Genuine Faith Is Vibrant Faith Series

v.22. “ faith was made complete” te?e??? [teleioo], to carry to the end. Faith made complete; that is, his faith became more than an intention or mental assent; it became an action which is what faith ultimately does: genuine faith is evidenced in action. Genuine faith shows up.

v.24 READ. Says the same thing as in v.22; real, genuine faith always shows up in a and outward demonstration; if not, the faith is not saving faith.

vv.25. James now calls on another well-known demonstration of biblical faith: Rahab. READ It was obvious from her actions that she had genuine faith. This was a prostitute; if you believe righteousness could be attained by works and you could go to heaven by good works, you sure wouldn’t think a prostitute could get into heaven. But it was her faith in Yahweh and her subsequent actions that demonstrated her faith that made her righteous in God’s eyes.

v. 26 Reflects back to v.17. spirit: not the Holy Spirit, but the essence of life; “breath” (pneumatos) ; breath of life. If a body didn’t have life, it would be dead—obviously. And if your faith doesn’t have works, it’s obviously dead; the wrong kind of faith.

So what our takeaways this morning?

1. Many here today demonstrate their genuine faith daily. ? Not in every way, but there is passion for God, a hunger for the word of God, brokenness for their sin that makes them so incredibly thankful for His grace, a burden for those far from God that compels them to be bold in sharing their story of God’s redemption in their lives, humble enough to serve the Body of Christ, generous with God and others. ? Their faith produces green leaves, flowers, and fruit.

2. Many here today DO have genuine faith but are living a lie

Not everyone who talks the talk is walking the walk. They confess Christ as Lord, boss of their lives, they have taken Christ’s blood by faith to wash them clean and make themselves right before God LEGALLY, but relationally they are still running their own lives and have God sequestered in a closet or corner of their hearts.? Andrew Murray, a great saint from the 19th century described this person, also known as the carnal, fleshly Christian:? Trademarks of a carnal person:? Protracted Infancy: Suppose a beautiful baby, six months old. It cannot speak, it cannot walk, but we do not trouble ourselves about that; it is natural, and ought to be so. But suppose a year later we find the child not grown at all, and three years later still no growth; we would at once say: "There must be something terribly wrong!" Now this is just the condition of many believers. They are converted; they know what it is to have assurance and faith; they believe in pardon for sin; they begin to work for God; and yet, somehow, there is very little growth in spirituality, in the real heavenly life; the Christ-life. This describes many of us: we have little or no hunger for the word of God, they don’t memorize Scripture, they don’t pray effectively, they need someone to feed them little bite sized pieces of truth; what would you think if a 25 year old needed someone to feed them dinner? Well, something would be profoundly wrong—and yet, that is many of us this morning: you’ve been a believer for years if not decades, yet you cannot feed yourself during the week and then you come here on Sunday to get me to hand feed you some spiritual truths.