James 2:20-26 (NASB)

20 But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

The genuineness of your faith in Jesus Christ is proven by your works.

1) It is foolish to believe that a faith without works is saving faith (2:20-25)

Real Faith Example #1 – Abraham

Real Faith Example #2 – Rahab

2) Faith without works is dead faith (2:26)

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James 2:14-20 (NASB)

14 What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?

God wants you to evaluate whether your faith in Jesus Christ is genuine or not.

1) Faith without good works is not true, saving faith (2:14-18)

2) Faith with only head knowledge about God is not true, saving faith (2:19-20)

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Colossians 2:16-19 (NASB)

¹⁶ Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— ¹⁷ things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

The Big Idea: We must not add any type of works or worship to what the Lord Jesus Christ has already accomplished on the Cross for our eternal salvation.

Outline: Two wrong ways to salvation that you must reject, and the One right way that you must embrace for salvation.

Wrong Way #1 – Ritualistic religious works (2:16-17)
Wrong Way #2 – Seemingly Spiritual worship (2:18)

The Only Way – Clinging to Christ alone (2: 19)

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