Study in the Epistle of Jude # 10: Verse 3

by Chris McCann

EBible Fellowship (http://www.ebiblefellowship.com)

Welcome to the Electronic Bible Fellowship’s Bible study time. We are going to continue our study of the book of Jude. We have taken a little detour as we stopped in verse 3 of Jude, which speaks about “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” and we have seen from the Bible itself that “the faith” must be speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, we have been examining some verses that have to do with saving faith. We find that whenever the Bible is speaking of saving faith, the faith that justifies and brings about salvation, it never has man in view, but, always, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have stopped, though, to look at a few verses that seem to contradict that kind of an idea and that seem to give the appearance that it is man’s faith that saves. One of these places is in James 2, beginning with verse 14. We are going to go through this passage to see, “Is it so?” But first, let us look at James 2:21, where it states:

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

We are amazed at this kind of a statement, because God indicates elsewhere that a man is not justified by the works of the law (Gal 2:16). Was it Abraham’s belief in God that prompted him to take his only son Isaac and offer him up? Was it that great display of faith in God that had justified Abraham and brought salvation to him? We sense that no, there is something wrong with that kind of conclusion. In order to see what God is saying here as we read about Abraham being justified by works and by faith, we are going to go through this passage starting at the beginning. In verse 14 it says:

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

Here God is making the point that what a man says or professes with his mouth is not saving faith at all. This is a very needful point, one that is important for individuals to hear. Of course, true believers who understand how God works in salvation are not in a situation where they would think that someone’s words could save them, but there are a great many people who are in that kind of situation. There are numerous people who are in churches all around the world, millions upon millions of them, who actually believe that their profession of faith, their action of some kind in accepting Christ, their becoming a member of a church, their partaking of the Lord’s supper, or anything like that, plays some part in saving them. God is saying here that no, it does not play any part at all. A man, whether he is a priest, a minister, an elder, a deacon, a member of the church, or anyone at all, can profess with his lips that he is a Christian. He can say, “I am a child of God.” But God asks that if he has not works, can that profession of faith save him? Can his words alone, or the fact that he has confessed Christ with his lips, save him?

It is a rhetorical question and the answer is no. These mouthings of faith cannot save anyone. Just declaring, “I believe,” or “I accept Christ,” will not save anyone. God is going to emphasize that point in this chapter, the point that there is a vast difference between what a man says and what might be the reality of the situation, the actual condition of his heart. It is not that individuals are knowingly lying about this. They could actually believe this in their minds. They could really think that they are saved and that they are someone who is right with God. They could think that they do have saving faith, but that is not the point. God is saying that even if someone believes this, even if they say this and as far as they are aware it is true, in actuality, it is not true in God’s sight. He is the One who looks on the heart (Jeremiah 17:10). Therefore, it is no wonder that Jesus makes a point of stressing that profession of faith will not spare anyone from the Day of Judgment. We read about this in Matthew 7:21 where it states:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord…

Once again, words are being spoken. These are people who think that they are Christians. Maybe they have lived much of their lives in the church, and maybe they have been told by their pastor that their faith has been confirmed by the church, that, “Yes, you are in good standing with God. You are in a right relationship with Him. God will not judge you for you are a member of our church. You have taken the Lord’s Supper and you have been a fairly regular attendee. You have given to the work of the church. You have done everything that the church requires,” and in this way the church gives confirmation to the individual. But terribly, whether or not the church confirms someone’s salvation means absolutely nothing. There are churches all over the world, consisting of many different branches and denominations and beliefs which often contradict each other, and many of these churches are confirming that their congregation, their members, are the people of God. Therefore, there will be many in that day as we read in Matthew 7:22:

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

But we read in verse 23 what Christ’s response will be:

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

We see that they are not only saying to God in Matthew 7:22 that they profess Him, that they are a Christian, but they are declaring their works. “Faith without works is dead”—that is what we are going to read in James 2. They, in essence, are saying, “Okay, I believe, but here are my works to backup my belief. I have prophesied in Thy name.” To prophesy means to declare the Gospel. They continue, “In Thy name I have cast out devils.” That is figurative language indicating that if someone has brought the Gospel and individuals have become saved, then evil spirits, the fact that they were dead in sin and under the power of Satan, were cast out. And they conclude, “In Thy name, I have done many wonderful works.” This is the bringing of the Gospel that is able to save sinners. These are the wonderful works that they are trying to declare to Christ on the Day of Judgment. They are basically telling Jesus, “We have faith and works. We are true believers,” and Christ says to them, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” This is not the work that God is looking for as we are discussing saving faith. Someone can say that they have faith, but if they have not works, can faith save them? The answer is no. A profession of faith cannot save anyone without works.

But what about these people in Matthew 7? They had a profession of faith and they had works, should not they be saved? Again, the answer is no. God is not looking for man’s works. He is not looking to see if we are handing out tracts or how we are spending our time on Sunday. He is not looking to discover if we are praying faithfully for the salvation of individuals or if we are moving in the right direction more and more in our lives as far as trying to use our finances to get the Gospel out. God is not looking at any of that as far as salvation is concerned. However, all of those things ought to be in view following salvation. None of them can obtain salvation, but yet they will accompany salvation. No work of any kind can bring someone to the point of justification, because Galatians 2:16 states that “man is not justified by the works of the law.” No work can make someone right in Christ’s sight. That is why that group in Matthew 7 standing before the Lord Jesus Christ on the Day of Judgment is cast off. Christ says, “I never knew you.” He is not looking for the work of man in order to cover their sins, but for another kind of a work. There is only one work that will be acceptable to God. Only one work could possibly be in view as far as accompanying saving faith. We will take a look at that a little further on, but here in James 2:15-16 it states:

If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled…

Again, we see that the emphasis is on someone speaking. These are kind words. To desire that someone might depart in peace and that they might be warmed and filled—these are good words to say to someone. After all, they are suffering certain difficulties in their life. They lack clothing and food, and someone is saying, “My thoughts are with you. I truly desire that you might be warmed and filled.” Yet God says:

…notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

The point, here again, is that you can have words being spoken and professed, and you can have declarations being made with the mouth, but without work to back them up, these words are meaningless. We want to be careful here, though, because some people go to these verses and try to develop a social gospel where they start to spend their time and their resources on meeting the physical needs of mankind. Man does have physical needs, and during the Church Age, a church was responsible for helping a brother or a sister in that kind of a situation. However, the main focus of those desiring to be obedient to God is to use their time and their resources to get the Gospel out.

Organizations and churches today want to labor to physically cover people by providing clothing and to physically feed people by providing food. True believers on the other hand sense that, no, that is not the way to go. We have to be more concerned about the spiritual nakedness of man. Those who are “naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13), those whose sins are open to the sight of God so that they need a covering which can only come with salvation, those who are destitute of food so that they need to be fed with the bread and water of the Gospel—that is what true believers want to focus on.

In James 2:15-16, God is giving us an example of someone who is saying some words without any work to back them up. We do not want to go off on the wrong road and think, “Well, this means that we have to start providing physical necessities for people.” The main task of the child of God is to provide the spiritual needs of man. Then in verse 17, God says:

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

This will be repeated again at the conclusion of this chapter. This is the point that God is making. Even so, faith, if it does not have works, is dead because it is alone.

We saw that people can say that they have faith and that they can profess Christ. How many countless millions of people across the world today do this? They do say that they have faith, but unfortunately they do not have works. Therefore, their faith is dead, and what God is saying by the statement “faith without works is dead” is that they are still in their sin. Their profession of faith has done nothing to take away their sin. Their main problem is that they are sinners, and because of their sin, they are under the wrath of God and subject to spend an eternity in Hell. The Gospel, or some sort of gospel, has come to their ears, and they have responded in their life with a profession of faith. But yet, there are no works, so this profession of faith is dead. They are in the same spiritual condition as they were before they heard that Gospel or made a profession of faith—they are still spiritually dead. They are dead in sin and they are still subject to Hell. That is why Christ says in Matthew 7, “Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.”

How amazed and surprised will so many be on the Last Day who thought that salvation was simple, and how terrible it will be for them. They thought it was easy. It was following a simple methodology—four steps to get right with God. Say the sinner’s prayer, accept Christ, walk down the aisle, or whatever it might be. It was the simple way the church presented it and the way the pastor taught it, and many have fallen into this trap, this snare. Apart from God’s mercy in providing someone with the true Gospel, this is a pit that a man falls into which is going to lead him right down into Hell. So faith, if it does not have works, is dead. A man is still spiritually dead, yet he can be called a Christian.

If someone is taking a census of the different religions in a country, and they are saying, “This country is comprised of 75% Christians and 15% Muslims and so forth.” Well yes, then you have 75% who are professing to be Christians, but how many are truly born again and a Christian in heart? The number would probably be very scary for us, if we could really find out those kinds of numbers, which we cannot. We cannot look on the heart, only God knows (1 Samuel 16:7). However, we do know by the condition of the church of our day that an awfully large number of people have fallen into this trap. They are professing faith, but they do not have the accompanying work—their faith is dead, because it is alone. There must be work that accompanies faith in order for someone to be saved, but what is that work?

As we move on here in James 2, we will get a very definite and clear understanding of what work is in view. In verse 18 of this chapter, we read:

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.

This is an interesting break into this passage that we have been reading. God is, it seems, saying that there might be a man somewhere who could say this. We could easily think, “Well, God is just setting up an example of some kind, and this man is no one of importance; it is just a man who might say this.” But actually, the “man” in view here is none other than Jesus Christ. He is the “man” that may say this, for God often in the Bible refers to Christ as a man. For one example, He is the Son of man (Matthew 9:6). There are also other verses, such as Isaiah 32:2, where we read:

And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

Here, a “man” is “as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” We know that this verse is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One who is our hiding place. He is the One who is the shadow that protects us from the rays of the sun, which is the wrath of God. He is the One that saves His people. He is that Man, and He is the Man in view in James 2:18:

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works…

This is Christ, and He is speaking to anyone who professes to have faith, but actually is not truly born again. He is speaking really to the corporate church. He is speaking to those whom Christ has never known; that is, to those whose sins Christ has never taken upon Himself. He is saying, “Thou hast faith”—which means that you profess to be a child of God. You profess that you are a Christian, you are of the family of Christ. Very well, and now this Man, who is Jesus, says, “I have works.” This is what we are looking for. What works is it that saves? It is not the work of man. It is not the work of those who were standing before Christ in Matthew 7 claiming to have done so many great and noble things for the sake of God. It is not those works. It is this Man who is saying that He has works. Christ has works. He goes on to say:

…show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.

Christ is laying this out to each and every Christian who professes His name. “Show Me your faith without works.” Is not this something? Christ is the One who has provided the work of salvation. He is the One who did the work in bearing the sins of His people and the work of enduring the wrath of God for each of those sins. He is the One who did the work of going through the fires of Hell and purging away those sins as He drank of the cup of God’s wrath. How dare anyone say they have faith if they have no works! Their sins were not laid upon Christ. Their sins were not paid for as Jesus went through Hell. Certainly, He knows whom He died for. He knows exactly whom His elect are, and so He is saying to all those imposters, to all those false brethren and to all those who are declaring that they are the people of God, “Show Me thy faith without thy works. How can you have saving faith when I know I never died for you? I know that your sins are still upon you, and you have no works to accompany your faith.”

Lord willing, we are going to pick up with this in our next study. We will continue looking at this dialogue that God is setting up here between “a man” and those that profess faith, and we will continue working through the rest of this chapter until the end of verse 26. Then we will continue on with our Jude study.