Fleshed Out Faith: From Intellectual Assent to Active Surrender

• Fleshed Out Faith [00:37:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the series theme, explaining that faith must go from the heart to the head and out through the hands, especially during difficult seasons.
• Profession vs. Possession of Faith [00:44:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between saying one believes (profession) and actually trusting/acting on that belief (possession), using the tightrope walker analogy.
• The Law and Perfection [00:46:38 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains James' teaching that breaking one point of the law makes one guilty of all, emphasizing that God's standard is perfect, not just good.
• Judgment and Mercy [00:49:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces the concept of being judged by the 'law of liberty' and contrasts how people often apply justice to others while granting themselves mercy.
• The Perfection of God's Standard vs. Human Guilt [00:48:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that God's standard is perfect, not just good, meaning breaking one part of the law condemns a person as guilty of all, necessitating Jesus' perfect righteousness credited to our account.
• Mercy and Judgment [00:49:57 ▶️ 📄]
  > He contrasts how people often demand justice for others while seeking mercy for themselves, urging believers to let their awareness of being forgiven billions filter how they treat everyone else.
• The Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor [00:51:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > He recounts Jesus' story of a king forgiving a massive debt, only for the forgiven servant to imprison a neighbor over a small debt, illustrating the absurdity of withholding mercy after receiving it.
• Dead Faith vs. Saving Faith [00:54:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > He argues that intellectual belief or agreeing with doctrines is not saving faith, using the example of demons who believe and shudder, and illustrating dead faith with the image of telling a starving person to 'go in peace' without providing food.
• Justification by Faith Alone vs. Justification by Works [01:01:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > He reconciles Paul and James by explaining Paul focuses on the initial moment of justification by faith alone, while James focuses on the subsequent evidence of that faith through works and changed behavior.
• Justification vs. Demonstration of Faith [01:02:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between the moment of justification (God declaring a believer 'not guilty') and the subsequent demonstration of that faith through works to others.
• True vs. False Faith [01:04:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > He argues that faith without works is dead, contrasting 'professing faith' (intellectual belief) with 'possessing faith' (transformative surrender).
• The Role of the Holy Spirit [01:07:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that the Holy Spirit seals the believer and produces fruit in their life, which is the evidence of genuine salvation.
• Call to Surrender [01:06:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor issues an altar call, urging listeners to move from mere belief in Jesus' existence to surrendering their lives to Him as Lord and Savior.

• Sermon Illustration [00:41:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his oldest daughter getting married and experiencing the 'empty nest' for the first time, noting the difference between talking about it and actually living it.
• Sermon Illustration [00:42:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the historical story of Charles Blondin, a tightrope walker in the 1850s who could walk across Niagara Falls blindfolded and with a wheelbarrow, but no one would volunteer to ride in the wheelbarrow, illustrating the gap between believing and acting.
• Sermon Illustration [00:47:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a hypothetical scenario of racing Dan Swan at the airport, getting pulled over by a state trooper, and being charged with multiple offenses to illustrate that being guilty of one law (e.g., speeding) makes one guilty of breaking the law entirely, just as failing one point of God's law makes one a transgressor of all.
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the parable of the king who forgives a servant billions of dollars, who then goes out and imprisons a fellow servant who owes him a few hundred dollars, illustrating the hypocrisy of those who receive mercy but withhold it from others.
• Sermon Illustration [01:00:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > He uses the example of Abraham offering his son Isaac on the altar to demonstrate that faith was active alongside his works and was completed by them, serving as proof of his justification.
• Sermon Illustration [00:55:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > He illustrates dead faith by describing a scenario where someone tells a poorly clothed, emaciated brother or sister to 'go in peace, be warm and be fed' but does not give them the physical necessities they need.
• Sermon Illustration [01:02:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a courtroom trial where a judge declares a guilty person 'not guilty' due to a substitute. He illustrates that while the verdict happens instantly, the 'friends' (the watching world) only see the truth of the verdict when the person's life changes and bears fruit consistent with that verdict.
• Sermon Illustration [01:03:38 ▶️ 📄]
  > He references the biblical example of Abraham, noting that when he offered up what he loved most, observers said, 'That's belief,' demonstrating that his works proved his justification.
• Sermon Illustration [01:04:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > He references Rahab the prostitute, who was justified by her works when she received and sent out the messengers, serving as another example of faith demonstrated through action.

• Pastoral Charge [00:59:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > Surrender one's life to Jesus and declare Him King.
• Pastoral Charge [01:10:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > Fill out a response card indicating a decision to receive Jesus and take it to the Connect booth.
• Pastoral Charge [01:08:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > Surrender to Jesus as Lord and believe in the personal significance of His death and resurrection.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] It's so good to be together, yes? Amen. We're ready to worship the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. If you need a miracle on this place this morning, He's here. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's power, there's freedom, there's peace. Let's sing out to Him, alright? Here we go. Jesus, and there's power in His name. Amen, church? Let's sing together in freedom this morning.

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:10:19] of me is to fight rabble shack right off my feet our curse is on and he wants to take the ground that the enemy's stolen from us in this place this morning amen so we come with his authority
[00:12:37] and the power of his name have a seat if we haven't met yet my name is felicia tapper and

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:14:26] i'm the volunteer care director here at the church and on behalf of pastor david his wife katie and our whole team our staff our elders we just want to welcome everyone it's so good to see everyone
[00:14:36] this morning. For our first time guests, if you'll take a look at the seat back pocket in front of you, there's a blue connect card. That one's for you. We would love for you to fill that out. And
[00:14:46] then after service, if you take that out to the lobby to our connect cart, someone from our wonderful connections team would love to chat with you, answer questions that you have. And then we also have a gift bag for you just as a way of saying thank you for worshiping here with us
[00:15:01] this morning. Our vision here at Christ Community Church is simple yet powerful. It's know, love, live. So we desire for everyone to know Christ and be in a life-changing relationship with Him.
[00:15:14] Love through community. We strive to build strong relationships with one another and be a church family. And then live as the church. So that's being the hands and feet of Jesus, not only to each other, but to our community, our nation, our world. And so a couple of ways that we live out
[00:15:33] this vision is through our activities and events that happen throughout the week. So if you'll take a look at your news and note sheet, I want to highlight our summer Saturdays. So we had our
[00:15:44] first summer Saturday class yesterday. Yeah. And that was an apologetics class. And everyone who attended had a great time and they got to grow deeper in their faith and learn about the topic.
[00:15:58] And so we have two more summer Saturday classes coming up. The next one is this upcoming Saturday and it is a theology class with Pastor Garrett. And then August 1st, we have a mental health class
[00:16:13] with Emily Rue Schmidt. And so if you are wanting to dive deeper in those topics and grow in your faith with other believers, we just invite you to come and be a part of that. It's from 9 to 12 on
[00:16:27] Saturdays, and we have donuts and coffee, and we would love for you to be a part of that. And then also, it's not just something for our church, it's for the Big C Church. And so if you know someone
[00:16:40] who's had questions about these topics or just wants to learn more, invite them to come. And there's a couple ways that you can sign up. You could share this QR code with them. They can sign
[00:16:51] up on our church app or online. And so we would love for as many people to be a part of that as possible. We'll make room. Yeah, so make sure you check that out. And any other events
[00:17:05] that we have going on, you can check those out on our website as well. If you would, could you please stand and join me as we just continue worshiping together? And I just want to take a moment just to reflect on our giving our giving whether it's our time our talents or
[00:17:23] giving financially it's all it's all an act of worship it's all for Jesus and it all comes from a place of just recognizing how good he was to us and how good he is to us and the sacrifice that
[00:17:35] he made for us we just we just want to recognize that and we want to honor him so if you want to give financially this morning, there are a couple ways to do that. You can do that through the
[00:17:47] church app online, or if you have a physical offering, we have the tithe boxes out in the lobby. But if this is your first time here, we're not asking for your money. That's not what we're
[00:17:59] about. But if you feel led by the Holy Spirit to give this morning, I just pray that we are just able to give what we have over to the Lord. Please bow your heads as we pray together, as we just
[00:18:15] think about our Lord and Savior and why we're here this morning. It's all for you, Jesus. God, we just thank you so much for your sacrifice. We thank you so much for just your love that you pour out on us
[00:18:30] every single day, Lord. We pray over this service here this morning. I pray for just beautiful connections with one another, but also, um, more importantly with you that we're able to just posture our hearts towards you and just, um, pour out our love on you, Lord. And God, I, um,
[00:18:50] we just thank you so much for being a good father to us and, um, just be here with us now in Jesus

[00:18:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:18:58] name. Thank you, Felicia. As we continue to worship this morning church, I want to encourage us you know many times I think human nature is to sometimes go on autopilot right especially with our schedules and so we come to church we go to work and we get in this routine and we check the
[00:19:17] box and this morning I just want us collectively to agree not to do that in this time that we're not just going through the motions that we are worshiping the king of kings and lord of lords
[00:19:28] together. And our circumstances don't dictate our worship. Our worship overcomes our circumstances.
[00:19:38] And so this morning, maybe you've had a difficult week. We've had a rough run with two car accidents and broken ACs and all kinds of crazy stuff, right? But I'm so thankful that in every circumstance,
[00:19:52] in the highs and in the lows, that Jesus is there and his spirit is with me and he's with you too.
[00:19:58] so if you're walking through a valley this morning sing in it worship through it and the Lord will bless you and he will meet you right where you stand and if you're on the mountaintop this morning
[00:20:11] celebrate his goodness and his faithfulness and what he's brought you through because he's so so good a wise lady once told me she worked at the YMCA in downtown Charlotte and she said I am
[00:20:25] too blessed to be stressed. So when we count our blessings, when we count our blessings, we see the Lord and all of his goodness and his spirit comes into us and manifests itself in a real way. So we
[00:20:38] want that this morning for you, that we've witnessed the goodness of the Lord, that he's faithful and that he's worthy of all praise in every circumstance. Amen. Amen.

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:24:11] you're strong and I'm confident I'll see it again so that song is that there's only ask yourself is this true not just with the prose that we say

[00:31:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:31:36] but with the practice of our lives active worship in this moment we're seeing these words I lift my hands up and I lay my whole life down my whole life before the king that that means your life is
[00:31:53] his your mind is his your habits are his your relationships are his your friendships are his your finances are his your sexuality is his that that means that everything is his it's it's your work but it's his work it's your time but it's his time it's your talents but they're his talent
[00:32:22] we're laying our whole lives before and so would you just think of any place where maybe you're holding back where you're sort of still sitting as king of your life and would you just surrender
[00:32:39] that to him as we sing the words of this song would you just picture that place in your mind maybe it's a relationship where maybe it's your anger maybe it's bitterness and unforgiveness towards somebody that's wounded and hurt you but where are you still sitting as king instead of
[00:32:59] surrendering your whole life to him as king over everything would you just let the holy spirit point that out for you and for me and then as he does and we sing those words we lift our hands up
[00:33:15] and we lay our whole lives down before him would you just picture that as an offering to him saying God, I want these words to be true.
[00:33:24] I really want you to be my king forever, over every part of my life, holding nothing back.
[00:33:31] Let's sing to him.

[00:34:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:34:09] It's true of our hearts and our minds in this place this morning.

[00:36:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:36:29] May they not just be words on our lips, but things that we mean to the very being of our soul and our heart and our mind.
[00:36:37] Lord, as we continue to worship you in this place, as we open your word, God, we pray that you continue to speak and move among us, God.
[00:36:44] We pray for the Holy Spirit's anointing on Pastor David that he would speak every word that we would need to hear.
[00:36:50] And Lord, we know and we trust that you are good and that you're faithful.
[00:36:55] And God, that you're worthy of our lives laid down at the foot of your cross.
[00:37:01] Lord, we love you.
[00:37:03] Can we just say that to him, church?
[00:37:04] Lord, say it again, Lord.
[00:37:07] Lord, we love you.
[00:37:08] And we thank you for your presence in this place and all God's people said.

[00:37:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:37:12] Amen.
[00:37:14] Well, as you're being seated, tell the person next to you, I'm so glad you're here today.
[00:37:18] And if we haven't gotten the chance to meet, my name is Pastor David.
[00:37:22] I'm really glad that you're here.
[00:37:23] And let's go ahead and open our Bibles to James chapter 2.
[00:37:26] James chapter 2.
[00:37:27] We're in the middle of our summer series.
[00:37:29] Every summer, we pick a book.
[00:37:32] Anybody like a good book for the summer?
[00:37:34] A nice little summer read?
[00:37:36] So we always do that as a church family.
[00:37:38] We pick a book of the Bible, and then we go through it verse by verse.
[00:37:42] so that by the end of the summer, you've covered an entire book of the Bible.
[00:37:46] You have an entire book under your belt.
[00:37:48] So we've been doing this series, and it's called Fleshed Out Faith, Fleshed Out Faith.
[00:37:54] And James is talking to people who are really going through a difficult season.
[00:37:58] There was a worldwide famine, intense persecution.
[00:38:01] Believers are really walking through trials of all different kinds.
[00:38:05] There were financial trials, relational trials.
[00:38:08] There were spiritual things that were going on in the body of Christ.
[00:38:11] And he wants to encourage these people that he loves with all of his heart.
[00:38:16] He wants to encourage them about living out a fleshed out faith in the midst of walking through seasons of difficulty.
[00:38:25] How many of you know that it's the times of life that squeeze you that really show what was in there all along, right?
[00:38:32] It comes to the surface when you're squeezed and you have to walk through the fires of this life.
[00:38:37] And James wants to let the believers know that our faith isn't just a faith that we say, but it's a faith that goes from our heart to our head and out through our hands.
[00:38:48] It's a fleshed out faith, a faith that we live, that it's not just a set of beliefs that we can sign off on and agree to, but it's that Jesus changes our life, even in the midst of hard times.
[00:39:02] and so James wants to give them sort of a look in the mirror and he gives several different ones throughout the whole book where he says I just want to give it to you straight anybody like it
[00:39:13] when somebody gives it to you straight like doesn't beat around the bush just kind of like just give it to me straight this is James he's the brother of Jesus it's James wants to give it to
[00:39:24] him straight people who are walking through a difficult season he he doesn't come out with flowery words he wants to give practical solutions of being able to walk through difficult seasons and difficult times and really still live out our faith in the midst of that journey and so last
[00:39:40] week he he asked them a question are you living a life that shows partiality are you showing favoritism because that's not in the heart of the father that he wants them to look in the mirror
[00:39:51] and see is there any place where our reflection doesn't look like jesus and so he says during the hard times do you show favoritism towards one group of people or are you showing favoritism towards race are you showing favoritism towards class like oh if somebody has something that
[00:40:10] would benefit you maybe you give them more attention more affection or are you giving more favoritism to people with uh the same sort of socioeconomic level that you have or the education level that you have or life experiences or maybe the people who have the same sins that
[00:40:25] you have, but then everybody else, you're like, oh, those are the bad ones, but mine are okay.
[00:40:30] James tells us, no, no. Instead, he wants us to look at every person, to treat every person, to notice every person, all people with the heart of the Father. And so that was the first look in
[00:40:43] the mirror last week. This week, he's giving us another look in the mirror, but it's not just about the things that we treat people. It's about the things that we say versus how we live.
[00:40:53] And this past week, it was interesting because my wife and I got a little glimpse into what the empty nest is going to look like for us in a few years.
[00:41:03] So our oldest got married about a month ago.
[00:41:06] And so she was in town with her husband and we were like, let's go out to dinner together.
[00:41:12] That was fun, a new experience for us.
[00:41:15] But our other three daughters were in Mexico on the missions trip with the youth.
[00:41:20] And so we were like, you know, sort of, we've always said we had our kids young, like I'm only 25 right now. And, uh, it's not that funny, but, um, but no, we had our kids young and we always
[00:41:32] said, Hey, we want to have our kids young. So then when they fly the nest, man, we can just like still go and do lots of fun things. And so we've always said like, Oh, we can't wait for the empty
[00:41:42] nest years, but then we experienced it this week. And how many of you know, like there's something different about saying something versus actually experiencing it but we we had the best time like we you know we went out to dinner with our married daughter we ended up being like little kids and we
[00:41:56] went up to the mountains for a day with a little day trip up to blowing rock and we went tubing down the new river you know that was fun uh we we tackled some painting projects and read some
[00:42:06] chapters in a book together it was great but but but there's something different about talking about something and then actually experiencing it. And I think that's James' message to the church in this letter that he's writing to them, is he says there's something different about what you
[00:42:25] profess than about something you possess. There's a story, how many of you are history fans? Any history buffs in the house? There was a guy in the 1850s. His name was Charles Blondin. Charles Blondin. If you want to Google him as I'm telling you the story, you can see a picture of him on
[00:42:44] the Googler. Okay. But he was a famous tightrope walker in the 1850s. And he was famous for putting a tightrope, an 1100 foot tightrope across Niagara Falls from the Canada side to the US side. And so he would walk on this tightrope and they would have crowds that would
[00:43:07] show up and watch him walk over the tightrope and like, is he going to fall into the falls or is he not going to fall into the falls? And so he would, he would say, do you believe that I can walk
[00:43:17] across this tightrope? And they would say, Blondin, Blondin, we believe, we believe. And then so he would walk across 1100 feet there and back. Then he would up the ante and he would say, how many
[00:43:30] of you think that I could do it on stilts? Blondin, Blondin, we believe. And then he actually did. He put stilts on and walked on the tightrope while he was wearing stilts. He goes across. He
[00:43:45] comes back across again. He says, how many of you think that I could do it blindfolded? And everybody, Blondin, we believe. Blondin, we believe. He puts the blindfold on and he walks across 1,100 feet between Canada and the U.S. and back again. Blondin, we believe. How many of you
[00:44:07] think I could do it with a wheelbarrow? Blondin, Blondin, we believe. So he gets the wheelbarrow and he goes 1,100 feet across this tightrope and then back again. And he says, how many of you

[00:44:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:44:21] believe that I could take across one of you in this wheelbarrow? We believe, we believe. And he says, who's going to be the one to volunteer? And nobody ever did. Nobody ever did. You know why?

[00:44:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:44:41] Because there's something different about professing belief and possessing belief.
[00:44:46] anybody can say they believe something but really possessing belief is taking action to the place where you put yourself in the wheelbarrow in the hands of the person to push you across and this is what James wants to tell the early church just jot this down if you're taking notes
[00:45:07] in your news and note sheet here's the message for today from James chapter 2 we're going to start with verse 10. There's a difference between a profession of faith and possession of the faith.
[00:45:19] Lots of people would say, oh, I believe in God. Lots of people would say, oh sure, I'm a Christian.
[00:45:26] I grew up and I went to church. Lots of people would say, do you believe that Jesus is the son of God? And they would say, sure I do. I mean, I pray to him all the time. But I want to tell you
[00:45:38] there's a difference between profession of faith and possession of the faith. And here's the difference. Saving faith, possession of the faith always produces fruit as proof. It's never just a set of intellectual beliefs. It's never something that just stays in your head or in your heart.
[00:46:00] Real saving faith goes from your heart to your head and out through your actions and hands. It's fleshed out faith. And this is what James wants them to know. He says, there's lots of people
[00:46:12] who say they follow Jesus. There's lots of people who say they believe, they profess having a faith, but that's something different than people who actually possess the faith.
[00:46:25] And they're having that faith walked out and proved by fruit in their life. He says, I want you to pee people who don't just profess faith but who possess the faith look at what he says
[00:46:38] in james chapter 2 verse 10 here's what he says for whoever keeps the whole law but fails at how many points fails at how many points one point has become guilty of what all of it he's become
[00:46:53] guilty of all of it for he said who said don't commit adultery also said don't murder so if you don't commit adultery, but you do murder, you become a what? What's that word? A transgressor
[00:47:06] of the law. So we picked up our kids from the airport this morning. I saw Dan Swan. He was sitting down front. He was picking up his kids and he pulled up beside me and blocked me in at
[00:47:16] the airport because that wasn't nice. And I couldn't leave. So I wasn't going to let that pass. You know what I'm saying? And so as we were leaving the airport, I'm pulled beside him and
[00:47:26] we're at a stoplight and I said you want to go like let's let's let's race right okay and so I stomp on the gas in my 2018 Honda Pilot with a V6 and I'm scooting right okay now now here just
[00:47:41] imagine this didn't happen but let's just say it happened let's just say that we're racing down the highway and then all of a sudden a state trooper turns on his blue lights and then I
[00:47:52] shift lanes without putting on a turn signal. And then I see the lights and I say, I've always wanted to be on an episode of cops. Let's see if I can outrun this guy. And I take off running,
[00:48:04] right? I take off running and I crashed the car and then they tase me, right? And then I'm in the jail. And now I'm going before the judge, right? And he's reading off the list of charges. And he
[00:48:16] says, excessive speed, reckless driving, changing lanes without making a signal, running and evading the police, resisting arrest, all of this stuff, right? List out the charge. How do you plead?
[00:48:29] And if I said to him, well, not guilty because I've never stolen a thing. That wouldn't make any sense, would it? Listen, he says, if you're guilty of one, then you're guilty of breaking all of it he says well don't look at yourself and say well yeah but I never killed anybody
[00:48:47] he's like God's standard when it comes to the law isn't good it's perfect so have you ever lied have you ever broken a single if so then even breaking one condemns you as guilty of it all
[00:49:08] because God's standard isn't good it's perfect that's why Jesus had to come for us because none of us could be perfect if you're perfect in the house please leave you will make our average messed
[00:49:20] up because there are no perfect people in this place right all of us needed Jesus none of us could be perfect that's why he came and he was perfect in every place where we failed and he
[00:49:32] credited his perfection to our account for us. And James is looking at them and he says, don't forget if you break one part of the law, you've broken it all. Look at what he says in verse 12.
[00:49:44] So why don't we speak and act? Look at what he says is those who are to be judged under the law of what? The under the law of liberty. He says, don't you ever forget what you've been forgiven
[00:49:57] enough. He says, when you were looking at people who are made in the image of God, all of us are broken. And he says, there's something that happens for people where they look at others and they say
[00:50:10] justice. And they look at themselves and they say, mercy. Does that ever happen in your relationships?
[00:50:19] Does that happen in your marriage? Where you give yourself the benefit of the doubt, right? Like, I would never. I mean, I would never mean to say something like that. I would, I mean, you know my
[00:50:29] heart. I would never intentionally do something wrong, but then you assume the worst about the other person. Like maybe you give yourself grace, but you don't give your kids grace. In this, James says, don't ever forget what you've been forgiven of and let that filter how you view everyone else.
[00:50:48] Look at what he says. Verse 13, for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy then he gives this beautiful promise look at what he says mercy triumphs over what judgment he says
[00:51:02] i want you to remember what you've been forgiven of and let that color how you treat every person on the planet he may have been thinking about the verses from zachariah james is a good jewish boy
[00:51:15] he might have been thinking about the prophecy from zachariah chapter 7 when he says thus says the Lord of hosts render true judgments show kindness and mercy to one another he says don't oppress the widow and don't oppress the fatherless and don't oppress the sojourner that's the refugee
[00:51:33] who's not from your nation but is in your nation now because they were fleeing a situation that they couldn't be in he says and do not oppress the poor and don't let any of you devise evil
[00:51:47] against any other person's heart he says do you remember the story that Jesus told he says there was a guy who owed billions to the king it was a debt he could never repay and he's called before
[00:51:59] the king and the king says pay up it's time to pay and he says you know I can't pay and he's like I could be in jail working it off for thousands of years and I could never repay and he says mercy
[00:52:11] and the king looks at him and he says, because of the kind of king I am, I'm going to wipe your slate clean. You go from owing billions to owing nothing. It's all covered. It's paid in full.
[00:52:25] And then Jesus says, this guy who's just been forgiven billions, he goes out in the street and he sees his neighbor and he says, you borrowed my lawnmower and you broke it.
[00:52:36] right he sees a guy who owes him just a few hundred dollars and he looks at the guy and instantly he gets angry and he goes up to this guy and he says you owe me and the guy says i know i
[00:52:53] owe you but i don't have it right now and he says then i'm gonna throw you and your wife and your kids all in jail until you can pay me back and then somebody sees it and says wait a minute there
[00:53:07] was this guy who just was forgiven billions and now he's like squeezing the throat of this guy who owes him a few hundreds and Jesus tells this story he says for us to always remember the weight
[00:53:21] of his forgiveness for us and this is what James is saying he's saying every person you see you treat them as the way the Lord has treated you have you been treated with mercy have you been
[00:53:33] forgiven billions that you could have never repaid because if you're guilty of one part you're guilty of it all has the Lord looked at you and even though you were guilty has he because of what
[00:53:45] Jesus did in your place looked at you and said even though he's guilty I'm declaring him not guilty because I'm going to look at Jesus instead of him Jesus's blood covers over everything that he's done. And not just that he's declared not guilty. I'm crediting all of Jesus's righteousness
[00:54:04] in the places he got it right to all the places that he never did. I'm crediting all of Jesus's righteousness to your account. He says, that's what has happened for you. So when you look at
[00:54:18] other people, how in the world can we be so stingy with mercy? He looks and he says, look at the next verse 14 he's talking about people who profess belief but maybe they don't possess real saving
[00:54:33] faith because saving faith produces fruit as a proof look at what he says verse 14 so what good is it my brothers if somebody says well i have faith but don't have works read this out loud he
[00:54:48] says can what's that next word can that faith save him can an intellectual faith save someone where it's just is God real sure he's real what do you think his name is I think his name is Jesus
[00:55:06] is that saving faith just believing that God is who he said he was look at what James says he answers the question in just a minute he says what about this let's flesh it out he says
[00:55:21] if a brother or sister somebody who you say believes in Jesus you say you believe in Jesus they say they believe in Jesus is poorly clothed like threadbare clothing and they're lacking daily food they're emaciated it looks like you can't tell when they have their last meal and one of
[00:55:39] you says to them go in peace brother be warm and be fed i hope that someone meets your needs he looks and he says without giving them the things that they actually need for their body what good is that does that accomplish something look at what he says verse
[00:56:02] 17 so also faith by what itself if it doesn't have works is dead he's like it doesn't accomplish anything if it's just a set of doctrines that you say i agree but it hasn't produced anything
[00:56:22] inside of you if you're still sitting as king of your life where you're like oh i know there's a king, but I'm going to rule my own life. He says, that's not saving faith. When you just say, oh,
[00:56:34] I believe this, but it doesn't impact how I live in any way, shape, or form. He says, that's not saving faith. Look at what he says, verse 18. He says, but somebody will say, well, you've got faith
[00:56:46] and I've got works. Show me your faith, the part from your works, but I'll show you my faith by my works. He says, let me just take it further. You believe that God is one, you do well. Would you
[00:56:57] say that there's only one God well yeah you and lots of people would say there's only one God would you say his name is Jesus yeah that's fantastic that's not saving faith look at what
[00:57:10] he says he says you do well but even the demons what believe they profess and they shudder they know who is in charge because he's the one who made them he made them as beautiful angels
[00:57:30] they know who's king over every king they know who's God seated on his throne they know that their time is coming and they know who rules the world they know their destiny and they shudder at
[00:57:45] the power of the living God but that's not saving faith they profess with their mouth that Jesus is the son of god but that's not saving faith look at what he says even the demons believe
[00:58:02] and they shudder he says do you want to be shown you foolish person faith apart from works is what useless he says it doesn't exist it's not a real thing he says true saving faith the holy spirit
[00:58:18] of God breathes on you and unites himself to your spirit. And if he lives in you, you cannot stay the same. He changes you from the inside out. It starts in your heart and then it goes to your
[00:58:34] head and then out through your hands. He says, there's no such thing as a faith that doesn't change you. A faith that doesn't produce any fruit. He says, that's not real saving faith.
[00:58:46] it's not a creed listen to me it's not accepting a creed that's not saving faith that's why only individuals can be Christians and there never has been or never will be a Christian nation because you can't proclaim belief for anybody else it's not something you can inherit it's
[00:59:04] something that you have to declare it's submission on your own to say you are the king and I'm not God is not building one nation he's building one kingdom of people from every nation every tribe
[00:59:18] every tongue every people group who are brothers and sisters every person who has surrendered their lives to Jesus it says that the spirit of God comes into you and seals you and then he works
[00:59:31] his way out in your life it starts with faith but it never just stays faith it's faith that works and is fleshed out through fruit that he produces not you listen your works cannot save you your
[00:59:49] works can't save you Jesus did every work to save you but you cannot be saved if works are never a part of your life you can't have faith that's real saving faith if you aren't being changed
[01:00:02] by the God who lives inside of you. He possesses you and he changes the way that we live.
[01:00:11] That's what real saving faith looks like. It's not just a profession of belief or yes, I agree.
[01:00:17] It's surrender to him. It's not just saying, we believe, we believe. It's putting your life in the wheelbarrow and letting him push you across. That's the difference in saying you believe.
[01:00:33] and actually possessing faith do you see it look at what he says I love this verse he gives an example he says verse 21 was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up
[01:00:46] his son Isaac on the altar you see faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works and the scripture was fulfilled it says this read this out loud with me Abraham believed
[01:01:00] God and it was counted to him as righteousness. And he was called a friend of God. Look at what he says. You see that a person is, what's that word? What's it say? Justified by what? Works
[01:01:14] and not by faith alone. This gets tricky because if you just read this part of James, it would be really confusing. When you compare it to the letters of Paul, Paul says that we are justified
[01:01:25] by faith alone in Christ alone. So what is he meaning here? He's talking about two different moments from two different perspectives. How many of you have siblings and you tell the same story, but it's totally different perspectives, right? So the perspective of Paul goes right alongside
[01:01:45] the perspective of James. Paul says he's talking about a moment where you were justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's what that looks like. There's a moment where you realize you can never be perfect. And God's standard is perfect, not good. You need a savior who was perfect in
[01:02:07] your place. And so in that moment, the apostle Paul says, you stand before God and you declare your faith in him. And you say, what does he say? If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
[01:02:21] Lord you surrender you want him to be your savior but also the Lord of your life he's in charge of you he says if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord you believe in your heart God raised him
[01:02:33] from the dead then in that moment you were saved you're justified here's what happens the judge looks at you and even though you were totally guilty because of your faith in Jesus as your substitute, he looks at him and then he looks at you and says, not guilty. That's what justified
[01:02:54] means. Now, James is not talking about that moment where God looks at you and says, not guilty.
[01:03:01] James is talking about what happens after the trial is over, after the judge has declared you not guilty then you're out with your friends celebrating and then here's what happens your life is different because of the mercy that you've been granted by the judge and now when your
[01:03:24] friends look at you and they look back on the judge's verdict and they say not guilty they look at him, they say, yeah, that's true. His life bears out the verdict the judge gave.
[01:03:38] This is what James is saying. He says, Abraham was justified by God the moment he believed in him. And then when he offered up the thing that he loved most, everybody around said, that's belief.
[01:03:53] He was justified. He looks at him and he says, that's so true. In Galatians chapter two and three and Romans 4, the apostle Paul uses the word justified for the judge declaring not guilty here in this context with James. He's using it for other people to judge, to say your works
[01:04:11] demonstrate and prove to the watching world that the judge has declared you not guilty.
[01:04:18] He looks and says, that checks out. Their life is matching their words. Look at what he says, verse 25 isn't it the same with Rahab the prostitute justified by her works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way look at what he says verse 26 read
[01:04:34] this out with me for as the body apart from the spirit is dead so also faith apart from works is dead he says there's no such thing as faith that doesn't progress there's no such thing as faith
[01:04:50] that never produces fruit if you just prayed a prayer and your life never changed if you just said i believe this but you never surrendered to him being lord and savior he says that's not
[01:05:05] saving faith there's a difference in somebody professing faith and saying there's so many people who it's oh yeah i believe in god i'm an american that's not saving faith right i believe jesus is real. I went to vacation Bible school when I was a kid. That's not saving faith. He says, have you
[01:05:25] come to a place where the judge has declared you not guilty? Because you've said Jesus took my place. Because every person that's experienced that not guilty verdict from him walks out of the courtroom and Jesus leads that person's life where other people will look back and say,
[01:05:49] that is where he was declared not guilty that's the moment where things started to change he says there's a difference in possessing faith and professing faith the difference the difference saving faith always produces fruit as proof let me ask you do you have real faith
[01:06:10] that's changed your life if not today is your day why would you wait let's pray this morning asking if you believe in God. I'm not asking if you think Jesus was real. I'm not asking if you
[01:06:25] think Jesus is the son of God or he lived a historical life. Listen, that's not faith.
[01:06:35] I'm asking, are you standing before the judge? Has there been a moment in your life where you confessed with your mouth that he's Lord? He's in charge, not you. You surrender all of you to all
[01:06:51] of him you believe that he died and he rose again and then it meant something for you it wiped your slate clean so you could be declared not guilty and it gives you a brand new way of living the
[01:07:09] bible says if you have that kind of faith the holy spirit joins himself to you and he seals you and he starts to work his way out through your life bearing fruit it's not something you do but but
[01:07:24] it will never just stay a belief. It will become fruit. So let me ask you, do you have a faith that's just a professing faith or do you have a possessing faith? Has there been a moment where
[01:07:40] you've surrendered and you've heard the judge declare you not guilty, even though you were?
[01:07:46] if you have the Bible says that we will walk in the spirit and he will bear much fruit as we surrender our lives to him it's going to change things in us you're not going to be perfect
[01:08:05] you're still going to stumble you're still going to make sins and mistakes you're still not going to be perfect in any way shape or form but he's going to start changing you it's going to show up
[01:08:16] in a way where other people take notice and they point back to the moment where the judge said not guilty and they say that checks if you've never started a real relationship with Jesus this is your moment would you picture yourself before the judge of all humanity all of us stand
[01:08:43] guilty in our sins because none of us are perfect right this is your moment do you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord? Are you willing to surrender to him? Do you believe in your heart
[01:09:02] that what he did on the cross and how he came back from the dead, that that meant something for you? It was him taking your place and your punishment so the slate could be wiped clean
[01:09:13] of billions and he could gift you all of his righteousness for the places where you never could have kept it. The Bible says in that moment, the Holy Spirit of God joins himself to you and
[01:09:29] you will never be the same. It's not just words that you say. It's a life that you're now going to live. So would you just tell him, Jesus, that's what I want. That's what I want. I want to know
[01:09:42] you like that. Send your Holy Spirit to wake me up to a brand new way of living that changes everything. Thank you for declaring me not guilty, even though I was. And God, I pray that you would
[01:09:58] start to change things from the inside out so that the whole world will take notice that when you declared me not guilty it checks out if you just prayed that i just want to celebrate with you the
[01:10:15] bible says you've started real genuine saving faith and the first thing you do is tell somebody because it's the best news ever and so on the seat back in front of you that little response card
[01:10:26] felicia talked about fill out your name and address on the back put a check mark it says i pray to receive Jesus as my Savior and my Lord. Take that to the Connect booth so you can celebrate
[01:10:37] with them. They will be so excited with you that the Lord has changed your life. And they have a book that they want to give you. It's the next step. So what do you do now that you've started
[01:10:45] this journey with Jesus? This is just the starting line. It's not like the finish line of anything.
[01:10:50] You're starting this unbelievable new journey with Him, and I couldn't be more excited.
[01:10:55] But for those of you that are believers in the house, James would say, let's take a look in the mirror? He's forgiven you billions. Are you squeezing the throat of anyone that owes you hundreds? Or are you walking in the mercy that he granted to you? Would you ask him to help you?
[01:11:31] Have in constant memory that he's forgiven you what you could never repay. And then speak and treat others in the same mercy that he's shown to us so the world knows he's real. Lord, would you
[01:11:52] make us people that even when we walk through difficult seasons and trials, that we would be people who overwhelmingly show the mercy that you've shown us. God, make us people that don't just say we believe, but we get into the wheelbarrow and let you push us because you're the leader of
[01:12:15] our life. Lord, use us so the world knows who you are and that you can do for them what you've done for us. In the name of Jesus and all God's people said, amen. I'm going to invite Will Adair. He's
[01:12:31] our elder on call this week. If you need anything, Will would love to be able to pray for you. If you've got a hospital visitor, you're walking through a season of difficulty, he'll actually be out by the fireplace to pray for you after the service. But you can get in touch with him on our
[01:12:45] church center app or on our website cccmorsel.com click the help button talk to the elder of the week it'll go to will this week and he would love to pray for you would you stand with us we're
[01:12:55] gonna will's gonna lead us in a time of prayer as a benediction and then all of us together are gonna say our prayer for the year it's something that helps focus us to maintain the heart of the
[01:13:07] father as we leave this place on mission in our community and so we're going to repeat it together as our corporate benediction.

[01:13:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:13:15] Thanks, Pastor David.
[01:13:18] Let's pray.
[01:13:19] Lord, thank you for just another day.
[01:13:23] Lord, thank you for our church.
[01:13:25] Thank you for our word today.
[01:13:28] Lord, I pray this week that whether we're at work, store, or even on vacation, I pray that we show the others the love of Jesus.
[01:13:41] I ask this in your name, amen.
[01:13:45] All right, so let's say this together.
[01:13:46] God, unite us to have the heart of the Father the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit Amen