Growing up, before someone led me to search the scriptures more carefully, I thought that as long as I believed in Jesus, heaven was where I would end up after I died.  Sadly, there are still many people who believe this to be true.  They assume that living life by the will of God does not matter.  It is concluded by many that as long as they believe in Jesus, any kind of behavior is permissible.  “So what if I engage in sex outside of marriage?”  “So what if I get drunk now and then?”  “So what if I curse from time to time?”  “I do not hurt anybody by my actions, and anyway, Jesus loves me enough to save me despite how I live.  After all, I believe in Him.”

The bad thing about this kind of thinking is that it is legitimized by popular preachers who are more interested in receiving a check from some of these lost people than they are in teaching the truth.  Furthermore, the idea that just believing in Jesus is enough is further validated by well-meaning pastors and preachers who are not trying to scam anyone but are just wrong in their theology, believing that salvation is secured by faith alone.  The result is people living in sin, openly and unabashedly, and yet considering themselves faithful people of God because they believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Here is the truth—whether your life is characterized by morality or immorality, or whether you have a good heart or a wicked heart, faith alone will not save you.  I used to think it would, but then I read the Bible, and it told me it would not, and the Bible is always right.  So, what does the Bible say about faith only?  Listen to James, the author of the New Testament book that bears his name.   

“Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:24).

Now, the works James is referring to are not meritorious.  He is not saying, in other words, that we must earn our way to heaven.  The Bible teaches that it is impossible to do that because we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).  James is referring to the kind of works demonstrated by Abraham—works of faith and obedience (James 2:21).

Obedience is required by God, and it always has been.  I would challenge any denominational teacher, preacher, pastor, or one of their pupils to show just one passage in the Bible that indicates that a person can be saved while disobeying the commandments of God.  The biblical truth is that how one lives is important.  You simply cannot go to heaven if you do not live an obedient life before God.  Listen to the word of God on this:

Hebrews 5:8-9
⁸ Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. ⁹ And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

Matthew 7:21
²¹ Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

1 John 1:7
⁷ 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.

These passages (and they are just a few of the many) teach conclusively that how you live matters.  Just believing is not enough to be saved, despite what some are teaching.  No one is saved by faith alone.  Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?  If so, that is great, but as James said, “the devils also believe and tremble” (James 2:19).

If you want to be saved and go to heaven, you must obey God by obeying the gospel (Romans 1:16), which includes repenting of your sins and being baptized (Acts 2:38), and then by living faithfully, according to God’s will, until you die (Revelation 2:10).   If you are not doing this, determine to do so before it is too late because just believing in Jesus is not enough.