This lesson is meant to give you a better understanding of true saving faith.
Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
Galatians 3:6-7 Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
It is clear from these verses that we are justified by faith. The Bible talks about two kinds of faith. The first is a faith that is alive that leads us to repentance unto salvation. This person will obey the truth of God’s Word when they hear it, because they mixed the word they heard with faith (Hebrews 4:2). But the other type of faith does not save you. It is a dead faith that leaves people deceived and trapped in their sin. Also, this faith is dead because it has no works to accompany it (James 2:17). You will recognize people with dead faith because they will bear bad fruit (Matthew 7:17-18). Furthermore, the purpose of this teaching is to establish the difference between real faith and dead faith from the scriptures, and to give you examples of people who were saved by their faith in the gospel.
You cannot separate faith from obedience
You cannot separate faith from obedience in the Bible. So faith without works is not faith at all, it is dead (James 2:17). Instead, we must believe to the saving of the soul (Hebrews 10:39).
1 Peter 2:7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” (In this verse the word “Believe” is the opposite of “disobedient”)
2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (This verse shows “believe the truth” is the opposite of “having pleasure in unrighteousness”.)
Hebrews 3:17-19 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (These verses make it clear that because of their unbelief they disobeyed.)
Examples of faith from the Bible
Jonah 3:4-5 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. (This is what true faith looks like. It drives people to repent!)
Genesis 26:4-5 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” (Because Abraham believed God, he obeyed Him and was blessed)
Matthew 27:3-4 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!”
(Judas is an example of someone who did not have a saving faith. Even though he confessed his sins after betraying Jesus that wasn’t enough. True faith causes you not only to confess but also to forsake your sin [Proverbs 28:13] and get back on the straight and narrow path. But instead Judas hung himself and was named “the son of perdition” [John 17:12].)
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