In the sermon titled 'Of Justification, 1689 SLBC, Chap. 11, Par. 2,' delivered by Colton Neifert, the primary focus is on the concept of justification by faith and works. The sermon examines the apparent contradiction between faith and works, referencing James 2, which states that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Neifert emphasizes the importance of defining faith as a complete trust in God, and distinguishes between living faith, which is accompanied by works, and dead faith, which is not. The sermon explores biblical examples, such as the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21 and the final judgment in Matthew 25, to illustrate that true faith is evidenced by actions. Neifert also discusses the parable of the fig tree in Mark 11 to highlight the idea of faith without works being lifeless. The main thrust of the sermon is that justification is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone, absent from works.

Paragraph 2 of chapter 11 of justification. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification. Yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith but working by the own." So a couple weeks ago Mr. Beckler was preaching on the first paragraph and he taught us that justification is by a faithful own. He's not here this week.

This week I'm teaching us that justification is by works and not faith alone. Now obviously I agree with Mr. Beckler on everything that he said, But that quote is actually from James 2, which says that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. So let's dig into that and try to unpack and see if there's any contradiction there. See what's going on, what James is talking about.

So it all comes down to the way that we define the word faith. If you look it up in the Greek, faith is defined as a leaning of the entire personality upon God in absolute trust and confidence. And so that's the way that we're defining faith, and yes, justification is by faith alone. But there is another faith, there's another type of faith that doesn't justify. The first chapter of Romans we're all very familiar with tells us that everyone has faith, that people are without excuse because God has revealed himself through his creation and his invisible attributes are clearly displayed.

And so everyone knows God, but there are those who know God and do not glorify Him and are not thankful. And James 2 talks about a demonic faith where it says, you know, you believe God is one? Great, so do the demons and they tremble. In Matthew 21, Christ talks about, he gives this parable of the two sons, where a father asks his two sons to go work in the vineyard, And one says, no, I'm not going to do that. The other one says, sure, dad, I'll go.

And he doesn't go. But the first one later repents and comes back, and he works in the vineyard. In Matthew 25, Jesus talks about the final judgment. And you have the sheep and the goats, and Christ divides these two groups, and what it comes down to in the division is what they did or didn't do. I'm sure you've heard the Keith Green song at the end, you know, he says, what's the difference?

It's what they did or didn't do. And in Matthew 7, it's very sobering where Christ talks about those who in the last days, the final judgment come and they say, Lord, Lord, didn't we do all these things in your name? And he says, I never knew you. And he says, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. In Mark 11, we have this incident with Christ in the fig tree where they're walking along the road and Christ sees this fig tree.

It has leaves, it has all the signs of bearing figs, and when he approaches it, he sees that there's no figs and he curses the fig tree and it withers and dies So everyone has faith and James makes it clear to us there's these two types of faith there's dead faith James says that faith without works is like a body without a soul. That's the picture that he draws there. It's like a body without a soul. Now only God has the power to breathe life into a dead body. It's not our work.

We can't make ourselves alive. But if a body has life, there's no question as to whether they're dead or alive. You don't go, oh, is Titus alive? That's a ridiculous question. It's very clear.

Everybody can see Titus is up, he's moving around, you know, there's these works. He's alive. But he's, he's not alive because of the works. You don't, you don't see a dead person go, oh man, if only they'd work harder, they'd be alive like us. You know?

That's ridiculous. The works are a clear indication that they're alive, that they're not what makes a person alive. Yeah, you don't go tell a dead person to work harder. So that's what we're refuting when we say justification is by faith alone. We're not telling dead people they need to work harder.

So there's this demonic faith which acknowledges God and his power, but refuses to bend the knee. And then There's the living faith, which is where, you know, we're up, we're moving around, we have all these works, it's clear and praise God, they're a gift of God. And then the other type of faith is the dead faith, where you have a body and maybe from a distance you know you can't tell you walk into a room you see somebody laying on a couch and your assumption is that they're asleep you don't it never crosses your mind that person's dead But when you get close or when time elapses, that's when it's clear, you know, it's obvious that they're dead. So you can have, you can appear to be alive, you can have the leaves on the tree but no figs. You can say yes I'm going to go work in the vineyard father and then you don't do it.

You can have this appearance but not really be alive. And that's what's scary. We don't want to go through life assuming we're alive, keeping up the look of being alive and then getting to the final day and Christ saying, depart from me. So I guess, yeah, that's the main thrust of this second paragraph, is that we're justified by faith alone, but not justified by a faith that is alone, absent from works. You you you you you you you you you you you you you