Every Christian who goes to church and reads the Bible probably knows that Jesus is the only One Who can save sinners. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation. We are saved by grace and grace alone.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."
Salvation is a gift that only God can give. We cannot ever hope to do anything to merit it. We can do all the good works we see fit, but it will not get us to Heaven.
Titus 3:5-6 says, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost: Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior;"
We cannot rely on our own works of righteousness to get to Heaven. The only thing we can rely on is God's grace. It is so important that we know that good works cannot save us. However, there are many churches that are so focused on making sure that their congregations know that good works can't save them, that they completely downplay the importance of good works altogether.James 2:17-18 states, "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works."
Faith without works is dead. The works that we do are evidence of our faith. It is by our works that people will know us. They show people that there is something in us that is good and true. You see, when we do good works, nobody can say anything against them. Christians can get a lot of grief from those that do not know or believe the gospel, but those people cannot speak out against the good that we do. Works are how we prove that we really do love our neighbors as ourselves.
We cannot expect to do much for Christ if we do not act on our faith. Can you imagine what our Biblical heroes would look like if they had only faith with no works? Would Abraham have started a new nation? Would Moses have freed the Israelites? Would David have killed Goliath? All of them acted on their faith, and as a result, God used them to do amazing things. If we do good works, God can bless those works and use us to do amazing things. They definitely won't save us, but they are still important.
Faith without works is like a body without a spirit: dead. Anyone who would like to find out more about what the Bible says concerning good works
can read James 2.
