something is happening. And after that, I don’t know what happened. All I knew, I didn’t have a clear message, I didn’t even know what it was all about, but with every head bowed and then my eyes were closed and then if God is doing something, I wasn’t sure what they were asking, raise your hand. And then after you raise your hand then stand up. And once you stood up then walk down forward.

I find myself in a church I have never been at with six other people down forward with tears coming down my face and some guy going, “Praise the Lord! It’s just so exciting!” I’m going, I don’t have any idea what just happened.

And so I went home, I did my hour, and I didn’t have any desire to read the Bible. Something happened, emotionally, with God. I had never been where God was before like that. So I tried, I thought I would tip God. I tried to quit cussing for three days. It didn’t work, so I decided, Forget it. I had no desire to go back, my life changed not at all. I don’t even remember that.

Now, was it a bad experience? No. In fact, I think God used that experience to prepare me later to come to Him. Here’s the deal though. I was not born again. Having a powerful, liver-quiver, tears to your eyes, experiencing God’s presence, emotive experience doesn’t mean you’re a Christian.

It means you came into the presence of God and God, and God being all-knowing, all-loving, all-caring and being an emotional being, because we are created in His image, you interacted with Him and you experienced something. Don’t confuse that, James is saying, with saving faith that brings about new birth, that brings about a transformed life.

I have a theory. It’s a theory, this is Chip, this isn’t from the Bible. Don’t quote it. My theory is, remember week number one? Seventy one point six million people claim to be born again Christians in the United States. Less than ten percent of them live in a way that demonstrates that their life is different. My theory is, a lot of those people are convinced that they are going to heaven because they have had an evangelical, emotional experience with God. And they think, I felt God. I must be okay.

And you know what scares me to death? That time when they meet Jesus and they say, “Hey! Isn’t it believing? And I had this deep, emotional experience and…” He says, “Depart from me.” See, that was me. I’m not down on these people; that was me. I didn’t know. James says that’s myth number one.

But myth number two gets even deeper. Myth number two, he brings up this objector, this person who is arguing with him, hypothetically. And the objector, after hearing what James has just said, says something like, “Oh, James, hey, lighten up a little bit. We all have different gifts. It’s obvious that yours is deeds, but mine is faith. And they are kind of different.”

And he is going to now address the Jewish intellectual audience. He is going to talk to a group of people who are so into the theology and the right thinking and the right doctrine that if you believe, intellectually, all the right facts, then you’re okay with God.

And so what they are saying to James, sort of this objector is saying, “You know, lighten up. You’ve got that deeds side of life. Good for you. Someone needs to do that. We’ve got the faith side. We’ll do the intellectual work. We’ll do the great thinking about God.”

So now notice what James is going to say here. Myth number two is that I know my faith is real because I intellectually believe it. He is saying there is a group of people who think if you get all the facts right, Okay, I believe. Do you believe Jesus died on the cross? Yes. Do you believe He was fully man and fully God? Yes. Do you believe He was buried three days? Yes. Do you believe He rose from the dead? Yes. Great. Do you believe those facts? Yes. Well, I’m in! Isn’t that it? Intellectual assent? I agree with the right data.

And James is saying, “You can intellectually agree with the right data, and make that a substitute for trusting in the person of the living God. And intellectual assent to the right data is not saving faith.”

Watch what he does, verses 18 to 20. He says, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’” And James’ response is, “Show me your faith without the deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe God is one.” Now, for us, that’s like, Okay, yeah. He is speaking to a Jewish audience. This is the first book written in the New Testament. Almost all the early Christians were Jewish.

“You believe that God is one,” he is quoting Deuteronomy 6:4. And that was their distinctive among all people There is all this polytheism and all these gods but, “We’re Jews, man!” The great Shema, “Our Lord, our God is one God!” And so what he is basically saying, “You believe God is one?” He is really saying, “You have right orthodox doctrine and thinking about God?” And their answer is, “Well, yes.”

Then notice where he goes. He says, “Good!” And then he sort of pokes them a little bit. “Even the demons believe that – and shudder.” Demons know exactly who Jesus is. Demons know exactly what happened. They know He is fully God and fully man. They know He died on the cross to pay for the sins of all people. They know that He rose from the dead.

Not only do they have the intellect right, they have a pretty good emotional experience. It says they shudder. The word means fear or tremble or literally to have the hair on the back of your neck come up. Do you see what James is doing with them?

He is saying, “There is a myth floating around, there is a fatal assumption. It’s not an ooey-gooey experience kind of faith and it’s not just a sterile intellectual kind of faith that is saving faith that brings the new birth and eternal life.”

Notice his final word here, “You foolish man,” literally, empty headed. “You empty headed,” don’t get it, is the idea, “do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?” Do you guys need a Bible lesson? And since you’re Jews, do you want me to go back to the Old Testament? Since you obviously aren’t clicking in on what saving faith is, since your lifestyle doesn’t demonstrate that you have saving faith and some of you have some ooey-gooey emotions and others have the right doctrine, would you like a little Bible lesson? Do you need some evidence about what saving faith looks like?

And I guess he assumes that they are going to say, “Well, yeah, would you help us out?” And so he says, “Yeah, let me give you the truth here.”

Verse 21, he says, “Was not Abraham our ancestor considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see his faith and his actions were working together,” grammatically, it’s in a tense, something was happening in the past, imperfect tense, that carried on, continued into the future.

The faith and the actions were working together and his faith was made complete, same tense. Same idea. Abraham, at a point in time, God gave him a promise. He believed the promise, he believed it to the point, not just of his mind, not just of his emotions, but of his will – the three together – and he acted on that. It happened in a point in time, but the evidence that it was real and true is by his actions.

Now, notice what he says, “And the Scripture was fulfilled saying, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend.”

See, when you get it right, it always ends up in relationship. Now, can I show you something pretty interesting that he does here? Notice in verse 22, actually 21, where he goes and he says, “Abraham was considered righteous for what he did when he offered Isaac his son.” When did that happen, historically? It’s Genesis 22.

Well, then he goes on later and what does he say? He says he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. When did that happen? Genesis 15. You say, Well, gosh, Chip. You seem like you think that’s really important. It is.

See, in Genesis 15, God made a promise, Abraham believed the promise, and he said, “I’m in. I believe.” Mind, will, and emotions. James is always going to look at faith as the idea of vindication. How do you know that it’s true?

And he is going to say, “I know Abraham’s faith was legit because twenty-five years later of waiting on a promise, he finally gets a son, and he is willing to believe God, even to the point that God is going to resurrect him and get the knife up there,” and the evidence that what he believed was true in chapter 15 was made real and confirmed in chapter 22 as the knife was going down and God said, “Mm-mm…you don’t need to do that. Now I know. I know you’re a part of the team. I know your heart.”

Now, is he in any way saying that that work in some way…he’s talking about what kind of faith saves. When you have the real deal, it changes your behavior, it changes your orientation, it changes your trust. And he said, “Abraham, when you look at his life, he had the kind of faith that caused him to act in ways that were radically different than before.”

Then he offers us this very problematic verse – 24. “You see that a person is justified,” now, in his mind, he’s not using it like Paul. Justification to Paul is a point in time, the moment that you trust Christ you are declared righteous, you’re taken out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. James is using this word – you are vindicated, your faith is demonstrated as being for real. “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”

The cults use this everywhere. And they tell people, “Here is the list of things you need to do because, see, you’re not justified by faith. You know all that Christian stuff you have heard about, ‘For by grace you are saved through faith’? That’s not true. Look right here in the Bible.”

In fact, Martin Luther got so upset he said, “I don’t want this book in the canon.” He is the champion of saying, “Hey, it’s justification!” Romans 5:1, right? “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” It’s not about our works, it’s not about our efforts, it’s not about our morality. It’s about believing and trusting in Christ.

Now here’s what James does. James is looking at the end result of a genuine faith and when he says it’s not by faith alone, he’s talking about it’s not by an emotional kind of faith or just an intellectual kind of faith. That’s the context.

And so before we go on, can I ask you to do something? Because we are going to push forward and really get clear about what this means to you and me. But flip over to the back page. I put a little chart that I think will be helpful for you.

It’s a theological backdrop. Because what happens is people, you’re reading your Bible, and if you’re like me, I didn’t open one until I was eighteen. And I’m reading through the Bible and it’s by faith and I have trusted Christ. And then I get to the book of James and then it says, Oh, wait a second. Works and faith and what do you mean a person isn’t justified by their faith alone, it’s your deeds? Well, like, how many deeds do you have to do? And it raises all these questions.

So let me give you a picture, just a quick picture, James’ focus, when he uses the word “faith” is “vindication.” And what I mean by that, he is saying, James, the context, is verse 13. Mercy triumphs over judgment. He is looking at when a person comes before judgment, right before God, how do you know if their faith is real? What confirms it? What vindicates and demonstrates it?

He is saying there was a belief, a kind of belief that got played out in a change of life. The apostle Paul, though, when he uses the word “faith,” he is talking about justification like I talked about. That point in time, the moment you believe, and what happened in your life and your standing with God.

Notice then the focus is, all of James is talking about the fruit of salvation. He is saying that when you have a legitimate faith, these things will happen, the fruit. Paul is talking about the root of salvation. How do you get it? And the answer really is, is the problem.

See, Paul is speaking to a group and the problem is legalism. He is speaking to a group of Judaizers and people are saying you have to keep the law, you’ve got to keep these rules. And he is saying, “No, no, no, no! It’s by faith, it’s grace, by your faith you trust in the Person, it’s a free gift.”

And so as he uses the word “faith” in the concept, he is trying to say, “Hey, hey, man. It’s not about works.” James, by contrast, is addressing the idea of laxity. There is a group of people who are easy-believism. “Yeah, I believe in God. I’m living like hell, but I believe in God.”

And James is saying, “If you’re living like hell, there’s a good chance you don’t have the real stuff.”

And so, finally, works as Paul is using it, he uses this word to say, “Hey, you can’t merit God’s favor. There is nothing, no work that you can do to merit God’s favor.” James, by contrast, is saying, “If a legitimate, genuine faith occurs, it always results in lifestyle change or works.”

And if you want a good summary of this, I think we have it in Ephesians 2:8 to 10. Let me read it. Follow along. Notice how the gift and faith, how it’s all put together. “For by grace you have been saved, through faith,” – what’s grace? It’s a free gift. Something only God can do. It’s what Christ did on a cross for you. How do you receive it? God reaches down, He accomplishes, through Christ, the payment of your sin as a substitution and then you lift the empty hands of faith and you receive it.

And that’s not of yourselves. It’s not about trying hard. “It’s the gift of God – not a result of works,” – why? “that no one should boast.”

But notice that when you have a biblical saving faith that it’s not about an emotional or intellectual experience, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

And so anytime a person has a legitimate saving faith, there is going to be transformation. Genuine faith is always demonstrated by a change in life. And so he reaches back and he says, “Who is someone that we all respect? Abraham! Father of the faith! Heavy hitter!” And then he tells his story.

And he says he really believed, but he had the kind of faith that wasn’t just intellectual, not just emotional, it was volitional. And we know that because of the change in his life.

And then I think he reaches back and says, “Hey, but some of you think I could never qualify.” And he really wants to get the grace aspect in. So he takes the heaviest hitter he can find in the Old Testament and then he takes the very bottom of the totem pole, because as he speaks to people, What do you do if you have totally messed up your life? What do you do if you have been in a homosexual relationship for five years? What do you do if you’ve been a prostitute? What do you do if you’re hooked on pornography? What do you do if you have lied and cheated and you have walked out on one family member?

You’ve got a trail of people in body bags that you have used and abused and now you hear this great story of the gospel. Is there any hope for those kinds of people?

Then notice what he says, illustration number two, verse 25, “In the same way, the same way that Abraham is saved, forgiven, and becomes a part of God’s family, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?”

Jot down Joshua chapter 2, go home and read it as your Sunday afternoon fun time. And here’s what happens, you have a person who is a Gentile. She is an enemy of God’s people, she’s a nobody, and she’s immoral. And faith is always putting your faith in truth or a promise.

Abraham had visits from God, Abraham saw miracles. Here’s a gal who hears a rumor. All the truth she gets is, “Here’s a rumor.” The rumor has it that these new people, Israel, they have a really big God. In fact, He’s so big that He parts seas. He’s so big that there is this cloud that follows them. He’s so big that they wiped out the most powerful nation on the earth, the Egyptians. He’s so big that we are all afraid and we know they are coming.

By faith she trusted to the point that she said, “You know what? I believe you guys are going to win this big battle. I hid you,” the spies went to check things out and she hid them upstairs with some straw. And she said, “Will you remember me?”

And she took the truth and she staked her life on it. It was faith, it was trust that led to radical actions and she was saved. Her and her whole family, because she believed. Not because she had a belief that was just an intellectual, Oh, I believe your God is powerful. I believe that, yeah, the story has been in all the papers. Egyptians are gone and those other kings are gone. Jordan River, yeah. He’s a heavy hitter. Nope, nope, yeah, I believe that. That wasn’t it.

Or she didn’t have just an emotional experience. It was her intellect is informed, her heart is moved, and it transfers into a trust step and that trust step evidences in change and God wants us to know that it doesn’t matter whether you come from the highest level or the lowest. We all get in the same way. A biblical faith, a trust.

In fact, to the point that as we read through the New Testament, guess who ends up in the line of Christ. Guess who ends up in the line of bringing the Messiah to the earth. A prostitute.

And for some of you, that’s a pretty refreshing word this morning. For some of you, you’ve got some baggage and you’ve done some stuff that you’re thinking, Can God ever forgive me? Absolutely. Because it’s not about trying hard. It’s about trusting deeply.

In fact, he now gives a little final illustration. And he wants us to get real, real clear. And so he summarizes it all. Verse 26. He says, “As the physical body without the spirit is dead,” it doesn’t function, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure that out.

Okay, you’ve got a body, there’s no spirit in it, it’s a corpse, it’s laying there. Here’s the picture. “So faith without,” and mark the word without, that’s not a good translation. Write the word apart above that. It’s not faith without works. It’s, “…faith apart from deeds is dead.”

Faith that does not produce good works, he is saying, is comparable to an empty, dead, counterfeit faith.

Now, I want to ask you a question and then I want to tell you a story, then I want to give you an opportunity. Here’s the question. What kind of faith do you have? Do you, as I’m talking, you’re processing, right?

In your mind, in your heart are you thinking, Hey, you know what? Boy, you know, I’ve had the emotional experience. Does your faith inform your life? When you decide what you’re going to do and where you’re going to go and where you spend your money and how you relate to people; are the Scriptures something that are dear to you? Do you have a sense of God’s presence and His power and that He is what life is all about and you are living in relationship with Him?

Or could it be that some of you, just like where I spent all my life growing up, you kind of come to church, it’s a part of life. You’ve got work and you’ve got church and you’ve got sports and you’ve got family and it’s okay. In fact, this morning you drive home and you say, The music was really good. I liked that one real rocking song, you know?

But I want to ask you, do you have saving faith? As you’re here, is it possible that you intellectually say, Of course I believe! Do you believe in Jesus? I believe in Jesus. Do you believe He’s the Son of God? I believe He’s the Son of God. Do you believe He died for the sins of all people? Yeah, I’m in. Do you believe He was buried? Yeah. Three days, rose from the dead? Yeah. Rose? Mm-hm. Do you agree with all of that? Yeah. That does not make you a believer in Christ. It means you intellectually adhere to the right data.

I told you I would tell you a picture. Imagine with me, if you will, you have a little pain in your shoulder and so you go to the doctor. The doctor says, “You know what? That’s a little unusual. Let me take a look at it.” And they take an x-ray and then they do an MRI and they say, “You know, it’s not real big, but it’s cancer.” They do the biopsy, do the whole bit.

And when you see cancer and you hear that word, like many, many people in our church, the fear goes up and you wonder what’s going to happen. And when you come in and get that report, something happens that’s very amazing.

The doctor takes off his white coat and he says, “Why don’t you go ahead and sit down?” And for forty-five minutes he talks to you and tells you about what’s going to be coming. And as you sit together and as you look at the x-rays and the MRI, you realize, This guy really cares. He’s not just doing a job.

And there is an emotional bond that starts to happen with this doctor and you feel like, Wow, he really understands me. He really wants to help me. I think this is someone I could trust.

But you’re a pretty smart person and when someone is going to take a knife and cut a big section out of you, you’re thinking, I’m going to do my homework. And so you do a little homework and you make some phone calls and you find out he is one of the top two surgeons in the country. And you find out he has done about one hundred and fifty of these operations and one hundred and forty-nine have been successful.

And he says, “Now, this is serious. But if we do something now, we will save your life.”

You emotionally build a bond and realize, This is the kind of guy, if I would ever get an operation, that I would want. You have done the intellectual research and you know that the facts are in. This cancer will kill you, he’s a competent surgeon, and he’s got a great track record.

Do you trust him yet? You know when you know you really trust him? It’s when you walk into Stanford, six thirty in the morning and they start poking around and they put one of those goofy gowns on you and he comes in and says they are going to give you a little shot here, it’ll make you a little bit drowsy.

And he smiles and you feel that reassurance. And up until the point where you say, “Cut me,” you’re not in. See, trust is always evidenced in an action that demonstrates you really trust.

And what Jesus is here saying today to all of us in general, and some of you in particular, is that there is a cancer that every human being has called “sin.” And left unattended it will always bring death.

But it doesn’t just bring physical death it brings spiritual death. And you will be separated from a loving, living God who cares about you, for all eternity. And you can have an emotional experience and say, You know what? If I was ever going to trust a God, I think Jesus is the kind of God. Every time I see a movie about Jesus it makes me cry. And when I come to church and I hear those songs, it makes me feel ooey-gooey inside. And I’ve done the research and I’ve read a couple of books on apologetics and I think this is accurate stuff.

And you can believe that you’re in because you agree with the facts and have had an emotional experience. And God is saying to you, Until you say, “I trust to the point of that step of action – go ahead, doc, put me under,” it’s not saving faith.

An ancient story, actually, I did some research and found out it was true. But it’s a quick one, but it’s the action step I want you to think through. There was a fellow many years ago called Charles Blondin. And Charles Blondin was an acrobat, I don’t know if he was hard up for money. But he decided to do a big publicity stunt – Niagara Falls.

And so they put a wire across the falls and you’ve got New York on one side, Canada on the other, this rushing falls. And so a tightrope, and he gets his thing and he starts doing it. And so all the honeymooners, he gets huge crowds on both sides.

And he, I won’t play the whole thing out, but he goes up and then he goes back and then he gets a wheelbarrow and he goes up and then he goes back. And then pretty soon he puts one hundred and fifty pounds of sand and he’s just, really, and if he falls, he’s dead.

And the people start cheering. And one particular guy goes, “Wow, man, you are awesome! This is unbelievable! Hey, honey, did you see this? This is great! This is great!”

And he picks up on this guy, so he starts playing the game to him and does all this stuff. And so he brings it over to his side and this guy goes, “Man, you are awesome! I believe, man, you can do anything!” He says, “Do you really believe?” He said, “Yeah!” He said, “Great! Get in the wheelbarrow!”

I emotionally connect with that guy, I intellectually know that he can go back and forth with one hundred pounds. That doesn’t get me across Niagara Falls. Belief is: I see the data, I am moved, I get in the wheelbarrow.

Now, let me ask you something. Have you ever gotten in the wheelbarrow? Today is the day. Now, I know, I can hear your mind clicking, You know what? If I did this, that would mean this. And, boy, the implications are this and this. You better believe it does mean all of that.

But here’s the offer. You get in the wheelbarrow with Christ, He will forgive your sin, the Spirit of God will come into your life, He will transform you and you will begin a journey and He will cleanse you and He will change you, and your life will not be easy. It’s a fallen world.

But He will be with you always. And you will become a part of a family of other fallen, fractured, messed up people who are on a journey toward wholeness by the grace of God. And we will be open, and we will fail, and we will walk with you. But now the ball is in your court.

If you would like Jesus as your Savior, saving faith is getting in the wheelbarrow. Trusting in His work on the cross, His payment for your sin, His resurrection to the point that you say, “I turn away and repent from my past life in sin, I change my mind, and I trust. I get in the wheelbarrow.”

If you would like to do that, why don’t we all pray and let me lead in a prayer for those who would like to have an experience with God that is not emotional or intellectual, but is both, and volitional.