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• Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is essential for salvation, and it's a gift of God's undeserved grace.
• Salvation is not earned through human effort or good deeds but by God's sheer grace alone.
• The Bible's catechism encapsulates James' teaching on true faith and its fruit
• True faith is a deep-rooted assurance created in believers by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel
• Those with true faith produce fruits of gratitude, including good deeds
• Good deeds follow faith and are a result of being made like Christ through sanctification
• The Holy Spirit works out salvation in believers to make them more like Christ every day
• Good deeds are done because of God's strength, goodness, faithfulness, and Spirit working in us
• Gratitude and obedience signify true faith
• Members of the church should act like Christ and do good deeds with God's strength
• Prayer for salvation, thanksgiving, and appreciation for God's Word and truth
• Acknowledgment of sinful nature and need for God's grace and love
• Request to be made more like Christ through truer faith and sanctification by the Spirit
[0.00 --> 3.36] Hey everyone, welcome.
[4.36 --> 6.30] I hope you're having a good Sunday so far.
[7.12 --> 9.38] It's been a while since the last time I did this,
[9.60 --> 13.84] but I remember more people being here the last time I preached.
[15.48 --> 18.86] Anyways, I hope everyone's having a good Sunday, like I said already.
[19.44 --> 22.20] I want to encourage you to bring out your Bibles in any format
[22.20 --> 25.80] and open the word to James 2, 14-19.
[30.00 --> 31.46] Read with me.
[31.46 --> 37.28] What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?
[38.00 --> 39.34] Can such faith save him?
[40.38 --> 43.80] Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
[44.60 --> 46.68] One of you says to him, Go, I wish you well.
[47.50 --> 51.22] Keep warm and well-fed, but does nothing about his physical needs.
[51.30 --> 52.02] What good is it?
[53.16 --> 57.22] In the same way, faith by itself, if it's not accompanied by actions, is dead.
[57.22 --> 60.70] But someone will say, You have faith, I have deeds.
[61.54 --> 65.02] Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
[65.86 --> 67.80] You believe that there is one God good.
[68.42 --> 70.66] Even the demons believe that and shudder.
[70.66 --> 81.60] When I was in school, I read the book, The Life of Pi.
[82.20 --> 84.84] If you haven't read the book, you may have watched the movie,
[84.92 --> 88.34] When Our Church Borrowed the Cloverdale Cinema for a Mexico fundraiser in 2012.
[89.64 --> 92.94] It's a fictional story of a boy from India who's the son of a zookeeper.
[92.94 --> 99.02] On a move from India to Canada, he gets lost at sea due to a storm
[99.02 --> 104.02] and gets stranded on a small rescue boat with a tiger as his only companion.
[104.96 --> 106.46] I highly recommend this book.
[109.20 --> 113.40] But there's a traumatic scene in the book where Pi goes to see the tiger at the zoo alone.
[114.52 --> 116.58] Now to preface, when I say that this scene is traumatic,
[117.38 --> 121.70] I mean that this story presents a very gruesome scene of a tiger killing an animal
[121.70 --> 125.80] and an example of horrible parenting technique that should never be replicated.
[128.32 --> 129.74] But that's not why I'm telling this story.
[129.92 --> 133.26] I'm telling this story because it says something about faith and deeds
[133.26 --> 135.30] in a practical and easy way.
[136.14 --> 138.58] As I said before, Pi goes to the cage of the tiger
[138.58 --> 142.10] because he wants to see the most dangerous animal in the zoo.
[143.12 --> 144.56] He knows what a tiger can do.
[145.04 --> 147.94] Its power, its teeth, its claws.
[149.10 --> 150.74] So Pi goes to the cage to see it.
[151.70 --> 155.42] When Pi gets there, the tiger sees him and goes to meet Pi at the cage.
[156.62 --> 159.02] Pi was amazed at the tiger's beauty and power.
[159.86 --> 163.34] However, right before the tiger reached the cage wall where Pi was,
[163.70 --> 165.54] Pi's father pulls him from the cage
[165.54 --> 169.18] and saves his life as the tiger's swipe narrowly misses.
[169.18 --> 172.14] Now here's the traumatic part.
[176.22 --> 179.52] To make sure Pi never goes to the cage ever again,
[180.60 --> 184.56] Pi's father makes Pi watch the tiger kill and eat a goat.
[185.82 --> 188.14] His father's questionable technique works,
[188.66 --> 191.10] and Pi never goes close to the cage ever again.
[191.10 --> 192.10] Pi's father's father's father.
[192.10 --> 195.42] The reason I told you this story is, as I said before,
[195.58 --> 199.02] it says something about faith and deeds in a practical and easy way.
[199.98 --> 202.98] Now, of course, this story isn't actually talking about faith and deeds.
[204.14 --> 206.80] Pi's story here is talking about knowledge and action.
[207.70 --> 211.24] But the relationship between knowledge and action is analogous to faith and deeds.
[211.24 --> 215.86] That analogy is, if you believe that a tiger is dangerous,
[216.54 --> 218.04] and you still walk up to a cage,
[218.56 --> 220.06] then your belief doesn't work.
[220.70 --> 221.86] It doesn't change you.
[222.60 --> 223.22] It's useless.
[223.72 --> 225.78] And as James would say, it's dead.
[228.08 --> 230.08] But if you believe that a tiger is dangerous,
[230.48 --> 231.76] and don't walk up to a cage,
[232.34 --> 233.48] don't walk up to a cage,
[234.06 --> 237.38] it means that as a result of your faith, you did something.
[238.42 --> 240.38] It means your faith works, it's effective,
[240.38 --> 242.08] and your faith is alive.
[243.40 --> 246.02] In the passage today, James has been getting at this point
[246.02 --> 248.10] that the life of Pi also expresses.
[249.50 --> 251.68] It's this idea of two types of faith.
[253.20 --> 254.48] A faith that is alone,
[255.10 --> 256.24] and a faith that works.
[258.00 --> 260.36] Faith that is alone is a faith that's isolated.
[260.94 --> 262.60] Faith that only lives in the mind.
[263.30 --> 265.94] A faith that doesn't have any effect on a person's actions,
[266.60 --> 267.86] attitudes, or habits.
[267.86 --> 270.86] Faith that doesn't affect the person's reality.
[272.04 --> 274.64] The other type of faith is a faith that works.
[275.34 --> 276.42] A faith with deeds.
[277.18 --> 278.52] A faith that does something.
[279.08 --> 280.66] A faith that changes a person.
[281.26 --> 283.72] Or as Chris and Kevin have been preaching every Sunday.
[284.50 --> 286.10] A faith that seeks wisdom.
[286.78 --> 289.04] A faith that is steadfast in the trial.
[289.90 --> 292.58] A faith that is slow to anger and quick to listen.
[292.58 --> 294.88] A faith that does what it hears.
[295.88 --> 298.04] A faith that visits the orphan and the widow.
[298.34 --> 301.40] And a faith that is not partial to the rich over the poor.