Some say that we are saved by faith alone.  Without meaning to do so, they are excluding God’s Word from His plan of salvation.  Yet, the Bible clearly teaches that we are saved by the Word of God.  

James 1:21 (ESV)
²¹  Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

The truth is, without the Word, we would not have believed in Jesus in the first place because the Word is what produces faith.

Romans 10:14, 17 (NKJV)
¹⁴  How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard…¹⁷  So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Keep in mind that the Word will only save those who obey it.  In the passage above, James said that the Word is able to save, not that it would automatically do so.  It is only when one obeys the gospel that he is set free from Satan and sin. 

Romans 6:17-18 (ESV)
¹⁷  But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸  and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

When were we set free from sin?  Paul said it was when we obeyed from the heart.  At that point, our souls were cleansed by the blood of Christ, and we became pure in the sight of God.  

 1 Peter 1:22-23 (ESV)
²²  Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, ²³  since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Do not miss the fact that the Word of God is involved in our spiritual new birth.  No one can be born again apart from God’s Word.  If there is ever any doubt that the Word of God saves, this truth should take it away.  We see, again, however, that it was our obedience to the truth that led to our purification.  The Word will not do anything for us apart from our application.  This is why James emphasized being doers.

James 1:22-25 (ESV)
²²  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵  But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Yes, the Word of God saves, but we must do our part in obeying it.  It tells us what to do, not just with being saved, but also to stay saved.  It teaches us how to live.  Paul told Titus that the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this world (Titus 2:11-12).  Aren’t you glad we have God’s Word to teach us how to live?  Without it, we would be eternally lost.  With it, we have an advantage over the devil that he cannot overcome, as long as we live by it.  

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.