Heb 3:19 – So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Faith and obedience go hand in hand, you cannot separate the two. Obedience to the Lord, his commands and his precepts, IS the measure of our faith. We cannot say we have a strong, vibrant faith and yet walk in sin and disobedience, we expose the true nature and strength of our faith by how we conduct ourselves each day. Show me a person who is strong in godliness and obedience and I will show you a person who is strong in faith. Show me a person who is weak in godliness and obedience and continually stumbling into sin, and I will show you a person who is weak in faith.

Too often, modern day Christian teaching tries to seperate the two as if they operate independently of each other, but they do not. We are told things like “Don’t worry, it’s not about your conduct or performance as a Christian, but about who Jesus is!” or “When God looks at you, he doesn’t see your actions or behavior, all he sees is Jesus!” subtly conveying the idea that God winks at sin and disobedience in his people as if it’s not that big of a deal, nothing could be further from the truth. We are told in Heb 4:13 – but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Nothing is hidden from His sight, and He is taking all things into account.

This next verse may come as a bit of a surprise, but we are told that God will render to every man according to their deeds. Rom 2:6 – Who will render to EVERY man *according to his deeds*. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, *eternal life*. Why? Because our deeds, our actions and behavior, day to day, are the measure of our faith. 

In Heb chapter 3, the writer makes a fascinating point about why Israel fell in the wilderness and were prevented from entering the promised land. He first explains that it was because of their disobedience: Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. (Heb 3:7-11). And then: But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? (Heb 3:17). Clearly he established that it was their sin and disobedience that caused them to be rejected, but then he makes this fascinating observation at the end of the chapter: So we see that they could not enter in because of UNBELIEF (Heb 3:19). It was their unbelief and lack of faith that ultimately drove their disobedience. Faith does not “supersede” our conduct and behavior, it is exposed and measured by it which is why the Apostle James said: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith *by my works* (Jam 2:18).

We are told in Heb 11:6 that without faith it is impossible to please God. But that faith is not a mere mental state, but a life transforming trust that drives our obedience.