January 29, 2024 – Are You Producing Good Fruit?
James 2:18-20
Sermon: 1568 What the Bible Says about Faith that Saves, Part 1
Pray Over This
“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. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?”
James 2:18-20
Ponder This
Did you know grace is a unique marker of the Christian faith? Jesus Christ has cornered the market on grace. No one else, except our Lord, teaches salvation by grace. There are only two kinds of religion in the world—grace and works. One is spelled do, and the other is spelled done. We often want to make passages sound contradictory between Paul and James, but there’s no real contradiction here. They’re heads and tails of the same coin.
In Romans 4, Paul wrote about justification before God. James wrote about justification before men. God knows I am justified when I trust Christ. But you can’t see my trust. All you can see is what I say and how I live. Paul was talking about the root of our salvation; James was talking about the fruit of our salvation. The root is beneath the ground; the fruit is hanging out on the tree. But the fruit is the proof of the root.
- What are some fruits of God’s work in your life?
- Is the fruit of faith possible without the root? Why or why not?
Practice This
Encourage a friend about the fruit of faith you see in his or her life.
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