A REAL FAITH IS AN OBEDIENT FAITH

The Scriptures often warn that a real faith is a fruitful and obedient faith:

• What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (James 2:14 ESV)

Consequently, obedience is not an additional requirement for salvation but a picture of what a real faith looks like:

• ...the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed...(2 Thessalonians 1:7-10)

Upon His return, He will bring “eternal destruction” upon “those who do not obey the gospel,” on those who refuse to believe. There is no indication anywhere in the Scriptures of a second chance. Why not? Because they will respond to a “second chance” as they had the first! If they rejected the Light of the evidence in this life, they will certainly reject Him in the next, as His Light penetrates even deeper into their souls to expose their darkness.

If we walk in the darkness, it means that we are bereft of saving faith:

• If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:6-7)

Nevertheless, we need to be very hesitant about passing judgment. From all appearances, it didn’t seem that Lot had been walking in the light. His two daughters had even gotten him drunk to get impregnated by him. Yet, the NT informs us that he was a righteous man:

• ...he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard). (2 Peter 2:7-8)

Our God is most gracious when He judges our deeds. Whenever, we confess our sins, He forgives our sins and washes us clean from their filth (1 John 1:9).