FBCHS Bible Study "Faith Without Works is Dead"

Faith Without Works is Dead

James 2:14-26

James says, “Look, one of your Christian brothers or sisters is without clothes and is starving. And you learn of their need, and so you go to them and say, ‘I believe God can supply for all your needs. I will pray for you. I have faith that God can give you clothes and fill your belly’ how did that help them or you?” Jesus didn’t say, “If you see someone who is thirsty and tell them you believe God can quench their thirst” then that’s good enough. Jesus said that if you give a cup of cold water in His name, you will not lose your reward in heaven (Matt. 10:42).

James says the same thing here. He says that when you are standing before Christ in heaven, and He asks you how you have helped those who were in need, it is not going to be a satisfactory answer to say, “Well, I had faith that God could help them. I believed that God would take care of their needs.” Jesus will say, “You should have helped them. You should have met their needs.” On that day, all the faith in the world will not be profitable. You need works. On that day, faith will be useless. Which is exactly what we read in James 2:17.