Good morning, Veritas. Good to be with you guys. Not many of you know this part of Ellie and I's story, but church planting has been something we've been thinking about since 2018. Actually, we were in San Antonio, Texas, when felt like first heard more clearly from the Lord. Like, hey, I think this is something we might want to consider. And Ellie and I initially, before coming to Cedar Rapids, planned to move to East Lansing, Michigan to go with the Commons Church, another salt Network church plant. I was going to work in the insurance industry and just go be a part of a work there. The Lord was kind enough to detour us to Cedar Apids, Iowa. We love it. And so just on behalf of my family, to speak for Ellie and our kids, we love this place. We're not excited to leave. We're excited to where the Lord's calling us, but are not excited to leave because we love you and you have loved us so well. Yeah. Sad days ahead. Gospel goodbyes are hard, but Jesus is worth it. Amen. So one funny thing that came of this plan to move to East Lansing was Ellie and I went and visited with Austin Wadlow and his team. So we go in East Lansing and instantly I'm like, we got to come here. And the first thing I did, naturally, was just buy a ton of Michigan State apparel because I'm like, if I'm going to go, I'm all in. So just decked out in. And then, you know, funny thing is, we didn't even go there. So I had a bunch of leftover MSU stuff. Ellie and I went on a cruise to Baja, Mexico, at the end of her senior year at UNi. She had played basketball there. And it was our last little hurrah. Go on a vacation before we enter into the next season of life in Cedar Rapids. And I'm wearing a Michigan state shirt in the middle of an ocean on a boat with 4000 people. And this guy across the deck wearing a Michigan State visor looks at me and he's like, go green. And here's the embarrassing thing. I had no idea what to say back to him. I was like, go Green. And here's what's true. I got found out that I was a fraud. I was not actually a MichiGan State fan. Because if you're a Michigan State fan and somebody says to you, go Green, here's what you say back. Go white. Yeah, a few Michigan State people know that. Okay, so I was supposed to say go white. And when I said go Green back to him, he looked at me and gave me one of those, right? He's like, dude, I thought we had a connection. We were almost there. But you're a fake. You're just wearing the shirt. And I think the question that's hard as we dive in to the Book of James is, is it possible something like this could happen with Christianity? Is it possible that someone could wear the title of Christian but not actually be on Team Jesus? And maybe you've felt like Visor man before, right? Like you've met somebody who calls themselves a Christian. Maybe they wear a cross necklace or have Bible verses tattooed on their body, and you're like, oh, I think we'll get along well. And then the more you get to know them, it's like, I don't know if we're on the same team. Maybe our relationship can't go as deep as I thought it could, because I don't know if we're aligned. And it's easy for us to look out and say, oh, yeah, all of those Christians, all of those people who claim Christianity. But this morning, here's what's true. You're in the seat, not them. You're here to sit under the teaching of God's word, not them. And so we have to ask the question, how can we tell if our Christianity is legitimate? Before we go on the offense, we have to sit back and say, how do we know if our own faith is legit? And hear me, church, this is a little bit of a spoiler. It's not as easy as having the right answers. It's not as easy as saying, go white. Back to another fan. James is going to go much deeper than that. And so I want you to open up to James chapter two. We're going to be starting in verse 14. But before we do that, we have to know this real faith is necessary, and we have to know what real faith consists of, because on both ends of this passage, both chapter two, verse 13, and chapter three, verse one, there is a word that's repeated, and that word is judgment. Judgment. And so in the middle of two verses talking about judgment, James is about to talk about real faith. We need to know what real faith consists of because judgment is coming. Two Corinthians five says, all of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And last week, Michael talked about who our God is. He is a big God. He is a holy God. He is a just God. He has given a royal law to us, and James has let us know if we obey all of it but fail in one point, we're guilty of it all. And then we have to stop and say, well, if God is just, then what do we deserve? We deserve judgment. We deserve separation from God forever. We deserve eternity in hell. We deserve his wrath because we have rebelled against him. But the great news of the last sentence of last week's passage is this, mercy triumphs over judgment. Mercy triumphs over judgment. That's the good news of the Gospel, right? Because of who Jesus is and what he's done, because he lived the perfect life, died a substitutionary death, and rose victorious from the dead, we now have access to mercy. We get this escape from judgment, and we get to enjoy God forever. But who gets mercy? The people who get mercy are those who have real faith in Jesus, real faith in the Gospel. And so we all want mercy. Everybody wants it. We ought to. But how do we know if we have real faith to receive it? That's where we're going today. James, chapter two. We're going to start in verse 14, the word of God says, what good is it? I'd love for you to underline that. If you're an underliner in your Bible, I'm going to give you a few things to mark up. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works, can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body, here's another underline. What good is that? So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. So before we get into what real faith looks like, James is introducing us to a fake faith, namely in verse 14, a type of faith that cannot save. He says, can that faith save him? And the implied answer is no, there's a type of faith that does not save us. And here's what he says it looks like. He says, a brother or sister. So imagine somebody in our church, family, maybe somebody in your connection group, comes to you with a real need. In this text. It's as simple as I'm starving and I'm lacking clothing. And I love that James uses this example because several times in the New Testament, this is like the most basic human need, right? Jesus in Matthew Six, when he's talking about what not to be anxious about, what does he say? Not to be anxious about what you will eat or what you will wear. Paul in one Timothy six, he says, hey, godliness with contentment is great gain. And if we have food and if we have clothing. With this, we will be content. And so a member of our church comes to you and says, hey, I need food and I need a winter coat, and I can't afford it. And you just say, be warmed and be filled. When you have access to the ability to change that. He's saying, what good is that? Right? There is no benefit to their body. And likewise, if your blessing is of no benefit to their body, your faith is of no benefit to your soul. There is a type of faith that does not save, and that ought to raise a sense of caution here. And maybe there are people in our church, in our community, in your connection group, who, you know, have real needs that you're not meeting. And it's not always as simple as food or clothing. But what if you know of somebody in our church who's grieving and they need a phone call? Would you do it? They need somebody to visit them, to be a shoulder to lean on, to hear them out. Would you mean. Ellie and I are in a young, married Connection group. A lot of couples in our connection group are having babies. And I just think know the really practical whiplash of having an infant in your home, and it's like, you know what? They need meals. It's like life is already crazy. I wonder if we could serve them by bringing them a meal at night, would we cook for them? It's like, we have food. We have a schedule that could free them up. And if we are not willing to just step in and meet the most basic needs of our people, people who belong to the same body as us, where it's like, if they're hurting, we ought to be hurting. If we're just like, put a band aid of blessing on it and move on. James is here saying that type of faith is dead. That type of faith is dead. And by dead, he means absent of life, useless, unable to save. But in verse 17, he says, faith by itself, if it does not have. What's the word? Works, is dead. Now, your alarms are probably going off when you hear the word works, because you're like, hold up here. Is Veritas about to abandon the Gospel. Right? Like, works do not earn us salvation. Why are we talking about works this morning? And I understand a level of apprehension here that we want to just create this distinction between faith and works, because maybe you come from a background where you've heard you have to work your way to God. And that's actually not what James is getting at here. He's not talking about, oh, you have to work to earn salvation. But he is creating a clear connection between faith and works. Martin Luther, who is like one of the earliest reformers as he stepped outside of the Roman Catholic Church, actually did not like the Book of James because of this connection, and it was based on his proximity to a doctrine that said faith plus works equals salvation. So he struggled. He wanted to create this distinction between faith and works, but James just doesn't do that. And, in fact, James anticipates this desire for us to separate faith and works. In this next section of the text, here's what it says in verse 18. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my worKs. You believe. Would love for you to underline that. You believe that God is one. You do? Well, even the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? So, as is common in James Day, he uses this form of rhetoric where he's trying to build his case, and he creates this hypothetical backlash. Someone has an objection to this idea of faith and works being connected. And maybe it goes something like this, hey, faith and works are separate. You go ahead and take the philosophical side. I'll take the practical side. You do the well wishes and pray for people. I'll step up and feed them a meal and put clothes on their back. And James is saying, no, it's not how this works. But you kind of have to agree on one hand that there's a decent case to be made that faith and works can be separated. And here's what I mean when I say that, you know, plenty of people that have really bad theology that do good things, and, you know, plenty of people that have pretty good theology that have done really terrible things. And so on one hand, you could say, yes, good works do not always equal good theology. Absolutely. But that's not the case that James is trying to make here. Who is he talking to? Well, right at the very beginning of James, it says he's addressing brothers, namely the dispersion Jewish brothers are who are receiving this message. And the point he's trying to make is you might be persuaded to an approach to faith that places your confidence in knowing the right answers. Your confidence might not be in the right place if it's only based upon what you say you believe. So I had you underline that word believe. Maybe James original audience is, you know, this last passage on partiality. James, get off our back, man. Let's stop talking about partiality. Let's talk about mercy. Am I right? Let's stop talking about all the sin issues. Let's talk about forgiveness. Let's talk about the Gospel. Let's make that primary. And let's stop worrying about all these small things like partiality. Let's stop talking about our behavior and get back to our beliefs. And maybe you've felt that way before. If you've been in Christian community where people start challenging you on your rhythms, they start calling you out for your sin in appropriate ways, maybe you've been in a spot where you're like, stop talking to me about my sin. We have the same savior. Let's move on. Let's get over it. And if that's the case, James comes at us, and he's not pulling punches, because actually, in verse 19, he quotes the most famous and important prayer in the Jewish faith, the Shama. He quotes Deuteronomy 64, hero, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And he's saying, you believe that? Good. You know who else believes that? Demons. He's saying, even demons can be as Orthodox as you. That doesn't mean that demons are saved. And get this. Demons don't just believe it. They shudder. They shudder. Meaning, if you could see these demons, you could, in a sense, see their faith because they are trembling in fear. What James is trying to tell us is, mercy that can't change your life will not save your soul. And yes, he would agree with Paul. He gets the gospel right in saying, we are saved by faith alone. He would agree with that. But here's James'point. Faith is never alone. Faith is always accompanied by works. And he says, we are foolish if we think otherwise. And he doesn't just say, you're a fool. He says, let me show you you're a fool. So you guys ready to be fools? All right. One thing with my kids, it's been happening recently. Know Blaze or Leo? The older two, they'll say, dad, you're not my friend anymore. And I'm like, I'm not here to be your friend. I'm here to be your dad. And so let's just buckle up. I'm not here to be your friend this morning. I'm here to be a pastor. And this text might hurt. And that's okay, because sometimes hurting is necessary before healing. Let's dig in. Let's be exposed so that we can move forward together. Verse 21, was not Abraham our father justified by Works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see, that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works, and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. You see, I would love for you to underline that you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Jake talked about this being one of the most famous passages in James. Here's why. It's one of the most confusing passages in the New Testament to come across a verse like verse 24 that says, you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. It's like that seems anti Gospel, especially when you have Paul's letter to the Romans. In Romans 328, he says this, for we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. So now it's like, all right, I'm confused. Who's right? Is it Paul or is it James? And I'm here to tell you the answer is yes. Okay? But there's two words that we have to define if we're going to move forward together. And there's these two words, faith and justified. I want to look at Romans first and show you what Paul means when he uses these words. So Romans 328 would say, for we hold that one is justified. What Paul means is declared righteous by God. For we hold that one is declared righteous by God by faith, meaning trust in the finished work of Jesus apart from works of the law. So when Paul is talking about justified, he's saying, declared righteous by God. And when Paul says faith, he's talking about trusting in Jesus. Now let's go back to James 224 and see how James uses these words. It's important, these first two words he says, you see, you see that a person is justified. James'use of justification is not about being declared righteous. It's about being shown to be righteous. That's why he says, you see, that a person is justified. It's more about observation. You see that a person is declared righteous or shown to be righteous by works and not by faith alone. How has James been using faith in this passage? In a mocking tone, he's been talking about a faith that doesn't save, a faith that is marked by mere intellect. And so what he is telling us in verse 24 is you can tell if a person is actually righteous by looking at their life and not just their profession of intellect. That's what James is saying in 224, because the way he uses faith, partnered with verse 26, is back to this dead faith, corpse language saying, just like a body without a spirit is still a corpse, you can still have faith without works. It's just dead. It just doesn't save you. So that's not real faith. What is real faith, then? How can we tell if we have real faith? The beautiful thing is he gives us two great examples. The first is Abraham. How many of you have heard of Abraham before? Okay, the good news for Jewish Christians is they knew their Bible really well, a lot better than us. And they knew Abraham because he's the father of their faith, right? He's the patriarch of Judaism in Genesis eleven through 25, he is the main character. And so Abraham is the guy through whom all the earth will be blessed. He was promised a son, an heir, through whom which his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. And maybe you know this, maybe you don't. But Abraham was declared righteous by Paul's standard in Genesis 15. Genesis 15, James actually recounts that in verse 23, Abraham believed God, and it was counted or credited to him as righteousness. That happened in Genesis 15, when Abraham stepped outside, looked up at the stars of the sky, and he believed God's promise. That's when he was declared righteous. But what James is saying is he wasn't actually shown to be righteous or seen to be righteous. It says his faith was not completed or brought to maturity or made evident until he did what? Verse 21. Until he offered his son Isaac on the altar. You know when that happened? Genesis 22, seven chapters later. So he was credited with righteousness. In Genesis 15, he was counted as righteous, or his righteousness was seen by other people 30 years later. 30 years. And it was through him listening in obedience to God's call, hey, sacrifice your beloved son. Go do it. I know it doesn't make any sense. Go do it. And Abraham's like, if you say it, I'm about it. But 30 years, you might be saying, do I have to wait 30 years to figure out if my faith is legit? It's like, well, that was Abraham's case. And if you know anything about his story between Genesis 15 and Genesis 22, you know he didn't have a perfect path there. That's hard. It's hard to wrestle with. But this original audience is looking at Abraham, and they're like, this dude is our hero in the faith. He's our founding father. Like, of course he has faith. Look at him. He offered up his only son. Of course he believed in Jesus, right? Of course he had secure faith. But what about us? We're no Abraham's. I don't know if you know this or not. You're not Abraham. Your story's not included in the scriptures, and you might be thinking, well, I'm not that big of a deal. So if Abraham can have confidence, what about people like me? And I'm really grateful that the next example that James uses is rehab, and he uses Rahab's story from Joshua Two. Joshua Two. Israel. As God's people were given this promise of the promised land. And here's what they had to do. First. They had to invade and overcome the city of Jericho. So they send a couple spies into the city because they know that they have to scope out the land before they siege the city. Well, Rahab was a prostitute. And, in fact, she could not be more opposite than Abraham. Abraham was a man. She was a woman. Abraham was a Jew. She was a Gentile. Abraham was a patriarch. She was a prostitute. Abraham was rich. She was poor. But the same thing happens with rehab as what happens with Abraham. Early on in the text in Joshua two, we see that Rehab believes that Israel's God is the one true God. So she takes these spies in, and she says, I'm with you. I'm going to turn my back on my own people to side with your God, because he is the one true God. And how do we know that she actually believed that? She risked her life by taking in these spies, lying to her own people, and then sending the spies out on their way to accomplish the will of God. She risked her life. And so if you're caught up in the Abraham 30 years, well, how long did it take rehab's faith to be made evident? The same day. The same day her faith was proven genuine, putting her life on the line to side with God. And the beauty of these two stories is this faith, these works, they're accessible to all people. It doesn't matter your background. It doesn't matter how far you've fallen. It doesn't matter your ethnicity, it doesn't matter your socioeconomic status. The call is the same. Do you believe in the same promise? Do you believe in the same mercy of God? That Jesus lived perfectly, that he died in your place because you could not measure up, and that he victoriously rose from the dead? Do you believe that same promise? And I hope the answer is yes. It's like, great. You have access to the same mercy that Abraham and Rahab had access to. And here's what else is true. It has to be seen in your life. There has to be evidence that you have been changed by the mercy of God. And though these are Old Testament examples, I want to show you really clearly in the book of Ephesians, Paul. In Ephesians two, these verses are used frequently for us to build a solid gospel foundation for our faith. Ephesians two, verse eight. For by grace unmerited favor, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no. 1 may boast. So when it comes to your salvation, Christian, here's what you need. Faith. You need mercy. You need grace, right? And this is not our own doing. WE cannot work to God, because if we could, we'd boast in ourselves. This is salvation. Great news, but we have to keep reading to see what the necessary byproduct is. Verse ten. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. It's like works are not a weighty burden to earn salvation, but they are a worthy response to salvation that's been graciously given to us. It's the only appropriate response to someone who's been met by mercy is for you to live your life in a transformed way. And so last week, Jake or Michael put us in this courtroom scene, right? He's like, imagine you're on trial, and the prosecutor across from you is trying to say, hey, you've been accused of being a fake Christian. Well, I want to put us back in the courtroom. I just want to change one detail. Now imagine you're on the stand and the prosecutor is trying to say, we're trying to convict you of being a real Christian. What tangible evidence does the prosecutor have? That's what we're forced to wrestle with today. What tangible evidence, as you evaluate your life, could a prosecutor bring before a judge and say they're really Christian? Does your evangelism show that you believe that God is good, that he is gracious, and the only way to be restored to him is through the good news of the gospel, through the person, work of Christ? Does that align with your lifestyle? Do you believe that God is your prize so you don't have to store up earthly treasures? The prosecuting attorney would say he just gives away so much. Like, why else would he give so generously if he didn't believe that God was his prize? Do you love people that are hard to love. Like, wow, she even loves her enemies, people that persecute her and turn their back on her, and she loves them so well. Would the prosecuting attorney look at your fight for purity and say he denies his selfish desires because he says he's living for God? Do you sing in such a way that you say, God is too good to only talk aBout, we must sing about him? Do you live in the scriptures? Do you delight in the word? Do you understand that we do not live by bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God? Do you practice your faith in such a way that you say, I am not dependent upon myself. I need God. Apart from him, I can do nothing. I'm going to pray every single day. Like, what would the prosecuting attorney bring to prove that you're a Christian? Because what James is trying to tell us is that real faith does not just receive mercy, but real faith responds to mercy. You could say it this way, real faith responds to mercy with faithful living. With faithful living. And as you consider the two examples of Abraham and Rehab, I want you to know this is going to cost you. I would not love you if I did not tell you this is going to cost you. Abraham, what did he do? He put up his beloved son on the altar, was willing to see this promise of blessing the earth go to shambles if that was what God called him to do. Rahab risked her very life to be faithful to God, if that's what he called her to do. And Jesus doesn't tell us anything different. He says, if you want to come after me, if you want to be my follower, here's what you have to do. Deny yourself and pick up your cross daily. Pick up this instrument of death and humiliation and be my follower. So here's what we need to do, church. If we want to apply what James is talking about here, to be people that have been met with mercy and can actually show that, here's what we need to do. Number one, you have to receive mercy. You have to actually believe in the promise of salvation in Christ. Otherwise, there is no way that you can obey this. Because though James says faith without works is dead, what I can also tell you is works without faith are dead. The same is true the other way. Works without faith are dead. Scripture would say that without faith, it is impossible to please God. And so if you want to be somebody who is satisfied, who is generous, somebody who shares the goSpel, here's what you have to do. First, you have to be so satisfied and moved by the mercy of God to actually believe it and receive it. And then here's your appropriate response. Application point number two. Respond in faith. Respond in faith. Don't just believe in the promise of salvation. Begin to practice the commands of Christ. So the question I want you to wrestle with is, where do your beliefs and behaviors not align? Where do your beliefs and behaviors not align? And if you have help seeing it, that's why Christian community is really important. Because a blind spot, by definition, means maybe you're blind to it, but a lot of other people aren't. They'd be happy to tell you. If you have a spouse, ask them, right? If you have a close friend, say, hey, where do my beliefs and my behaviors not align? They would love to tell you. And I just want to warn you there, it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt because where you are not being obedient, you're probably trying to protect yourself. You feel the weight of pick up your cross daily and follow me. And just like Abraham had to give up something he loved, just like Rahab had to give up her life, maybe that's where you're out of alignment. But let me just urge you, be faithful. Be faithful. There is no way that Abraham or Rahab look back on this act of obedience. They're like, that was a waste. It was worth it. Jesus is worth it. To pick up your cross daily and follow him is worth it. So now to step in and to respond and to put your faith on display, not in such a way that you're like, look at me. You see how good my beliefs are. But no, you say, God is real. His word is good. What he says, he actually means, and I will follow it no matter what the cost. And we have a great example of what this looks like in our college students. I hope you know that I've done college ministry for almost five years in this city, and I think one thing that happens almost every Thanksgiving and Christmas break is I talk to at least one student who comes back and says, my parents think I'm in a cult. And I'm like, yeah, that's funny. Heard that one before, right? Pretty sure the early church heard that a lot, too. But here's what actually is happening. Students are going home into culturally Christian families and culturally Christian communities, and they're actually following Jesus. They're actually taking God at his word. They're waking up and they're reading their Bible, and they're saying, I feel like I can't leave my room unless I eat from the Scriptures first. I feel like I need to pray, because if I don't, I can't be patient with family. Over the holidays, they're going home to family and they're saying, hey, I just heard about a city that has over a million college students on the other side of the world, and I think I need to go tell them about Jesus. And it just makes no sense to a cultural Christian. And so rather than saying, my faith is fake, they just say, you're in a cult. I'm so proud of our college students that live this out so well, and I think they can set a trajectory for us as a church to say, what would it look like if we lived like this? Not in the goal of being renamed the Cult Church. Right? Like, not about that. But what if people in our city said, oh, you go to Veritas. You guys really believe what God says. Every single person I've met from Veritas will not stop sharing the gospel with me because you guys actually believe Jesus is the only way to God. Every single person I met from Veritas is so generous because they actually believe that God is their prize. Like, you guys are crazy. Wouldn't that be sweet in a city, in a nation that can be so marked by cultural Christianity, to stand out because we actually take God at his word in a way that's seen, we would love that. And I have to say this. If we are people that are actually met with mercy, we are willing to give for the cause of Christ. We are willing to serve for the cause of Christ, and we are willing to go for the cause of Christ, whether that's across the street or to Calv Illinois. If you actually believe that Jesus is the only way, we have to be willing to give, serve, and go to pick up our cross daily, to die to our comfort, to die to our selfish desires and to follow him because he is worthy to be worshipped. Amen. Let's pray together. God, I just thank you. Thank you for mercy, God. As I look at my own life, it's not hard to see areas that are out of alignment. And thank you for the gift of conviction, which is not meant to put us in a hole of shame, but is meant to draw us closer to the person and work of Christ. We desperately need mercy. And Jesus, thank you that you did live perfectly, that you died in our place, that you rose again, that we can have confidence in you. I pray, Lord, for this church, that we would be a people so met with mercy that we cannot help but respond and live for. You show us places that we are clinging to, that we need to let go of and let our faith be evident to those around us, not just for our name's sake, but ultimately, for your name's sake, God, that you would be put on display, that you would be glorified in our city into the ends of the earth. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.