Faith and works, Intro.
James 2:14-18 · Bob Eckel · May 14, 2023
James, No. 17
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261931152279

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

All right, so I'm going to begin reading at verse 8. We really could go back to verse 1, but I'm not going to take the time to do that. But let's lead into today's section. By the way, this is the first of four parts. So we're going to be covering James 2, 14 through 26 in composite, which relates to this whole issue of faith versus works. Verse 8, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself and you do well. How we all do it there. We talked about that a lot last week.

But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point is guilty of the whole law. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Don't murder. Now, if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you also become a transgressor of the law. So speak, and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Now, today's section begins with verse 14.

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can faith save him? And if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

OK, so people spend a lot of time looking at this section of scripture, as I have too. I learned a lot preparing for today's lesson. So I'm thankful for what I think is solid commentation on this section. And thank Roger for sending Merriman's book particularly. I think that was very helpful. OK, let's begin.

So the, as always, review of last week, all sin falls short of the glory of God. But I think we talked last week about the consequences of different sins are very different. I mean, we talked about vanity and pride in terms of that being hateful to the Lord, not bringing glory to him, but talk about adultery and what the consequences are of that or murder. There are significant consequences that relates to the legal system in which we live and also the spiritual life we live after those kinds of sins. So the consequences do differ, but all fall short of the glory of God.

And does this also include the absence of agape love? I mean, in fact, the love that Christ showed for us is the love we're to show to one another. And that falls short of God's glory, too, if we're not living in the new man enlightened by the spirit to love one another unconditionally.

All right. So the law of liberty freezes from the penalty of sin and the power of sin. So, you know, remember, Christ said, when I sets you free, you will be free indeed, and that's a freedom to live without the power of sin. I mean, we all fall short of that, don't we? But yet, that's what the law of liberty is. The law of liberty isn't the sin. Remember Romans 6, Paul said, should I continue in sin that grace should abound? God forbid, absolutely no. But yet, we do positionally. We're seated, and that's never going to change. And Christ is never going to be crucified again.

So we've been saved from the penalty of sin, we'll return to this today, and from the power of sin, although again, we often fall short, but we, you know, reconcile, get back in fellowship with the Lord and move on by grace. And the last thing we thought, mercy triumphs over judgment, doesn't it? And don't we all agree this is wonderfully loving doctrine? that mercy triumphs over judgment. And that's true of the believer in terms of forgiveness as we confess, and true to get saved to begin with. Okay, so that's kind of a capsule of what we talked about some last week. All right, let's hit the tough part of scripture here.

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? I'm not going to take a poll on this one here quite yet, but let's. So the concept and what's really argued here, if you don't have warps, are you really saved? And, you know, we're going to return to this and how that's misinterpreted, I think. So let's move on. First of all, that first statement, what does it profit my brethren?

It's clear to whom James is writing here, isn't it? Who's he writing to? He's writing to believers. So, if we put this in context, he's not writing to the world system. You're unsaved, so I don't expect any words, or now you're saved, we expect words, but you're not saved if you're not saved, right? I mean, he's writing to the brothers and sisters in the Lord who are almost probably entirely Jewish believers. Doesn't make them Jews anymore, they're Christians now, but yet that's his audience. And ultimately, he goes on to say, if someone says he has faith. So I'm going to ask the class, this is a question I want an answer.

Is if or by the way, some translations say though. Is that the first conditional classification? In other words, that could mean since. Everybody's doing this. It's assumed to be true. Or in fact, is this a third class conditional, meaning if the subjective tense. In other words, sometimes there, sometimes not. What's your thought here? Is this a first conditional or a third conditional use of the term if or though?

Again, if this is interpreted as a first conditional, that means that's expected to be true. Let's go back to the verse. If someone says he has faith, if they say they have faith, what do you think? Does that mean since they have faith? Or is it if they say they have faith? I think it's if. Yeah, that's correct. This is a third class conditional. Excuse me a second. All right. All right, we're off to a good start. All right. All right.

What faith? Is this security of salvation faith? What do you think? Saving faith 101? Is this people who are saved versus unsaved? Jim says no, there's a lot of nodding no, there's some nodding yes. Let's look at this. So what is the security of saving faith?

That is coming to the Lord by believing that Jesus Christ was crucified on behalf of not only our sin but the sins of the world. You only have to believe for yourself and ultimately that gives security. I'm going to quote three verses, four verses here that really solidify this. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. That seems like a pretty straightforward statement, doesn't it?

Romans 10.9, that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. I'm meaning to get you entertained here by the various animations. Probably one of the best verses, for by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast, right? And 1 Corinthians 52, moreover brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which you also are saved, if you hold that word which I read to you, unless you believed in vain.

Okay, so this, you know, this compares believing in vain, not being saved, biblically saved, versus having true salvation. So do we think that that's what James is addressing here, the salvation, the security of the salvation experience? Well, I don't think so. Remember, we need to interpret in context as to what James is stating here, that being saved occurs in three verb tenses.

From the penalty of sin that's passed, I was saved. So the penalty of our sin, we're not in hell, we're with the Lord now and forevermore, right? Positionally and then ultimately conditionally. Second, the power of sin, which we referred to earlier, is in our present lives. We have been saved to be overcomers in terms of the power of sin. That's how sin influences day in and day out in the human condition. And look, we've also been saved from the presence of sin, which is our future position carried out eternally once we leave these earthly bodies.

So is James talking about these people who claim to be saved, who ultimately, remember, he's writing to the brethren. OK, so let's keep that in mind as we go forward here. But if you say you're saved but you don't have works, are you really saved? Again, saving faith 101 is not what James is addressing here. Let's continue that thought.

What are works? Are we to be the judge of what good works are? What's the thoughts of the class here? Be free to express your thoughts here. Two questions in one. What are good works or works that bring glory to God? And are we to be the judge of whose works are good and whose are not and ultimately what the source of those works are? And I'm going to claim up front before we address this in conversation is that there are people who live very good lives from the human perspective or are not saved before the throne of grace. Thoughts here?

Well, the key passage is talking about works for the believer. God has, you know, God is the source of those works. He has foreordained them. You know, it says in Ephesians, I can quote it, let's see. I can't quote it at the moment. But anyway, he has planned your works and he's asking you by faith to walk in those works. So that's a key aspect of this. So if you think that you're creating the works, you're getting your list of works, that's the wrong picture. The picture is that he has created the works and you're to walk in those works. All right. Other thoughts about this?

I think that James is continuing to drill down on these Jewish believers who are probably very stuck in the law. And he's, I think he's talking about their works out of the law, trying to produce salvation versus life works, which Roger just was talking about, we possess. Okay, Jimmy, that's good. Now, are you placing that in context with the fact that we're distinguishing brethren who are saved from those who may claim to be saved and who are not? Not necessarily. I think maybe these brethren are saved, but I think they're misguided because Paul hadn't been around and they're justifying their works based on the law, even though they believe in Christ. I think they're boasting in their works that are produced similar to the old Jewish system.

I may be way wrong, but I tend to think that James has just really focused on Jewish believers in this epistle. Remember the first verse I read today was chapter 2, verse 8. If you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, you'll love your neighbor as yourself. And we get into being trespassers of that law, and that's clearly Jewish law.

So I think your thoughts here are good ones. Other thoughts here about this? Let's see how strong defines works. An act, a deed, or a thing done. Now that could be with your hands in the field or filling these potholes around Denver right now that are numerous. Or any other thing that we could call work that's manual or could even be intellectual work. You know, many of us have had desk jobs and have been intellectually working at our jobs. So anything that is an act, a deed, or a thing being done is work.

But that's a Greek definition. Some people say fair wasn't saved. I don't know. But I mean, I'm not going to question that. But, you know, it's the source of the Greek term, I think, is where we want to go. And this is kind of a vague definition, but it's probably true. All right. So are we to gauge one another's works in terms of their source? Hey, I'm not going to answer that one. Well, especially if we realize, you know, we've been taught by Paul. Of course, this is where it gets a little bit tough. You know, James is Did he have the insight from Paul? And maybe he did.

We realize that a believer who knows the Lord can walk contrary to who he is. He can walk in his flesh. He can go back to the law. And he spent the whole book of Galatians talking about the believers doing that, going back to the law. Well, let's drill down here a little bit more. But does have does not have works and I'm going to just say this it does not have is in the present active tense so all the way again he's writing to Brethren and includes the Greek term and Roy may want to comment on this further may which really is a strong term to indicate that God forbids that works not be present. In other words, this is a strong statement.

There's an expected activity of the believer where good works would follow. He should be in fellowship with the Lord. We expect a believer. Your expectation of a believer is that he walks with the Lord. And we realize we don't, but your expectation...

Okay, so who judges works? Well, you know, Roger and Mike are put in a position as elders of this church to, in fact, when wrong works are brought to their attention, they're there to counsel and remediate and correct those wrong works. But in general, I don't think God judges the works in terms of their source. If we judge works, What standard do we go by?

Exactly. And again, as I stated earlier, there are people who live good lives who are not biblically saved, according to the security of their salvation. So when we try to judge works, we can be very mistaken. And then we can think about believers who have gone south, ultimately, and have no anything that It's anything but good works in terms of their lifestyle. And remember, the works that bring glory to God are the works that are inactivated through the new creations we are in Christ Jesus that are Spirit-directed and led.

I think the verse Roger was referring to before was Philippians 2.13. Sorry, which verse?

It's Philippians 2.13. Okay.

For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out his good through. So God's the ultimate judge. Okay. And that confuses this human body that doesn't God really is doing all this, but yet that's what we're called to by Scripture, to live by faith.

Go ahead. A parallel passage to that is Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10, where his workmanship created Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Right. We're going to come back to that. All right. And James has already addressed this issue with the president, hasn't he?

I mean, if we turn back to chapter one, verse 22 says, be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. And he's only in one verse kind of said, you have to work here. Not in your power, but that of the power of the Holy Spirit working for you as new believers in Christ Jesus.

And then, I think a very pointed example of this has already been presented, and we've looked at this fairly recently, in James 2.1. My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. So, in other words, this is an example of bad works, or not really fulfilling the new nature we have in Christ Jesus. by showing partiality, and that's covered in several verses that preceded Werber at the day. So, the scripture says, can faith save him? Well, what do you think here? One of the things that is important, Bob, is that this has a definite article before faith. Yeah, right. You're ahead of me, which is fine. I'm sorry. That's good. And James appears to indicate that the answer is no, that the faith cannot save him. But I'm going to turn to a number of commentators here, because I think this is a tough statement and needs to be clarified.

And Merriman says, is hell or eternity in view, or is deliverance from the degradation and being saved in view? Meaning the present tense, being saved, and that's the tense of the verb. Being doers of the word brings deliverance for the soul. It is this deliverance and being saved that he has in mind here. The present tense, being saved. All right, going to turn to Constable now.

In verse 14, James returned to this thought, or his thought in 121 and 122, we just have 122 up above, about saving one's life from death. His point here was that faith is no substitute for obedience. God, and I'm going to leave out a large section, but God works in addition to faith God's good works in addition to faith are necessary for that kind of deliverance or salvation. Okay? That's constable.

Macaulay, Paul emphasizes, Jimmy, Paul emphasizes that faith alone justifies. James emphasizes that works prove the reality of faith. I like that a lot. In Paul, faith is the root of righteousness. In James, works is the fruit of righteousness. Isn't that a nice summary? And I got one more for you, Darby. And boy, he's got a long session on this. Anyway, this is the evidence of faith which is required for man.

It is only by its fruits that we make it evident to men or women, for the faith itself cannot be seen. But if I produce these fruits, then assuredly I have the root and without which there could not be fruit. Thus, faith does not show itself to others, nor can I recognize it without works. But works, the fruit of faith, prove the existence of faith.

So, in a sense, Darby and Macaulay are kind of saying the same thing. Darby is much more late-blorn, in fact, but what? Loquacious. Loquacious. So I think we're developing a theme here that the present tense we're talking about being saved is expecting of fruits and we're not the fruit inspectors.

But we're the people who live the life by faith. So can faith save? What's the answer? Well, faith does save. And we're being saved. No, no, no, no. Go ahead, Roy. It is not the basis of our salvation. Christ's work is the basis of our salvation. There you go. Absolutely. That's good, Roy. That's good. One of the things that might help us here, Bob, is that that word that is translated to save here is an infinitive. It's a principle. Leave faith. by principle, does not save. Okay? It is the object of the faith. Right. Exactly.

But I might add that Christ's faith doesn't save everybody. I mean, Christ's work, excuse me, Christ's work did not save everybody. There's that next step. Those that have faith and belief in Him are then saved. Right? But our faith is a response to His work. Actually, we're going to see this in the main service that we're believing in an event. We're believing in the aorist event of Christ dying on the cross and being raised from the dead. We're believing in that event, and that event is what saves us. Our faith is merely ascending to that event. The faith doesn't save you.

I'm always right about that. But that same process of the cross really relates to every tense of the verb, to be saved, was saved, can be saved, and will be saved. Right. All right, good. Now, just a couple of verses here. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. Okay, so it's the life. of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Titus 3.8, this is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable of men. So in a sense, that verse in Titus brings forth what kind of Darby and Macaulay are saying. The evidence before men is where our good works are recognized.

I mean, God will judge. But it's how we impact those around us, both the saved and the unsaved, as to the necessity of these good works for those who are saved. And we're not measuring those. Only the Lord judges us. All right, this is not the source of works that are, I kind of mentioned this up front, this is not the source of works that are communicated in words or lives by self-deceivers. Now the question is how many people who are the self-righteous maybe don't think of themselves as self-righteous but in fact they are doing good things according to our human expectations but are not saved.

So you know James 3.15, the wisdom, this wisdom does not descend from above but is earthly, sensual and demonic. I mean despite the fact that you know these are good people but yet There's the source.

It's earthly, sensual, and demonic. Those are pretty strong terms, aren't they? About these self-deceivers who may not recognize they're being self-deceived. But it's all about their pride. I mean, that's really, which is sourced in Satan. That pride of, look at me. Look at all these great things I've done. in the world, you know.

Well, we can see ultimately in Titus again, they profess to know God, but in works they deny him being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. Now those would mean, those are more knowledgeable self-deceivers, as reflected in James chapter 3, verse 15. So anyway, don't be misled by good works. Because the source is really what's important, and that's what God judges.

All right, let's move on. I'm combining verses 15 and 16, which have a similar theme. If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled. But you do not give them the things which are needed for the body. What does it profit? OK, so we have a very practical example. Again, James is very practical.

So here's a vivid example of not showing good works again is if here, though, or is that a first or third class conditional? Is it expected to be true that this is what or what it is or if it's not? That'd be third. This third, did somebody say? Yeah, I think so. This is unusual. Yeah. May be true, may not be true. So anyway, let's interpret in that regard. If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of family food, you know, and you know, you tell them to go away to be warmed and filled. if you tell them to go away. You know, it's again, it's a third class condition. You may not do that.

Of course, for either translation, there is no profit here. Whether it's sense and they're thinking it's true, it is usually true or ultimately it's sometimes true. Either way, there's no profit because you've not met the need. There's no words to suggest that you're actually identifying the need or meeting it in terms of how you respond.

I'm going to say, how's this for a practical and vivid example of what James states in verse 14? And I think, you know, really, you know, if we go back to verse 14, which I'll read again. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? So this is an example of the fact that this is what kind of example is this of someone who in fact claims faith, but in fact has nothing to show for it in terms of meeting their needs. And the phrase depart in peace, be warmed and filled. Wow.

And be indicates here is pretty strong use of this term, be a state of being. In other words, the idea of dismissing the need, just go ahead and remain, stay in that condition of being warmed and filled, and we do nothing to have them be warmed and filled. I mean, it's kind of like the street person in a way. We kind of look at them and say, you know, that's their choice. They need to be there. I'm not saying what we need to be doing about them as a body of Christ, but all I'm saying is, you know, we tend to accept someone in terms of where they're at and not either recognizing their need and or meeting it. Also, another thing to observe is in 15, it says a brother or sister. I assume that's in the Lord. So again, it's the brethren. Yeah, we're talking about the brethren, for sure.

So this isn't meeting the needs of the street necessarily, but it's within the body that we're concerned about here. But you know, that makes me think of when The elders deal with people who show up at the church who claim to be believers, but you don't know whether they're believers or not. And they figured out, many of them, that if they present a good case, it's pretty hard to be turned away because of this very thing. You don't know. It's hard.

And actually, that's part of what I've, you know, I'm not sure if Mike does it too, saying that, you know, our first response, I explained to him, our first responsibility is to the body here if you want to come and join us and join our fellowship then that puts you in a different position but now I don't know I know I'm sorry sir I'm not sure I can trust you they don't like that normally nor do they join us we have not had one single person since I've been here ever join us that walked in the door like that and wanted money never so it doesn't mean we shouldn't help them anyway it makes it difficult it is difficult find what's what's the best way to help them too.

Right. Yes. And right. And getting the money sometimes is the worst way. Peter, I'm sure your experience is you often, you know, go get something to eat or something. Yeah. You can help them with that. Sure. Sure. But I've been turned down too. So in a sense it reminds us of something we've studied here and similar to what we covered earlier in Chapter 2, my bad.

James 2, 2-4, and I'll read this first. There should come unto you an assembly of men, a man with gold rings and fine apparel. There should also come a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

I mean, you know, again, another example. He's already covered this in terms of partiality, how that reflects the absence of good works. Anyway, so building on the same thing. Macaulay, empty words are again the focal point. The words are empty because the words are missing. Bob? Yes, right, please.

We need to keep in mind that James is pointing out that if your faith is in yourself rather than the right object, our Lord Jesus, you're going to walk according to what you feel for yourself is beneficial. And you don't want to give away things to people that have a need. And so you just tell them, well, go ahead and live the way you want. You're the cause of your own problems. And you ignore them. Versus the heart of love is to reach out with a discerning spirit using the Holy Spirit to guide us. listening to not just what they say, but what is the lifestyle that they got into.

That's a tough discernment, isn't it? Right, and the issue I think is more challenging When we have a need in the body and we're not meeting it, that's really falling short of having our faith lived out. In the world in general, that becomes difficult at times.

And I think Roger Shinner can help the elders deal with people who show up here and want a handout. I mean, that's a challenge, I think, to know how to deal with. And I think the way you guys deal with it is probably good. You want to join us? We'll see what your needs are, and let's make sure you're biblically saved, and let's see how we can help, right? Okay. All right, let's go on now.

A reminder of the words, this brings to me anyway, a reminder of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostle John both. In Matthew it says, I was naked and you clothed me, and I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. I mean, in a sense, we're looking at it out of context, but nevertheless, I mean, it's kind of amazing. The principles of Scripture are there from Genesis to Revelation. This is another principle.

Christ saying, if I was naked, and you clothe me. I mean, when we live the Christ nature, we in fact clothe someone and the brother and a brother or sister-in-law who has no clothes. I mean, I'm being, you know, kind of inflammatory in terms of how we might be impacted by that. And then John goes on to say in 1 John 3, 17, but whosoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, How does the love of God abide in there?

So again, this is the life we're called to, the meeting needs. This is not coming to a biblical salvation being, I was saved. This is being saved in the current, present tense. Thoughts, Jim? You look like you've got something on your mind. Okay. See you people out there in Tell-O-Land. Hopefully I can't see your faces there. All right, good. All right, now, verse 17.

Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Again, who's measuring works? What's the purpose of works? Don't you think so many denominations look at that verse? And that's their whole basis of get busy. How many people have you witnessed to today or this week? I mean, I just see that in so many people, so many of my friends. They're out there working, working really hard. You got the refrigerator, Liz. You got to go buy my refrigerator. You should come to my house, we don't have one. I used to, I must admit.

But God brings to your heart the things that we need to remember, I hope. So anyway, in context, there's a little kind of, I don't know if it's a preposition, Roy can further this, but it reflects the present verb tense about being saved. Thus also faith, the faith, by the way, by itself, if it doesn't have works, is dead. So the faith is the biblical faith of what was saved, being saved, and here it needs to have works, so that's present tense or future tense.

1 Corinthians 1.18, For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. Right? I mean, this isn't You know, the human response, this is spirit led in the new life we have.

And back to James 1.21 again, therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. And that's an ongoing activity of the implantation of the new life we have in Christ Jesus. So how should we interpret dead here?

And I'll respond to one. Separations? Okay, that's typically the way we do it. I'm turning to our commentators here again. Merriman says, dead here is used in its normal scriptural sense, that of separation, not annihilation or lack of existence. And he goes on to say things I didn't put here because of space.

James is not saying faith does not exist. It does exist, but is separated from God's intent, hence dead or profitless to mankind. Faith is said to be dead in itself because when it has works, it's alive. And it's asserted to be so, but not in respect to its works, but in respect to itself. Okay, so in other words, the works are evidence of the faith itself. And as Roy reminded us, the faith is in the crucifixion or resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the faith we're being called to. All right.

James 2.26 for us, the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. So in a sense, maybe that is reflecting the unsafe. So if the body is without the spirit, it's dead. So faith without works is dead, meaning separated.

So would you interpret the first part of verse 26, we'll be covering this, this is the last verse of this whole section we're dealing with. For as the body without the spirit is dead, are we thinking that's the physical body, or are we thinking the body that's biblically unsaved is dead? I think it's probably the physical body maybe more than the salvation of the believer.

I think I'm covering this. We'll get to that a little bit later. All right. So I'm using this quotation from a document called James vs. Paul that's shared with me by my dear brother, Jimmy Brekkerhoff, who's on The Lesson today. This is really a great document, so I can forward it or Jimmy can if anybody wants it. So what I'm pulling out of there is this. Finally, and I'm not sure who wrote this, maybe Jimmy can tell us, but anyway.

Finally, if any should feel disposed to inquire as to the difference between law works and life works, it is simply this, that law works are such as are done in order to get life. And life works with the genuine fruits of the life possessed. I really like that. And how do we get life? By believing on the Son of God. Verily, verily, I say to you, he that hears my words and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life. John 5, 24. And bold. We must have life before we can do anything. And we get life not by saying we have faith, but by really having it. And when we have it, we shall manifest the precious fruits thereof to the glory of God.

Really good. This whole document really deals with this contrast of what Paul represents and what James represents, and kind of merging the two in careful and accurate interpretation of scripture, I think. So, Jimmy, thanks so much for that. You want to comment on this? It gave me a lot of peace when I read this article and went back through James because it's life works.

It's possessed life versus work. I'm going to go down to the Denver Rescue Mission and I'm going to go do some good and I'm proud of myself. Those are law works, even though they may be good in a sense, but the life works. We're saying, you know, everyone that saves has has works, maybe or maybe small, maybe large, but they come out of Jesus Christ and he is our life. So I think that's glorious. And by the way, this is C.H. Macintosh.

OK, good. Thanks. Good. Before we close today. I think it's really good what Jim just said, the source of the works is Christ. Right. That's what makes them good. We kind of go back to the verses that, you know, he's prepared these works beforehand that we shall walk in them. Yeah. So God, you know, God knows the works that he desires us to do and where our job is to It's just to trust him and don't walk on those words. And keep in mind, he will complete those things in which he's initiated. So a paraphrased flip. Right. All right. So let's let's close in prayer. Father, we're grateful for this section.

And James, I think we get an attempt to interpret it correctly in terms of these individuals who are saved by faith in terms of being once saved. who now have an opportunity to live that life out, that the fruits of righteousness through the power of the Spirit may be evident. And those are called good works. We don't know how to measure those, but you do. And we're thankful that we have a life that ultimately leads us in that direction, that we might notice the needs of one another and ultimately be lifted up to deal with those and meet those needs. So we're thankful for the scripture as it entitles us to live this life, which we've been called to. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.