Santiago 2:14
"My brothers, what will it profit if someone says he has faith, and has no works? Can faith save him? "
James says, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). Faith without works is a dead faith, because the lack of works reveals a life that has not been changed or a spiritually dead heart. There are many verses that speak of true saving faith resulting in a transformed life and that faith is demonstrated by the works we do. The way we live reveals what we believe and if the faith we say we have is a living faith.
Many claim to be Christians, but their lives and priorities indicate otherwise. Jesus put it this way: "By their fruits you will know them, do they gather grapes from the thorns, or figs from the thorns?" Thus, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. tree to bear bad fruit, nor the bad tree to bear good fruit, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, so you will know them by their fruits, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter in the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven: many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and cast out devils in thy name, and in Your name we did many miracles, and then I will declare to you: I never knew you, separate yourselves from me, you evildoers. "
Obedience to God is the mark of true saving faith.
Salvation is a sovereign act of God by which an unregenerate sinner has the "washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit" poured out on him (Titus 3: 5), causing him to be born again (John 3: 3). When this happens, God gives a new heart to the one who has been forgiven and places a new new spirit within him (Ezekiel 36:26). God takes away the heart of stone hardened by sin and fills it with the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Spirit causes the person who has been saved to walk in obedience to the Word of God (Ezekiel 36: 26-27).
Faith without works is dead because it reveals a heart that has not been transformed by God. When we have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, our lives will demonstrate that new life. Our works will be characterized by obedience to God. Faith that is not seen becomes evident by the demonstration of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives (Galatians 5:22). Christians belong to Christ, the good shepherd, and as sheep we are, we listen to His voice and follow Him (John 10: 26-30).