Lesson Study for the week Nov. 1-7

Faith that Works

Read for This Week’s Study:
James 2:14-26
Romans 3:27-28
Titus 2:14
2 Cor. 4:2
Romans 4:1-5
Joshua 2:1-21

FROM THE QUARTERLY

Memory Text: “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26, NKJV).

He was a successful doctor and an elder in a high-profile church of several hundred members. He was a major giver to the church’s big projects, and his generosity encouraged others to be more sacrificial. The doctor was also a great preacher. When the pastor was gone he spoke, and everyone looked forward to his messages, which were theologically deep, heartfelt, and spiritual.

Then one day the truth came out. The doctor’s absence at church the previous Sabbath had not been because he was on vacation, as many had thought. No, he was found dead in his beachfront condo from an overdose of recreational narcotics.

Worse was the shocking revelation that in his bedroom were dozens of pornographic videos and magazines. The church was devastated, especially the young people, who had looked up to him as a role model. Though we must leave all judgment in God’s hands, the doctor’s actions certainly call into question the reality of his faith.

The point?

Though we are saved by faith, we cannot separate faith and works in the life of a Christian, a crucial but often misunderstood truth expounded upon in the book of James.

Many were shocked at the discovery of the doctors secret life. Yet, both sins, are addictions, which once begun tend to bind a person with bands of iron into a dark world from which it is next to impossible to escape.

Yet, with God there is power to overcome addictions.

Of course the best way is never to start, but from reports there are many Christians caught in the web of addictions -- what do we have to offer to help them escape?

SUNDAY -- Dead faith

“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?” (James 2:14, NKJV).

How do we understand this verse in the context of salvation by faith alone? Read James 2:15-17; compare Rom. 3:27-28.

15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 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? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

(Quoting QUARTERLY)
Faith without works. James gives a vivid illustration of this kind of phony faith (James 2:15-16). As we have already seen, obedience in the book of James is relational. So, how do we relate to a brother or sister in the church who is in need? Words are not enough. We cannot simply say, “Go in peace. God will provide,”when God has provided us the means to help that brother or sister.

Of course, needs can be endless, and we cannot meet them all. But there is a principle called “the power of one.” We are the hands and feet of Jesus, and we can help others one person at a time. In fact, that is how Jesus usually worked. In a man whose daughter was dying appealed to Him for help. On the way, a woman approached from behind and touched Jesus’ garment. After the healing, Jesus could have gone on and the woman would have left rejoicing. But Jesus knew that she needed more than physical healing. So, He stopped and took the time so that she could learn to be a witness for Jesus, to share as well as to receive. Then He said the same words we have in : “Go in peace” (Mark 5:34, NIV). But, unlike the words in James, in this case they actually meant something!

When we recognize a need but do nothing about it, we have missed an opportunity of exercising faith. By doing so, our faith gets a little weaker and a little deader. This is because faith without works dies. James describes it even more starkly: faith is dead already. If it were alive the works would be there. If they are not, what good is it? At the end of verse 14, James asks a question about this kind of workless and worthless faith. It comes across far more strongly in Greek than it does in most translations: “That faith cannot save him, can it?” The answer James expects us to give is clearly “No.”

How can we learn to better express our faith through our works while protecting ourselves from the deception that our works save us?

Jesus came to save us from sin.
--"who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works." (Titus 2:14)

James gives us some practical counsel that it is by this saving faith that sin can be overcome and the power of addictions be broken.

An aggressive faith could have saved that doctor in Saturday's story, from his addictions. And aggressive faith can liberate us from the sins that so easily beset us as well.

Sometimes it seems we think of salvation in merely theological terms, whereas salvation is Jesus' provisions to set us free from the enslavement of sin and from soul and body destroying addictions.

Jesus said: “Have faith in God, for verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall SAY unto this mountain [engrained sin and/or addiction], Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea [out of your life]; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall BELIEVE that those things which he SAITH shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he SAITH.” (Mark 11:22-23)

First believe (have faith) that God will remove this sin from you.
Second -- speak! Did you notice the above text talks about speaking three times? "say unto the mountain"-- "what we say shall come to pass" -- "have what we say".

Meet the "mountain" (temptation) with spoken words from scripture, claim God's promises and speak out to thank Him, fully believing it will become reality in your life. Be like the persistent widow in Jesus parable who kept speaking, till her request was fulfilled.
Remember that God's promises to us, and the releasing from sins and from enslaving addictions is God's will for us -- that's why Jesus died for us!

It reminds me of Pastor Coon and the ABC's of prayer:

Matthew 7:7 gives the 'A' of prayer. "Ask and it shall be given you."
Mark 11:24 gives the 'B' of prayer. "Believe...." Believe that you have received the answer!
The 'C' is to claim the promise for which we have asked, and which we have told Him we believe. Claim it, talk like it is a reality in your life and return thanks that you have received it.
Even if you fall, keep claiming his promise as yours, believe He is changing you, and keep thanking Him for that reality.
This is the secret to overcome sin, and also to overcome our fears and other hindrances in the Christian life.

Active, persistent faith and connection with God is what is needed.

MONDAY Saving Faith

Read James 2:18. What is the main point James is making? How do we show our faith by our works?

18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

FROM THE QUARTERLY

James uses a common rhetorical technique whereby a potential objector comes forward. In this case, the objector tries to drive a wedge between faith and works by suggesting that as long as a person has one or the other, he or she is fine. But the whole point James is trying to make is that Christians cannot hope to be saved by faith if there are no corresponding works: “Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (vs. 18, NKJV).

The key point is that not just any faith will save. Genuine faith, saving faith, is characterized by good works. Likewise, works are only good works if they spring from faith. Faith and works are inseparable. Like two sides of a coin, one cannot exist without the other. Also like a coin, one side is the head and the other the tail. Faith comes first and then leads the way to corresponding works.

Consider Paul's attitude toward works in Ephesians 2:10, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 1 Timothy 5:25, and Titus 2:14. Why are good works so important?

Ep.2:10 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
1 Thes. 1:3 "remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father,"
1 Tim. 5:25 Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden.
Titus 2: 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.



Paul was not against good works per se. He was against works as a means of salvation "knowing that a man is not justified by the works" (see Gal. 2:16). In fact, Paul said that those who rely on works of the law to be saved are under a curse, because no one who tries to be saved by keeping the law actually succeeds in keeping it "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” (Gal. 3:10). Obedience is possible only through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

“If man cannot, by any of his good works, merit salvation, then it must be wholly of grace, received by man as a sinner because he receives and believes in Jesus. It is wholly a free gift. Justification by faith is placed beyond controversy. And all this controversy is ended, as soon as the matter is settled that the merits of fallen man in his good works can never procure eternal life for him.”-Ellen G. White, Faith and Works, p. 20.

Why should the great news that we cannot work our way to heaven motivate us, out of a love for God, to do all the good works that we can?

How do we show our faith by our works?
James asks:
Show me your faith without your works...

What does faith without works look like?
Basically it denies the promises of God.
They believe that God is real, they believe in the historical Christ, but they don't believe that Christ has power to change their lives and so they continue in their self-centered, sinful lifestyles.
Those with dead faith profess to have faith, but their lives and their priorities indicate otherwise.

Jesus addressed dead vs living faith in these parables:

“By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.
(Matthew 7:16–20).

The message of Jesus is the same as the message of James, our "works" or "fruit" show whether we have faith.


HOW do we show our faith by our works?

The greatest testimony of a life of faith and the power of God is the changed life. The person who once was trapped in sin, bond by destructive addictions comes to Christ, claims His promises of deliverances, believes and by faith raises to new life in Christ, freed from those sins, proclaims the power and vitality of genuine faith.

This includes a changed outlook in how a person views others. As by faith a person follows Christ, Christ's love grows within His heart.

Remember John the disciple, who came to Jesus as a "son of thunder" hot tempered and ambitious for a place of honor, and how he was changed through his faith connection with Christ? People marveled when they saw and heard John, because John "had been with Jesus". He was a changed man.

Faith that is alive changes a person to be more like Jesus.

TUESDAY --The "Faith" of Demons

[From quarterly)

If works are absent, there is only one other way to “prove” the genuineness of one's faith: by orthodoxy. If I believe the right things, then I must have faith, right?

Read what scripture says:
2 Corinthians 4:2; ...by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
1 Timothy 2:2-4; Lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

James 5:19-20; Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 1:22;Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

1 John 3:18-19. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

What do these verses tell us about how important knowing truth is?

There is no question that an intellectual knowledge of truth has its place, a very important place. Yet, that knowledge, in and of itself, is not sufficient to prove that a person has saving faith.

What warning is given to us in James 2:19 about a false concept of what true faith is?
The most fundamental statement of faith in the Old Testament is Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” (NASB 1995). Known as the Shema (because this is the Hebrew word it begins with), this verse neatly summarizes belief in one God. Every other biblical teaching flows from this cardinal truth.

But even the demons believe this truth. In fact, they know it! And yet, what good does it do them? They tremble in God's presence, as they did also when confronted by Jesus and commanded by Him to come out of their victims (Mark 3:11, 5:7).

An intellectual faith that has no effect on how we act is useless; in fact, it is the same faith that demons have, demons who are actively at work to deceive us with false doctrines and lies. As with Israel at the time of Jesus, demons will encourage people to believe their deceptions based on their victims' desire to hold onto impure and unrighteous behavior: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1).

Faith must be manifested in our lives or else it is not saving faith; it is, instead, “the faith of demons,” and such a faith won't save us any more than it will save them.

This section shows why we have to compare Scripture with Scripture to get the clearer picture. Often a single text may thwart our thinking in certain areas if we ignore what the Lord is telling us elsewhere.

yes --
There are usually two ditches that a person can fall into on any important subject, and this is especially true when it comes to the faith and works issue.

The path "high above the world" is narrow path.

When we speak of faith, there is a distinction that should be borne in mind. There is a kind of belief that is wholly distinct from faith.

The existence and power of God, the truth of His Word, are facts that even Satan and his hosts cannot at heart deny. The Bible says that "the devils also believe, and tremble"; but this is not faith. Where there is not only a belief in God's Word, but a submission of the will to Him; where the heart is yielded to Him, the affections fixed upon Him, there is faith--faith that works by love and purifies the soul. Through this faith the heart is renewed in the image of God. And the heart that in its unrenewed state is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, now delights in its holy precepts, exclaiming with the psalmist, "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day." Psalm 119:97. And the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, "who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:1. {FLB 90.4}