TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - Dec 5, 2025 - James 2:17-22-Perfect Faith: Proven in Action, Completed in Obedience

Episode Date: December 5, 2025

James 2:17–22 confronts the difference between a faith that merely speaks and a faith that truly lives. “Faith without works is dead,” James declares, showing that genuine belief always expresses itself through obedience. Abraham’s willingness to offer Isaac reveals how faith is made complete—perfected—when it acts upon God’s word. In this Faith Friday edition of Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart examine the vital union between belief and obedience, the danger of empty confession, and the beauty of a faith that is proven genuine through works born of trust. Teachers: Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart You can partner with us by visiting FaithandValues.com, calling 1-888-519-4935, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961. MEGA FIRE reveals the ancient recurring cycles of war and economic collapse that have shaped history for 600 years. These patterns predict America is now entering its most dangerous period since World War II. Get your copy today! www.megafire.world Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves! www.AmericanReserves.com It’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today! www.Amazon.com/Final-Day Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! www.books.apple.com/final-day Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today. www.Sacrificingliberty.com

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Morning Manna. It's Friday, and that means it's Faith Friday. All throughout 2025, we have devoted every Friday to the study of faith. What is faith? Why do we need it? How do we use it? How do we expand it? How can you lose it? All right? And we've covered a lot of topics throughout this year. And so we've got, I think, today and I guess maybe one or two more, Faith Fridays left in the month of December. December 19 will be our last lesson for 2025. We'll take a two-week break, and then we'll be back on February 3rd. So today, we are looking at James Chapter 2, verses 17 through 22. I'm going to pray, and then Doc will read the word, and we'll begin our study of faith.

Father, our Father in heaven, Father, we love you, and we worship you, and we praise you. We ask humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the presence of your Holy Spirit, to teach all of us. The teachers and the students, we're all students, Father. Teach us your word. Teach us about faith. Teach us about the subject that pleases you, because your word says, without faith. it is impossible to please you. So, Father, we desire to know more about faith.

We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. And welcome to Morning Manna and to Faith Friday here on Morning Manna. On Fridays, we focus on faith. And that's where we've been here all of this year on Fridays. Today, we are going to the most practical guide in the scriptures on faith. And it's found in the letter of the Apostle James.

We're looking at chapter 2 here, reading verses 17 through 22. So read along with me. I'm reading from the King James today. Verse 17 says, Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone. Yea, a man may say thou hast faith, and I have worked. Show me thy faith without thy works. I will show thee my faith by my work.

Thou believeest that there is one God. Thou do us well. the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead. Verse 21, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Verse 22, seeest thou how faith rocked with his works, and by works was faith made perfect.

We're talking about that perfect faith today. That's the focus of our study. Yes, sir. Verse 17, James 2, verse 17. Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead being alone. Let's break it down piece by piece. before we can start with the first three words, even so faith, even so.

We have to go back a couple of verses. Go back to verses 15 and 16. James said, if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warned and thither, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body what does it profit now he says even so even so is the connector it's the logical connector to verses 15 and 16 so he's using the

illustration of destitute christian brother or sister uh saying kind charitable, charitable words without action are useless. When you see somebody who's hungry and you pray for them and say, I pray that God feeds you, there's no faith. The faith would be to get to food and feed the brother or sister who's hungry. That's what he's saying here. He's saying intellectual belief without physical or physical. obedience is useful.

Yes. That's the message that we're getting here in these verses today. So we have to distinguish the difference between the faith that James is condemning here, intellectual faith, and the faith that Paul commend in the book of Romans. There's a difference. Paul talks about faith also. Talks a lot about faith. Apostle James is addressing the fact that some people don't,

they're not following through on their words. They're speaking the right words, but there's no follow through with actions, okay? So, Doc, what's your, I mean, there's a, you know, with Paul, he was talking about justification by faith. Right. Now here, James is saying there's obedience, there's action that's required for faith. And, you know, when you get into Paul's teaching, too, he says the same thing.

He really does. But you have to look for it with Paul because that wasn't his emphasis. James here, though, you can almost imagine the Apostle James. He's been out doing the works of Jesus. He's been, you know, feeding the poor. He's been closing the naked. He's been healing the sick. And so he's been doing the day-to-day work of ministry. His faith is made active. So, you know, this phrase, if it hath not works, implies true faith is a root that naturally and inevitably produces a fruit of holiness in the life. So where fruit is absence, that means, that the tree is dead. Okay. So there's a couple different paths of thinking on faith. It might be useful to help understand how we got to this point where we're at today in the 21st century. So in reformed understanding, reformists, they would say and make it clear that justification

is by faith alone. Okay. But faith justifies is never alone. okay so if you can kind of imagine that justifications by faith alone but faith that justifies is never alone it is always accompanied by the graces of the spirit by fruitful works in the life that okay so what you said that takes some time to ponder and understand we're justified by God we're justified we're made you know we're brought into right standing with him by faith alone. But faith is never alone. What does it mean?

That means there has to be accompanied with action on the part of the believer or the supposed belief. And so we have, you know, this is why there is a continual examination of the believer's life, my life, your life, anyone that's watching or listening today, always a general call to be examined, whether or not the words that we're speaking or the faith that we supposedly profess, if it is not generating fruit of the spirit, if it's not generating work in our life, is it truly faith? It's worth questioning. So the offer of the Gospels to everybody, but the reception of the gospel has to be something that changes the heart.

It has to be transformational. It's not just a verbal assent that's taking place, nor just in the works here. James is very specific about the types of works that he's talking about, as you mentioned in verses 15 and 16. He's not talking about works, the ceremonial observance of the law. He's talking about the practical ministry helping the poor. the hurt and feeding the hungry. So there is a new morality that should be engendered in the heart of the believer

when they begin to profess Jesus Christ. And that means that we need to possess a theology. And everybody has a theology, even atheists have theology. But to possess a theology without morality is like possessing a corpse, without a spirit. You've got a Frankenstein. It's a monstrous deformity in the eyes of God. And this faith has been spoken about here is one that is supposed to be continual. It's not just a one-stop shop and then you don't have to do anything else ever again, but a faith that's continuous as well. You know, one of the ongoing debates inside Christianity and both sides

are right, but they're also wrong, all right, because they're not putting the whole picture together. You have one side saying, you're saved by faith, you're saved by faith alone, okay? Yeah, that's true. And then you have another side that says, another side says, but you have to, you have to, there has to be work. You have to be doing things for God. And yes, works don't save you, but if if you claim to be saved and there are no good works you're not saved right all right and that's the that's the um the quandary that a lot of people get in when they start of it I think part of it too works I think per of the problem there is that word works itself because it sounds like a job that we go to or an action that that we take place

whether you call it work or you call it fruit or whatever it is, there is an action that is necessary to faith, okay? Maybe action is a better word to stress that there should be something transpires after that verbal confession of faith, that moves our feet, that moves our hands. Something happens after, or it should, something happens after we confess Jesus Christ.

And I think those on both sides of that argument would agree with that. The question that they run into is whether or not one saves or the other. I say you can't have one without the other. So if you have people, you know, if you can have in one camp, you could have people who intellectually, they believe the Bible, they believe in Jesus, they go to church, they read the Bible, There's no faith. Right.

Okay? It's intellectual. And there's no good work. But then on the other side, you can have people in other churches that are doing good deeds. Right. And they belong to all kinds of organizations, and they're doing good deeds. They're down at the homeless shelter, and they're down at the feeding station, and they're visiting hospitals, people. in hospitals and so forth.

They're doing all kinds of good deeds, but they have no faith in what Jesus did on the cross. Right. So you can have one person that, really, they have faith, they believe in what Jesus did on the cross, but they have no works. They're not doing anything. But then you have somebody else who's doing a lot of good things,

but they've never truly been born again by putting their faith in what Jesus did for them on the cross. Correct. Yes. And this is at the heart of this battle, this divide. And what James is saying is, you've got to have both together. Oh, yes, absolutely. It can't just be an intellectual assent. You can't just be able to spew the doctrine back and say that that's my faith, but rather that that faith should activate something in you. It should create an action in your heart and in your life. And that should be the earmark of every believer that something

has changed and has transformed them and made them into something new that wouldn't do the things they would do before. So that true faith is that operating principle, just as a fire's got to burn and the sun's got to shine. So saving faith must work. Okay. It's all right. Saving faith must work. And you can't avoid this passage. You can't talk your way out of it or anything. It's, It's what it is. It's what it says. And so this whole passage challenges the whole easy believism of the 20th and 21st century, where it's grace, grace, grace, grace. And I love grace, okay, but grace does not ignore a worthless faith.

Okay. Now, that's just the reality of things. Or else James is a liar. Yeah. And we know the answer on that question. So the second part is, is dead being alone. So this phrase is dead. If faith is dead, being alone.

All right. It signifies that this type of faith that has no spiritual, living communion no union with Christ who is the life that is dead it's saying this kind of faith

if there is no spiritual connection to Christ it's dead it's a dead branch as producing no fruit and it's destined for the fire

right dead in this sense it means utterly powerless to justify to sanctify to comfort to save from the wrath to come yes that's the definition of dead in this context completely utterly powerless to save from the wrath that is to come and then you had this phrase being alone or by itself okay it it speaks of a solitude of barreness um destitute of the graces of hope and love it's alone yes he's saying this kind of faith is dead and it's alone destitute alone yes there's two two different two different two different themes in this very short phrase. It's dead and it's alone. So something is dead and it's also alone. So how do you explain it? Okay. As a body that no longer has a spirit? What is it? It's a corpse It's a carcans.

That's all it is. A body without a spirit is a carcass. And so a profession of religion without the pulse of obedience is a corpse. Yes. There's nothing there. And you see this in a lot of churches around the world. It's formality. It's religion.

They are convinced that it's, If they go to the church service every week and go through the rituals and say the things they're supposed to say, they're safe. And you've got other people who say, well, if I do these good deeds, I'm saved. I'm doing my good works. I'm saved. And James is saying, no, it's dead. And not only is it dead, it's by itself. It's over here alone. Right.

it's separated so one how can you paint a picture dead faith is like a painting of fire okay

you have a painting of fire but it doesn't produce any heat it's a painting right you know if you have a painting of fire on your wall it doesn't matter how close you get to it it's still not going to warn you right

it's just an image of a fire that's what James is saying about dead faith it looks like faith but it's dead and it's alone the the loneliness of it is the it's the isolation

that what it says is the Holy Spirit is not dwelling there. The Holy Spirit is not dwelling in that person. A person is really just a corpse. They're separated. They're alone. There's no light because the Holy Spirit has not taken up residence in the believer. And how would we know if the Holy Spirit had taken up residence in the believer? Because the Holy Spirit is active.

That's right. The Holy Spirit will produce life. There will be transformation. There will be transformation in that person's life. That's how you know if the Holy Spirit, there will be continual repentance. Evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life is that you're repenting often. Yes. Because the Holy Spirit.

is continuing to convict you, continuing to transform your life, continuing to mold you in the image of Christ. So, you know, it's cold. Dead faith is the same as cold fire. It's the same as a dark sun. What is it? What is a cold fire? Where is a dark sun? It's useless. It is not something that's producing the energy that it was a meant to produce. Yes. So anyhow, Doc, I'll let you take it from there. All right.

Well, it might help, too, to get an understanding. You talked about Paul addressing faith. He came at it from a different angle than James is doing here. but so when Paul speaks about being justified without works he's speaking specifically about works of the law okay so let's let's be clear on that okay uh James is speaking of a faith that is dead without the works of love and notice the difference there in the phrase the works of the law and works of love. They're attacking actually two different errors that have that creeps into the body of Christ every few cycles. One is either swing all the way the pendulum over to legalism. And then

the pendulum swings all the way back to the other side where it's just basically a free-for-all, just confess and you're safe. When actually the tree. is the pendulum swinging. It's going back and forth. The works of the law don't save. And even works of love by themselves don't save either unless it's produced by faith. So that dead faith that James is talking about can only produce one thing. Dead works.

Action performed not out of confessing Christ, but because of pride or fear. or maybe just haven't, rather than having a living relationship with our Holy Father. And so there's a finality with that word dead, Ray. That word dead warns us that such a faith cannot be revived just by doing some. I mean, you can't just pick up a corpse and start walking them and say, you're alive. No, that corpse is still as dead as it ever was. no matter how let you try to make it walk or wave its arms or whatever there has to be a regeneration that

should be a resurrection that person must be born again by the spirit of god and so trusting on that kind of faith is like trusting a broken anchor when you're in the storm and you need an anchor you're not going to be able to trust it so this loneliness the solitariness of this faith indicates that it has not joined together or married the soul to Christ for here's the you know down to the brass tax here if there were a union there would be fruit there would be spiritual offspring as a result for that union and so you know James is making it clear that yes works of love are necessary in the heart and life of the belief it's as simple as Because dead branches don't produce fruit.

It's just that simple. That's the easiest way to describe what we're talking about. Doc, let's see what our Bible commentator said. I'll let you start first with John Gill. Right. John Gill said, it's a dead faith. It's not a living faith. It is no evidence of life and a man.

He goes on to say, true faith is a fruit of the spirit of life and is attended with the operation of the spirit of God. But this is alone, and the mere belief of things such as devil's hat. We'll be talking more about that further along as that too. Albert Barnes, Presbyterian pastor in the 1800s, he said, there is no life in it. It is cold, shapeless, creates no energy in the soul. It is like a corpse compared with a living man. It has no living power and can do nothing. It's just a religious person. That's right. Charles Spurgeon said, faith that works is a dead faith, as we've said before. A carcass faith, he calls it a spectral

faith, not the living child of light. He goes on to say, you must have a faith that works, or you have a faith that will not save. If thy faith does not turn thee from a sinner in to a saint. It is a deadly delusion, Rick. Alexander McLaren, Baptist, Great Britain, late 1800s, passed away in 1905. Brother McLaurin said, Faith is the root. Works are the fruit. A root without fruit is a dry stick. The separation is fatal to both. faith without works as a ghost, works without faith, or a corpse. Wow.

Might have pictured. That's very plain, simple, to the point. Yes. You know, Martin Luther, and of course, Martin Luther, the whole reformation and everything started as a result of Martin Luther realizing that the just shall live by faith. But listen to what he said related to this particular passage here. he said regarding what james said faith is a living busy active mighty thing it is impossible that it should not ceaselessly doing good should not be ceaselessly doing good it does not ask whether there are good works to do but before the question is asked it has done them by the way just so you know martin luther jokingly wrote several times i wish that james was not the scriptures

because he was he came to the revelation of the judge shall live by faith but then he struggles he struggled with the works concept here he was convicted

by James that's right you can't read the book of James without coming under conviction it's one of the most powerful books in the Bible Verse 18, the King James says, 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 work. The World English Bible says, yes, a man will say, you have faith and I have works, show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Right. All right, let's see what this one says. We'll start with the first part. Yes, a man may say, you have faith and I have worked. But what he's doing here, James introduces a hypothetical objector. You know, he's bringing him an imaginary person into this conversation. There's a person that says this and I say this. Okay. So he's helping the reader imagine this debate between these two people.

What he's trying to do is to expose the absurdity of trying to separate spiritual belief from physical conduct. Right. That's the purpose of this hypothetical, you know, symbol that he's given. us here. So this objector, this hypothetical objector, he has interjected into the, into this narrative, seems to suggest that Christianity can be divided into two distinct categories, those who are theological and those who are practical, as if these were real optional preferences. Now, James doesn't believe that. He's just presenting this to get people to think about what they're believing.

So he's attacking the false notion that faith and works are independent, that they're independent gifts. Like one person has faith, another person has works and both are right. No, that's not sound theology.

He's saying, you know, if you believe this, then one person can claim I have the gift of faith. And the other person can say, I have the gift of service. And yet never the two shall meet. Right. So, you know, from my perspective, and I come from a reformed our church perspective,

this argument is attempting to cut, to sever. The unity of the covenant of grace, implying that one can have the benefits of the covenant without the obligations of it. Right. If you have a covenant, there are terms of the covenant, Doc. Yes. God says, you know, in the Old Testament, he said, if you do this, I'll do this. If, if you do this, this is what I will do.

When you have a covenant, there are promises and there are obligations. And so James is saying, you know, to say that you can have faith and no work is to eliminate the obligations that are in the covenant. Right. We all have obligations. You know, so he's rebuking the intellectual Christian who treats the gospel like it's a philosophy. right. Hey, this is my philosophy. And you and I, we all, we encounter these people from time to time. They believe in Jesus. They, they read the Bible. All right. But then they'll go off into a philosophical explanation of meaning of life, which means they don't know Jesus. They haven't met him yet. So, Doc, what do you see in this verse? Well, there's a challenge here that's being issued, and James is basically saying you can't just have mere mental assent to things, like we're going to see up in verse 19, because just having a mental assent to things is no different than the demons having a mental assent to a belief system.

We have to understand that in God's economy, there's no such thing as a non-working believer. any more than there is a non-breathing living man. You can't separate the two. The idea, kind of go back a little bit here, that somehow the root and the fruit are two different entities when they're really part of the same tree. There's no conflict there. So the separation of faith and works is a heresy

that attempts to accept, Jesus is Savior, right, but not as Lord. So the Apostle James is implying that any claim to possess faith that acts as a stand-alone commodity is a claim to possess a counterfeit currency. So this teaches us that spiritual gifts, and they certainly do, they may differ among believers. But the essential evidence of salvation, holiness and love, must be present in everybody. God. That's just the basics. So the objector tries to put faith and works on the table as different options, equal alternatives. But James now, as we move forward here in the second part of

this verse, it's about to show that one is the cause and the other is the necessary effect of that cause. Yes. The next phrase says, show me thy faith without my works and I will show thee my faith by my works, okay? So now James is, he's challenging, he's issuing a challenge of demonstration. He's shifting the argument from this concept of the knowledge of God, to the visible demonstration of caring for humans in the name of God, of being God's hands and feet on earth. So he's teaching us here that faith, by its very nature, is an internal, invisible grace that's seated in the heart.

And it's not visible to the human eye unless it is clothed in action. That's the heart. heart of this message here. This command, show me. You're from Missouri, the show me state. So now we know that James was a Missouri. That's right. Yeah. He said,

show me. Okay. Show me. All right. He's saying that while God reads the heart, the world can only read your actions. Okay. so our witness to the unbelieving world depends entirely on the external evidence

of our internal convictions and beliefs and don't guess is where I think the modern church is just falling woefully short we're not doing the things that we're supposed to be doing. And then there are those that are on the other side of the political spectrum, what they would be considered the left, that what's their emphasis on? Doing works, doing works, you know, being involved in community, social things and things like that. But then they'll be so far off the reservation when it comes to traditional Christian faith. You know,

But they would say that their works justify their belief system, wouldn't they? So, Doc, the question is, or works the price of salvation or the proof of salvation? Well, they're not certainly not the price of salvation. In other words, we don't do works to maintain our salvation. They're the proof of salvation. The works that proceed out of our life are the proofs that we're saved. There, if you will, the visible branding on the sheep that belong to the good shepherd. That's how Christ brands his disciples.

He brands them with service and love. So this segment is emphasizing that true faith, true religion should be experienced and it's practical. It can't be hidden away in the secret chambers of the mind. You can't just have a mental assent to things. So, Rick, when you look at a clock, clock on the wall, how is it judged? A clock on the wall is judged by its ability to keep time and not by the springs inside, right? You don't know what's going on inside that clock. In fact, it might be confusing if you saw everything that was happening in there.

All you hear what time it is, right? Yes. So just like that, a Christian is judged by his charity and not merely by the internal workings or his creed. So the emphasis here reminds us that light must shine before men so that they may see our good works, that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. So once again, James is implying that a faith without one,

is invisible. And because it is spiritual, not because it's spiritual, but because it doesn't exist. It's a dead faith. To show faith byworks is to put our, put the boots on our theology, to, if you will, live out our theology, letting the word become flesh in the things that we do and the things that we say and the money that we spend and give. All these things are reflections of the faith that's already transformed our hearts. Yes. Let's remember that the man who wrote these verses, James, is also the same apostle who in the same book said,

I'll give you my definition of true religion. And he said, true religion is to visit widows and orphans in their affliction and to keep yourself unspotted from the world. Those are the two things. you know i i i can i can imagine somebody asking james well james give me your definition of religion and james is there you know dipping food out on the you know in the bowls to feed to widows and and he's like looks over and goes you want my definition of of religion take care of women

heavy the peens okay get an apron on and help me feed these people you know it's been estimated that James at his his Jerusalem church were feeding approximately 3,000 widows every day

and tradition says that that during the famine that the Jerusalem church basically kept Jerusalem itself alive. Not only the church, they were feeding everybody. Yeah. And so what a witness for the gospel, that must have been. So James is qualified to write these words.

Yes. You know, he's qualified. He earned the right to say these things because he was out there every day visiting widows and orphans in their affliction or notice in their affliction yes he wasn't visiting widows who were not in affliction right he was visiting the widows who were in affliction meaning they're struggling these are older women living by themselves they have no one to take care of them and and then he said the other thing is take you know make sure you don't get spotted by your

contact with the world. Okay. Stay clean. Get through this world. But James had the right to say these things because he was doing it. He had the, he had the actions. He had the fruit to prove that he was saved. Yes. And so there was not going to be anybody who was going to question James's salvation. Because he was going to say, put an apron on. Get out here with me. Go go. Go. Go. Go over there, then I court, and start hauling the vegetables over here, okay? Put some effort into what you're doing, okay? I keep talking about faith, but put an apron on. Yes.

So, Doc, you know this about missionary work. There are missionaries and there are moutionaries. That's a term I came up with years ago. muconaries. Okay. There are real missionaries. Have you been on the mission field? Do you know?

There are real missionaries. They're out there doing the work. Yeah. They're getting their hands dirty every day. They are administering the love of God to people. And then there are moutionaries who tell their friends and their church members, I'm going to them on the mission field. And what they do is that they go someplace

and they take pictures of themselves and put it on Facebook. And they look at me, I'm a missionary. But really what they're doing is that they are mooching off of the real missionaries. Right. And the work they're doing. And so the real missionaries,

they've got their hands dirty. They're feeding kids. They're taking care of the homeless. They're doing all this work. And the muconaries were over here posing for selfies to put on Facebook. Right. So the real missionaries are saying to the muconaries, hey, you want to prove to me you're saved?

Get your hands dirty. Get over here. Right. Help me with these kids. Help me clean up this orphanage, okay? You know, help me feed these people. This is what James has said. get your hands dirty, get out there, do something, be, you know, be generous, be helpful,

and make your life that it's harmonious with your profession, okay? At the same time, the reverse is true. You can have people who are constantly doing good deeds, but they get a filthy vulgar mouth. they're not they're not letting the Holy Spirit purify them but they think that their good deeds

are saving them and so what these verses what James is saying is you got to bring this all together this is not separate there has to be a changed life yes there has to be a tamed tongue

there has to be a charitable hand for all of this to come together with the right faith in Christ I want to go down to the commentators, Doc. Right. I'll let you start with Matthew Henry. Right. So Matthew Henry said that regarding this particular portion of the verse,

there's no way that I could almost hear him in that colonial voice. There's no way we have the belief of the truth but by the fruits of it in holy conversation. And by the word conversation, he's expanding on it, not just words, but lifestyle. Faith is a hidden principle and can only be known by its effects, as the life of a tree is known by its fruit. Matthew Henry was a New Englander, Presbyterian. John Gill was a Baptist.

He said, the apostle defies any man to make it appear that he has faith when he has no works to show it. For faith is an internal hidden principle in the heart and cannot be seen and known but by the fruits of it. It is best shown by works, and that is the only way of showing it to men. That's right. Charles Spurgeon said, If you have a faith that never works, I would not give a half-pity for it.

is the faith of the intellectual, but not the faith of the regenerates. The world says, show me. And the Christian answers, I will show you, the true believer. The proof of the gospel is the Christian. The proof of the gospel is the Christian. That sentence right there, Doc. We could do a whole lesson on that. Yeah.

The proof of the gospel is, not the churches that are built. It's not all the religious organizations that are funded. Proof of the gospel of Christ is found in the Christians who believe the gospel. Alexander McLaurin said, faith is the life of the soul and works are the life of faith. You cannot have the inside without the outside, nor the outside without the inside. You cannot show the life of a tree unless it has barks and leaves. Nor can you

have bark and leaves without the life. It's all the same. Let's go down. We get verse 19. I could hurry up here. Verse 19 says, thou believes that there is one God. Thou do us well.

The devils also believe and tremble. The World English Bible says, you believe that God is one or you do well the demons also believe and they shudder we'll see what this one means you believe that there is

one God while you're doing well James is he's speaking to now think of who his audience was he's in Jerusalem right and

overwhelmingly the population is Jewish as he was too. He's speaking to those who primarily or the Jews who are questioning him about Christianity and he says, oh, okay, you believe in one God. Well, that's really good. I'll patch you on the back.

You're doing good. You get a cookie. If I wrote it, that's what I would say. Oh, you believe in one God, okay, you get a cookie, okay. You get a star. That's basically what he's saying. Okay, you do well. He's saying that, you know, if you're basing your eternal destiny on your religious creed, you're in trouble because there has to be a transformation of the heart. You believe that there is one God. Well, you're doing well. right. You know, this is not, I mean, he's, he's being, he's being polite in saying to somebody, you're not as smart as you think you are. You're smart, but you're not as smart as you

think you are. Where does this come from? Well, the Jews clearly know the phrase, here, oh, Israel, the Lord our God is one. Be every event. every announcement, you would hear that. Yes. So that's why James says. So you believe that there is one God. You do well because that's the core foundation belief of Judaism. Okay.

And it is correct. Okay. But to believe in the unity of, in the existence of one God, it's a necessary first step for, he that comes to God must believe that he is. Right. Yet, James warns that this step alone is insufficient. Right.

You say, you're just, you just got to the front door. You've got to go through the door and the door of Christ. And that's where people stumble. They have to go through Christ, through the door. So what he's doing is that he's, he's, uh, He's exposing the fallacy of what would be called doctrinal salvation. If my doctrine is perfect, if my doctrine is right, then I'm saved. Right.

But Jesus threw that whole concept out the window. He absolutely did. And so this idea here, there's two things to look at here in that it's sort of like people today. They say, well, I don't know. if I'm going to heaven or not, but I know God, or, you know, just a casual reference to God. Well, yeah, so you believe in God. Well, that's a good first step. It also addresses those that rely on sheer doctrines to say.

Well, that's a good start too, but James is pointing out the difference here between the head knowledge and our, if you're will are ascension to something, recognizing something versus faith or trust. One may have the first without the last. So James is just kind of stripping away all the defenses of those who claim you know, I'm against idolatry. I'm against all these pantheon of gods and everything. I believe in one God. But James is saying that's not quite enough. That doesn't constitute a saving relationship at all. Here's the real challenge. We learned here that the intellect, that the mind may be fully illuminated with the truth of God's nature,

may know every doctrine there is to know, while their will remains utterly rebellious against the authority of God. So the doctrine isn't enough. but it's a good first start, but it's not enough. I just continue to imagine James. He's having this conversation. I'm just imagining this. He's having this conversation at the feeding station for widows. He's dipping food out and putting it on plates,

and he's giving instructions to go get another, you know, another pot of soup. and he's talking to this stuffy, super religious Jewish man or woman who's asking, well, James, what is your definition of religion? Okay, and James is saying, well, I'll tell you, it's to take care of widows and orphans and in their affliction and to keep yourself unspotted from the world. And then the person says, well, James, you know, I believe in one God. And James is still dipping the food and serving. He goes, oh, that's good.

You believe in one God. Are you doing well? Okay, you get a cookie. Here's a cookie. All right, here's one of our cookies. You can have a cookie from the tray here. All right. And then James says, well, you know, the devils believe in one God also.

And tremble. And they tremble. I always love that last part of that phrase in tremble. And tremble. because they do believe in one God. So now James delivers a crushing blow to this high-minded intellectual believer by revealing that this man's so-called faith

is shared by the legions of hell. Yes. He's saying, your religion, they accept it in hell. you could go to church in hell and you'll feel it home because the devils believe the same thing you believe but the difference between you and them is they tremble yes that's the difference what he's saying here is like he's he's portraying the demons as theologians that fully accept the existence, the unity, the sovereignty of God, and yet they remain damned.

Yes. They accept all the religious beliefs and tenets, but they're not saved. And therefore they tremble. Yes. Okay. So demons are not atheists. Amen.

Demons believe in Gong. did you just think this true believe in God is not enough to save you it's not enough the demons believe in God they are not atheists they know that God exists why because

they got well the fallen angels were the ones kicked out I don't believe the demons are fallen angels there's a whole other lesson And I believe the demons are the disembodied spirits of the nephalum. But that's a different lesson.

I don't want to go down that path right now. But the word tremble, the Greek word, the definition of this Greek word, means violent shuddery, shaking, violent shaking. Or the bristling in the hair like an analogue until the hair standing up on the back of your neck, okay? overwhelming horror and dread of what? The fact that there is one God. Amen. The demons shake at the mention that there is one God. So they believe that there's one God,

but they don't obey him. Therefore, they're damned. And this is what James is saying in this hypothetical conversation, with this high-minded religious person that he's created for this conversation. So even though you may have a vision of God's majesty, without the blood of Christ,

there is no salvation. Right. Without any faith in what he did on the cross, there's no salvation. You ask people, people say, Siles, I'm, you know, are you saying yes are you saved yeah i'm saved how do you know you're saved the answer of that question tells you everything

how do you know you're saved um i believe in jesus well so do the devil yeah do you see what this means now james is saying the devils believe right and that's not enough so when you hear somebody say when he asks how do you know you say well i believe in jesus that's not enough is there obedience does the holy spirit reside inside of you have you been born again is your faith fixed on what he did for you on the cross can you explain to

somebody what he did on the cross. If you can't explain it, then you don't understand it yourself. And then you show them by your works of love. Yes. You demonstrate it through love and kindness and generosity and compassion for the unfortunate.

So, Doc, James is implying that if our faith does not lead to obedience and good works it is no different than the religion

of a demon right and a great illustration of this is found in Mark chapter 1 in verse 24 it says the demons they recognize Jesus as the Holy

one of God you know i know a lot of people that talk nice about jesus he's he's my savior uh you know and say a lot of things well the demons recognize jesus as the holy one of god but this belief this belief alone didn't lead them to bow and worship but rather they recoiled in fear so what we see here is the tragedy of light without heat the demons they have the light of knowledge, but they lack the warmth of divine love. And so this should be a wake-up call to easy-believism or the hypocrite. To be, you know, James says you're a sound as a devil.

In doctrine is to be so lost. And so the trembling, and, you know, the thing is, at least the demons tremble at the thought of the Holy One of God. You have those in this life, if they're challenged not, they don't tremble at all, Rick. So truth, faith includes resting in Christ, whereas the faith of demons was just restlessness in their own lives. So James is arguing here that if your faith does not change your behavior, you have the same doctrine of demons, and that's not going to save you in the day of judgment. Saints rest in Christ, and non-saints are spiritually restless. Yes.

And the demons, of course, are included in that. They're restless. The wicked shall have no rest. You know, so what the Bible says. The wicked shall have no rest. They can't find peace. They can't find restful. in this life. Because they're separated from God. Matthew Henry said, the devil's know and believe that

there is one God, and yet they tremble and shudder at the thought of him. Their belief is not a saving faith, but a convicting and condemning one. It is a faith that forces a fear, but does not work by love. Yeah. Charles Spurgeon, and you can almost hear that voice of his echoing across the chapel as he says this difference between no excuse me the devils believe much more than some of you do they believe that god is and they tremble but the devils have no works they have no luck to god they have no delight in his service their faith is dry barren terrible conviction which brings them no conflict but only despair and that's probably when he said I'm talking to you Bill

on the fourth row right there I'm just in bad see Spurgeon's long finger pointing to people in a congregation pointing out there the devils believe more than much more than some of you do

I'm talking to you and then down the street there over in Manchester Great Britain there was Alexander McLaren he said the difference between the faith of a man who is saved and the faith of a devil is this

the one is a trust of the heart the other is a belief of a head the one results in love the other in fear the one leads to obedience the other to rebellion yes and G. Campbell Morgan

had this to add to believe that God is one is a great truth but if it stands alone it creates the terror of the demon not the peace of a saint orthodoxy is not salvation

a man may be orthodox and yet still be lost okay I gotta speed it up we get three more verses I gotta speed this up very verse 20 but will thou know O vain man that faith without works is dead World English

Bible but do you want to know vain man have faith apart from works his dead. Okay, the first part, but will you know, oh, vain man? Okay, so now James is shifting from his argument of logic, and now this has become a direct, sharp rebuke, and he's addressing this hypothetical person that he's talking to in this narrative.

He's addressing this person as a vain man. man. Vane, the definition, according to the Greek word that's used here in the scripture for vain, it literally means to be empty, to be hollowing, to have somebody who has intellectual knowledge is conceded because of their knowledge, but is spiritually bankrupt. He calling this person a bankrupt, empty, hollow person. okay um yeah so when he says you vain man but that what that person heard was you just called me spiritually bankrupt empty hollow right like the lights are on and nobody's there that's what he say

hey inside your you're being the lights are under but there's nobody there it's empty it's hollow It's like Jesus calling the Pharisees and said he called them whitewashed sepulchers. Your tomb would dry bones in it. You paint it white on the outside. Inside, just dead bones. Right. So he's now confronting people who are poofed up with religion. what empty of grace right there's no grace and so he asks this question will you know yes

so he's he's implying that this person's ignorance is voluntary okay right that he could know the truth but he prefers to believe his comfortable delusion right um doc i want to speak it up here. I'll let you present your points because we've got two more verses that we need to cover. And we have communion. We need still they, yeah.

So the only thing I'll add to this is that we have to ask ourselves what are we relying on here? We see that spiritual pride is one of the symptoms of a dead faith.

I pray, Lord, remove that pride, remove that ambition out of my line. So this segment teaches that that emptiness of character is the natural result of separating Christian belief from Christian duty. You can't separate to. It's like, you know, you can't have a tree without free. So you can almost detect a little bit of impatience with James here for those people that he is encountering who would twist the gospel into a license for laziness and for just moral abandon, because that's where that leads to.

If there's no consequences, because we're doing good work that cancels out, the bad works that we do then, right? Yeah, so it's like Doc, he's saying, you remind me of a person that eats the shell and throws away the nut. you know like what do you do you're eating the dry brittle shell and you don't you never taste the delicious nut that's there all right um and then he he reiterates a verdict of death yes very strong idle barren that's what this word means um it it it is uh it's like a machine that's unplugged.

It has the potential to do something, but it has no energy to do it. It's disconnected from the energy source. And that's the way he's describing these religious people. You're like a machine that's unplugged from the electricity. You could do something, but you have no energy flowing through you. So it's just, you're just a dead machine's there,

taking up space and he's saying that they're operating with this dead faith is a fraudulent currency that it may be accepted on earth

among men and women as money, you know, spiritual money. But it's going to be rejected at the bank of heaven. Right. Like that check, you're not going to cash that check in heaven. This just isn't going to work, okay? People may accepted here on earth, but in heaven, that check's going to bounce because it's not real.

It's fraudulent faith. Or go down to the commentators, Doc. Let's see. Let's take a look at Adam Clark. Yeah, so Adam Clark had this to say regarding this. Thou art empty of all the fruits of righteousness. Thou art in a fool to expect salvation without Christian obedience. thou are obviously wrong

and dost thou not know it? Well, they choose not to know it, Rick. Yes. Albert Barnes said the man who supposes that mere faith will save him is vain and that he is empty or fully he relies on that

which has no substance or solidity of faith which is not productive of good works is of no value. and once again you can hear Charles Spurgeon booming across his congregation vain man he is empty for he has no works

and he is empty for he has no light it is a very strong expression but the man who thinks he can go to heaven without holiness is a vain man an empty-headed man and an empty-hearted now I know where I got the concept of

somebody eating the nut, eating the shell and not the knot, because when I read Alexander McLaren's comment, and that's what he said. He said, the vain man is the man who is empty of the reality of the religion which he professes. He has the shell, but the colonel is gone. Yes. He has the form, but the power is absent.

It's like he's saying about the machine. You got the machine, but it's not walked into the, electricity. You got a shell, but there's no nut inside of it. It's just vain, dry, dead religion. Verse 21, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac, his son upon the altar? I mean, in the Jewish world, this is one of the the most preem acts of faith that is in the old covenant scripture, right? James calls Abraham our father.

Right. Okay. And he's saying that the Christians view Abraham as their father, okay, which says that in Christianity, Abraham is still, the bedrock of our example of faith. He was justified by faith.

So why did he choose Abraham? Okay. You know, Abraham was declared righteous by God. This is in Genesis chapter 15. He was declared righteous by God by faith alone. Yes. This is where that doctrine originates. And yet,

most of the Jews today reject the very core tenet of Abraham faith. Of Abraham's faith. But here's the thing. God declared Abraham justified long before, he offered Isaac. Yes. That's in Genesis 22. James is speaking of the proof

of a pre-existing righteousness. Yes. He's saying Abraham was declared righteous by God long before he offered his son, Isaac. Okay. So what is teaching here, this is traditional Christian theology that while faith alone justifies the sinner

in the court of heaven, works justify the believer's profession in the court of earth. Right. And so, James is arguing that if the father of the faithful, Abraham, couldn't separate his belief from his obedience, eventual obedience, how can we, his spiritual children, expect to do the same? So this form of justification that we're talking about. here is a public deprivation that the faith residing in the heart is genuine. It's organic. It's a lie. It's lovable. This justification by works is the external evidence that validates

what's happening internally. If you will, it's the stamp of authority, the certificate of authority upon the goal of faith. And so this reinforces the believer's life that must be a visible testimony to the tree is fully power of the gospel. Amen. So if Abraham had refused to obey God, his claim to trust God would have been exposed as a fraud. It was his obedience that justified his claim to be a believer.

Obedience justified Abraham's claim to be a believer in God. that's why I say when people say they're Christian he's your king right yeah do you obey him if you don't obey the king you're not you're not a citizen you're a rebel you're an insurrectionist you're seditious because the people who live in his kingdom obey him

and you have to know what you have to know what the commandments are You can't obey him if you don't know the commandments. He said, do you love me? Keep my commandments. It says, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar, okay? So we, you know, we know this story. This is the pinnacle of Abraham's testing. It illustrates, you know, this dynamic living faith that was in Abraham. And that Abraham was willing to surrender his dearest treasure to be obedient to God.

Yes. And Abraham's faith was so strong that he believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead. You read this in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 19. So his work was energized by his faith. I mean, in Hebrews, we're told, well, Abraham, Abraham had faith that after he sacrificed Isaac, God would resurrect Isaac. Yes. That's why God accepted his faith. Yeah.

It said, I see you. You believe, okay? and so doc even though God stopped Abraham's hand from carrying out the sacrifice the sacrifice had already been completed in Abraham's heart and God accepted the intention as the deed

that's right but the act wasn't the faith the faith occurred before the act before yes And so James here uses this incident to show that the works, which justify a believer's testimony, are works absolute submission to the Word of God. In Abraham's case, what was the promise that out of Isaac that God would generate nations? That was a promise given to Abraham, that out of Isaac.

And so even if when he had such faith that even if he sacrificed, that God would raise up Isaac to fulfill his promise. That's fate. Yes. It's a really important part to understand that Isaac wasn't just

any child. He was a child of promise. That's right. God had promised Abraham that he would raise up a great nation through Isaac. So if God told Abraham to

to sacrifice Isaac but what happens if Isaac dies bleeds out on the altar what happens to the promise how is Isaac still the child of promise Rick God's just going to have to raise him from the dead

that's what Abraham sat down on a tree stomping thought about it and he concluded well I know that he's I know that he gave me the promise. He said Isaac would be the child of promise. I know that. I know what the promises are.

But he's also told me to sacrifice him up on the mountaintop. I know that for a fact. How does this work out? And Abraham came to the conclusion. Well, there's only one answer. God's going to resurrect him from the dead. And when God saw that in Abraham, he knew. He believed.

He believed in the resurrection He believes in the resurrection All right Um So sometimes we have to lay our Isaac on the altar And believe that God will raise it up from the dead That's right

Now Lily It's not easy in real life It's not easy to put it on the altar Okay I just went through it Earlier this year, the Lord said close true news. I heard it a year ago, okay? I heard it a year ago, Myrtle Beach, September of 2024,

the Lord said, close it, okay. That was my Isaac, Doc. That was my Isaac. The Lord was saying, you're going to have to put your Isaac, you're going to have to take true news and put it on the altar. And my flesh is saying, well, then that's the end of the, the ministry, it's over. But you have to say, no, he's going to raise it up.

It's going to be, he's going to bring life, okay? He's going to continue the ministry. I want to look at the commentators. We'll go first with Adam Clark. Yes, Adam Clark said he was declared to be righteous by his works. So his obedience, speaking about Abraham, to that command was the highest proof that he could give with his faith in God. Here is a proof that he considered God

to be the Supreme Governor and he had the right to dispose of men and things as he pleased. I get to do Charles Spurgeon this time. Paul speaks of the justification of the person. James

speaks of the justification of the faith. Abraham's faith was justified by his works but the works did not make Abraham righteous they proved him to be righteous they were the visible evidence of the secret life within Alexander McLaren said the offering of Isaac was the crucial experiment

which verified the hypothesis of Abraham's faith If the wind it's bowling, the trees will bend. If the faith is in the heart, the hand is going to work. The work is the faith in shudbreak. Free Church of Scotland, Pastor William are not. The faith that justifies the soul before God is a faith that works. And the works that justify the man before his fellows

are the works which that faith produces. the deed of offering Isaac was the bloom and fruit of the deep rooted trust he had in God. You really see the synergy now between faith and works. All right, one more verse, and then we're going to go to the Lord's table for Holy Communion. See us now how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made secret, or may Perfect. Excuse me. The World English Bible says, you see that faith worked with his works. And by works, faith was perfected. Right. Start with the first segment. Seeest thou how faith rock with his works. Okay. James is now directing our attention to the visible evidence. You see now? You see it? You know, he's, you can,

You can see him now pointing. You see now? Here's the evidence. He's reinforcing his earlier argument that true religion is something that the people in the world can observe. Like, I've got to tell you, that's one of the convictions I had about where American evangelical Christianity is going with its heavy. influence on political involvement is that we're speaking to the unsaved world saying you have to be a right-wing Republican to be saved

right that's the message isn't it yeah it is that is the message that's going out to the unsaved world you have to be a registered Republican to be a Christian now I know people are not saying it in those words, but to the world, to the unsaved, that's what they see in here. What James is saying is that the unsave, what they should see in here,

is that you have a tender, compassionate heart, and you take care of people. Doc, this message would not go over well in a lot of right-wing evangelical conventions. James. Yeah, James doesn't talk about setting up packs or, you know, rallies or anything like that. Get out the vote committees. Right. And so what's he talking about? Works of love here. That's the true mark of a believer. But it's got to be works of love, not just works, but works of love. And love can only come from a transformed heart. That's right. That's right. I want to go down. And it says, and by works. was faith made perfect

this phrase made perfect it doesn't mean that it doesn't mean that Abraham faith was flawed and had to fix it but rather that it had reached its gold it was accepted by God as perfect

but a fruit tree is perfect when it produces fruit. Right. Okay, that's the only time a fruit tree is perfect. Yes. When you can... That's right.

It's producing fruit. And so our faith is perfected when it produces results in obedience to God. That's the message that we're being taught here. That a plan is only perfect when it is executed. it. Promise is only perfect when it is kept.

Yes. Faith is only perfect when it acts. It really, this isn't really difficult. It's not so theologically deep that you can't understand it. Right. I mean, James would just say, put on an apron and get, scoop some potatoes out here. Do something. show me you love Jesus

yes that's right I'm going to go to to the commentators we got to get to the Lord's supper here well I'll start with John Gill then okay his faith was not alone he works attenium speaking about Abraham

once again it was the principal agent in them so his faith realized the command of God by works his faith was made perfect not that it received any essential perfection from his works, but that it was declared to be perfect and showed to be true and right faith.

What about Albert Barnes said? His faith, Second God Abraham, cooperated with his works. The fair and full meaning is that there was a cooperation between his faith and his works. They acted together. Faith is the principle of action and the action corresponds

with the principle. It was only by such acts that it could be seen that his faith was complete or of the right kind. Right. And Charles Spurgeon elaborated on this thought as well Rick saying

faith works to works and then the works perfect the faith. So the man believed and as a result he obeyed. But the obedience did not create the faith. The faith created

the obedience. Spurge went on to say, a faith that does not work is a faith that does not say. Alexander McGlorin, the two are one. You cannot cut the living man in two and keep the

life in either part. you cannot have faith without works nor works without faith the works are the perfection of the faith just as the full blown rose is the perfection of the bud very easy to understand

and let's not forget our brother way more and a lot the root is not the tree nor the fruit the tree but the tree consists of root and fruit you cannot have fruit without the root. But the root is of no value without the fruit. So the works are the finish

or the completion. And it's like James says here, the perfection of that faith. In other words, your works of love perfect your faith in God. Amen. I know this has been a long lesson today. I appreciate everybody staying with us. It's kind of hard to teach. this many verses on one topic and skip over verses. So I really appreciate the patience of our class to stay with us so long today. It's an important lesson. It's essential.

And we're here at the holiday season of Christmastime. This is a great opportunity to put this teaching into practice. There are people that need, Need someone to love them at the holidays. You know, Doctor, the sad thing is suicides are at the highest level in holidays. Right. Because people are lonely. They're lonely.

They have no one to talk to on Christmas Day. It's sad that people commit suicide on Christmas Day. But it's because they've been, they're abandoned, they're isolated. They have no family. and yet they're sitting in their home thinking about well everybody else is enjoying the day everybody else is surrounded by people who love them and they're celebrating and depression comes on to them

there are people that you could visit this Christmas there are people that you could take a gift to think about the deeds that you could do here at Christmas time you could serve a meal to a family that has very little food. Just ask the Lord, what deeds could you do this year at Christmas time? He'll give you some ideas. Cory, Doc, let's go to the Lord's supper. All right. Well, I'm going to just get right into things here today with the Lord's table. And we're just going to ask, Lord, that you would

search off arts right now. Make sure our hearts are pure and that we are approaching the Lord's with clean hands and clean hearts today in the name of Jesus. Never want to enter the Lord's table. Checking our hearts one more time. If you have the elements of the Lord's supper, we're going to go ahead and pray over those right now and ask the Lord to bless them. So bread, neither red wine or grape juice, serves as well.

And so who may participate if you're a confessing believer in Jesus Christ and baptized in water, according to the scripture, then we invite you to participate in this most holy meal. Pray with me, if you will. Almighty God, in your tender mercy, you gave your only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption. He offered himself and made once for all time a perfect and sufficient sacrifice for this whole world, and he instituted this remembrance of his passion and death,

which he commanded us to continue until he comes again. So, Father, we ask you to bless us to thank to find. with your Word and Holy Spirit these gifts of bread and wine that we may partake of His most blessed body and blood. Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed once for all

upon the cross. Therefore, let us keep the feast. Hallelujah. On the night that he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it. He gave it to his disciples, saying, Take eat. This is my body

which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for you, preserve your body and soul to everlasting life. This is the bread of heaven. Take a need in remembrance that Christ died for you. After supper,

Jesus took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink this all of you, but this is the blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me. Praise God, hallelujah. Glory to God.

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ was shed for you and preserved your body and soul to everlasting life. Drink the cup of salvation and remembrance that Christ's blood was shed for you and be thankful. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world and blessed are those who are invited to the Married Supper of the Lamb.

This sacrament is the gift of God for the people of God. Feed on Him by faith with Thanksgiving that Christ died for you. Praise God. What a wonderful amen to do that. Praise the Lord. And we just participated in this sacred supper by faith.

for was our faith we believe that we just we believe in the resurrection we believe in the resurrection we believe in the resurrection that's what we believe and we that's it and we you got to believe that but if you believe it that god raises up dead people man that should that should excite you and we believe that Jesus Christ was present with us in this communion in this meal he was present Yes, this is... By faith. We're feeding on him by faith. This is my body.

All right. Thank you, everybody. Got to let you go. It's been a long class today. Thank you so much for being patient with us. God bless you. We'll see you on the next morning man. Take care.

Bye.