Obedience Is Not Earning; It’s Faith Made Visible

Episode 6 of our Foundations of Faith Series

What if obedience isn’t about earning anything from God, but about revealing a faith that’s alive inside you? We open our Foundation of Faith series segment on Building Faith with a clear look at James 2:17–18, showing why works are not the root of salvation but the fruit of a heart settled by grace. Righteousness rests on the blood of Jesus, not your effort. Once that identity is secure, boldness rises—not into rebellion, but into confident steps that match what you believe.

We tackle the tension many feel between grace and works. Legalism says obey to be accepted; faith says obey because you are accepted. With scriptures from Hebrews 10, Ephesians 2:8–10, and John 14:15, we trace how love leads to action and how “faith without works is dead” means inactive, not nonexistent. From Abraham activating God’s promise to Noah building before the rain, the Bible frames obedience as cooperation with divine reality—faith made visible in time and space.

You’ll hear how hearing plants faith and doing grows it, why practical steps like praying for the sick or sharing the gospel strengthen belief, and how identity as sons and daughters dissolves the pressure to perform. We end with a simple activation: choose one area where the word has been nudging you and take one concrete step this week. Faith is the root; obedience is the fruit. When grace settles your worth, your steps can finally reflect your trust.

If this teaching helps you see the Word more clearly, subscribe, leave a quick review, and share it with someone who needs freedom from performance religion. Your support helps more listeners step into living faith—one obedient act at a time.

Transcript

Opening And Series Setup

Speaker 0:00

This is your season reason. This is your moment is in faith revealed. Faith revealed.

V.M. Mansfield 0:14

Welcome

Introduction

V.M. Mansfield 0:15

back to Faith Revealed. I'm your host, Via Mansfield, and today we begin Building Faith. Okay, we be this is the Building Faith section of our Foundation of Faith series. So we move from what faith is into how faith grows and becomes active in the believer's life. James confronts a powerful truth. Faith that remains unexpressed is incomplete. True faith produces obedience, and obedience reveals the authenticity of faith. What if obedience is not the proof that you're trying harder, but the evidence that your faith has become alive inside of you? Faith produces obedience the same way a tree produces fruit, not through effort, but rather through life. James chapter two, verse 17 through 18 is where we're going to work out of today. It reads, Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead. Being alone, yea, a man may say thou hast faith, and I have works, show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Listener Shout-Out To Michael

V.M. Mansfield 1:41

Before we get too far into the message, you know what time it is. It is time for a big old faith-revealed listener shout-out. I want to give a very special shout out to Michael Beers in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Michael, we want you to know how deeply grateful we are for you, your support, your encouragement, your belief in what God is doing in this podcast and through this podcast have meant more to us than words can fully express. You were there early on in the early days of our podcasting journey. You were there speaking life, offering encouragement, and you truly inspired us to step out and start podcasting in the first place. A lot of people don't realize this, that because of Michael Beers, I started podcasting originally, way back in the early days of podcasting. Michael had a podcast going. And I would listen to him and I always thought, who is that voice? See, this is before video was a component. I'd think, who is that voice? And I'm I inspired to be like Michael when he was podcasting. So this is the Michael that I'm giving this shout-out to. Uh, so you inspired us to step out and start podcasting in the first place, Michael. Um you had a hand in helping this message reach people, and um, and we honor that. And thank you for standing with us for believing in this ministry and being such a genuine encouragement to our hearts. Michael, we pray God's blessings, God's favor, and God's peace over your life. Thank you for being part of the Faith Revealed family. We truly appreciate you. God bless you, Michael.

Question On Blood, Righteousness, Obedience

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Today's question comes from Megan in Florida, who writes, About the blood, you taught that my confidence is in the blood, not in myself. My question is if righteousness comes from the blood and not from works, then how does obedience fit into faith without becoming legalism? Well, that question tells me you're thinking covenantially, and that's a good thing. So, Megan, first of all, thank you for your question. Uh, we really appreciate it. The scripture is very clear. Our righteousness comes from the blood, okay, not from our works. Our righteousness comes from the blood. Romans chapter 5, verse 9 says, We are justified by his blood. Okay, it doesn't get any more clear or Bible answer probably than that. Uh, that means our standing with God is settled, it is not earned. Okay, it's not maintained, it's not improved by what Jesus did. So, where does obedience fit in? Obedience is not the source of righteousness, obedience is the fruit of righteousness, and I believe that distinction really matters. Legalism says, I obey God, so God will accept me, or I obey God to get something from God. Faith says, I obey God because God has already accepted me, and I obey God because God has already provided for me. Okay, one is rooted in fear, and the other is rooted in love. Hebrews chapter 10, uh verse 19 and through 22 tells us that we have boldness to enter into the throne room of grace by the blood. We've got boldness to enter, okay, where we never could even get close to entering. We now have boldness uh to enter. And that's by the blood, that boldness produces confidence, not rebellion. Okay. Now I want to I want to make this very clear. Boldness does not produce rebellion. Boldness produces confidence that we can access and attain the fullness of Jesus Christ. When you know you're clean, you don't run from God. You walk with him. Okay.

Boldness By The Blood, Not Legalism

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How do you know you're clean? Because he made you clean. He cleaned you, he did it. You say, Well, I still do this or I still do that. No, we're not looking by sight, we're walking by faith. I will call those things that be not as though they are. I am the righteousness of God made perfect. If you if you really struggle with saying made perfect, then say being made perfect. Okay? But the Bible says you're complete in him which is the head of all principality and power. That's the word perfect. The word complete and the word perfect are the same word in the King James Bible. Okay, that's the first thing we need to understand. We're not twisting words, we're not twisting scriptures. We are absolutely, undoubtingly quoting the Bible, and we're calling it into our own life. So obedience comes or becomes rational, not transactional. Okay, it becomes relational, not transactional, I guess is what I should say. Obedience becomes relational, not transactional. Okay, Paul said in Romans chapter one, verse five, that the goal of the gospel is the obedience of faith. That means obedience flows out of faith, not effort. Okay? You're not trying to prove anything, you're responding to what is already true. And Jesus said it plainly in John 14, 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. Notice he didn't say, keep my commandments, so I'll love you. See, that's works-based religion. We don't we don't live that. We don't we don't preach that, we don't believe that, we don't. We believe the Bible. Keep my commandments because you love me, not so I'll love you. Okay, love comes first, obedience follows. So obedience doesn't replace faith, it doesn't compete with grace, it reveals faith. Works don't make you righteous, but righteousness will produce works. Okay? When obedience comes from the blood, washed identity of sonship, it is not legalism, it's life. Megan, I hope that answered your question. Um, I think we'll continue on through the uh broadcast here and uh go deeper into an answer for you. Uh, I think it's a really good place to put your question uh is in this episode because I I do believe that we are going to go in depth here in James chapter two, verse 17 through 18. Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead. Being alone, yea, a man may say, Thou is faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. The word works is ergon, okay? It's defined as an action, a deed, or an expression that results from an inward state, the natural outflow of what is within. Works are not the root of faith, they are the fruit of faith. Okay? I I want to make this very, very clear because there's a lot of people that preach that you have to have works. You can't do it without works. You're this, you're that. And if you don't do this, you're not saying it's all it's all malarchy, okay? Works are the fruit of faith. All right. And in a lot of the people that preach this works-based religion, they have no, they have no faith, okay? Their works is all is all conjured up out of their religion. They don't they don't have faith. They just spit this stuff on you and expect you to do it, and they can't keep it themselves. If you have faith, you love God, you have faith, the works will follow. You will do things for God. And it will not be an effort that you have to do to obtain a certain status with God. It's just going to flow out of you naturally because of

Works As Fruit, Not Root

V.M. Mansfield 10:25

where you're at in God. The word dead is the word necros. It means without life, inoperative, powerless, unresponsive. Faith without obedience still exists. But it is inactive and it produces nothing. It's dead. Okay. The word show means to make visible, to bring into manifestation, to demonstrate outwardly. Okay. Uh obedience is faith made visible, is a way we could say that. Obedience is faith made visible. Alone is monos. It's where we get the word mono from. In fact, uh, this recording is probably mono. Uh, by itself, meaning without a companion, without expression. Uh, faith by itself is real, but incomplete until it is expressed. Okay, so James is not teaching salvation by works. I I want to be very clear on this. And if you notice, we're we've slowed down a little bit to take our time to really establish something here. And and it may carry over your, I don't know. We're we're not on a time schedule, so uh we can we can teach what we want is and take it at the time that we need to do it to really develop or delve into what we need to and develop uh what we are looking to develop. So I want to really establish in you James is not teaching salvation by works, he's teaching the completeness of faith is what he's teaching. Faith becomes mature when it is expressed or when it expresses itself through obedience, okay? So when it's expressed through obedience, it becomes mature faith. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10 said, For by grace you are saved through faith. There is no works, okay? It goes on to say that not of yourself, it is the gift of God. Okay. Everybody talks about I got this gift, or I've got that. Listen, I have the gift of God. I have grace. Okay, and contained in that gift is the Spirit of God and everything that goes with the Spirit of God. Verse nine says, Not of works, lest any man should boast. Verse 10, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, or producing good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Works don't save you, but salvation will produce works. Obedience is not the price of faith, it is the product of faith. Okay? Look at this. In Genesis chapter 22, verse 18, we'll look at Abraham, and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. Abraham's obedience did not create the promise, obedience activated the promise. Okay, Hebrews 11 8 says, So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of the earth, and they left off to build the city. Obedience followed from faith. Okay, look at Noah in Hebrews 11 7. By faith, Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear or reverence, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Noah acted before the rain existed. Obedience becomes

Old And New Testament Examples

V.M. Mansfield 14:05

the visible expression of the invisible conviction. Okay, Israel in twenty in Deuteronomy 28.1 uh said the Bible said, It shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, and observe and to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day that the Lord thy God will set on thee high above all nations of the earth. Okay? Every blessing in the covenant was tied to obedience. Let's go into the New Testament. John chapter 14, verse 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. It's pretty simple, right? Obedience is the action of love, not the condition of love. There's too many people that are preaching that you have got to do X, Y, and Z in order to attain a certain level with God or to qualify to do something with God. Listen, there is no work that you can do to buy your salvation. There's no work you can do to buy grace. Works is not the currency exchange between you and God. The blood was the currency that bought and paid for you. Now you are bought and paid for by God. You God owns you. Okay? There's nothing you can do to buy anything from your owner. But what he's given you is the opportunity to not be called servant or slave, but to rather be called son. Because a servant doesn't know what his master's doing, but a son knows what's going on in his own household. Okay? So there is nothing you can you can do to buy this. And there's a lot of legalism that goes on, even in what's called these free churches. All right. You're judged from the door to the door, from the parking lot to the to the pulpit. They judge you. All right. There's I don't I don't agree with that. And it happens, and I'm not telling you don't attend your church because somebody judges you. All right. That's foolishness, too, in and of itself. All right. You're you're better than that. You can overrule that. Uh the the God that dwells in you is is greater than their judgment. So that ends that. All right. You go if you're being fed somewhere, stay stay there, be fed. All right. Why why in the world would you go starve yourself to death uh because somebody told you that your your food was ugly? All right. You know, or you know, if you go to a restaurant and somebody says, I don't like your shoes, are you not going back to the restaurant? No, your big butt's going to be right back at the buffet. So keep going to church and keep being fed. All right. Obedience is not legalism. Obedience is cooperation with divine reality. All right. That's something that we have to absolutely settle. Obedience is not legalism. If God said, lay hands on the sick and the sick shall recover and you pray for somebody, that's a work of faith. All right. We're not doing that just to earn notches in our sixth gun with God. No, we we're doing that because that that is what follows faith. It naturally comes behind faith. If I believe in healing and I have faith for healing, I naturally pray for people to be healed. If I have faith that people can be saved, I naturally preach a gospel that causes people to be saved or pray for people to be saved or could or call them unto God, right? I'm constantly doing something like that because faith produces that. Whatever you have faith for, faith will produce it. All right. That's just the nature of it. If you have faith in everything bad, that faith is going, uh, or you know, like, well, everything's going bad, or I'm going to lose my job and my car is going to break down and all, you know, people have faith in that. That's still called faith, just not faith in God. All right. It's it's in essence, it's still faith. It's the same concept as faith. And guess what happens? They lose their job. Their car breaks down, they get foreclosed on. All right. They where they apply their faith, their faith does work because what you come into agreement with, you produce. Obedience isn't legalism. Obedience is obeying the word. All right, uh, keep my commandments. What is his commandments? Go preach to all the all the world, heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, cleanse

Obedience As Cooperation With Reality

V.M. Mansfield 18:40

the lepers, teach them to observe all things, make disciples. All right, these were technically commandments. These are what Jesus commanded. He told his disciples, you guys go out and you preach and don't take anything with you. The first time he sent them out, he said, Don't take anything with you, uh, because he was proving that I will take care of you, even if you think I'm not present, because I'm not there standing next to you in the flesh, even though I'm not there, I'm still going to take care of you. Okay? And what'd they do? They obeyed. They went out, they preached, they did their things, and they came back and they were enamored. Even the demons are subject to us in your name. Don't marvel that the demons are subject to you. He said, Marvel that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Marvel that I know you personally. Okay, obedience is cooperation with divine reality. Faith sees God's truth. Obedience manifests that truth. Faith receives the word, obedience fulfills the word. Faith believes God. Obedience moves God. I'm gonna say this again. Faith sees God's truth. Okay?

Kingdom Principles

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Number one, faith sees God's truth. This is a kingdom principle here. What I call a kingdom principle. Faith sees God's truth. Obedience manifests that truth. Faith receives the word, obedience fulfills the word. Faith believes God, obedience moves with God. Matthew chapter 7, verse 24 said, Therefore, whosoever heareth these things, or these sayings of mine, and doeth them. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them. Hearing becomes building. Doing becomes establishing. Obedience builds a foundation, storms cannot destroy. Okay? So how do how do we activate this? How do we put this into action in our lives? Luke chapter 11, verse 28 said, Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. The blessing is not in hearing alone, it is in the keeping. Blessings are not in the hearing alone, but they are in the keeping. Obedience activates. What does it activate? It activates promises, it activates protection, it activates provision, it activates purpose. Okay, it activates a lot of things. James chapter one, verse twenty-two said, Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. Hearing plants faith. We we've we've totally uh discussed this uh in in our previous episodes. Hearing plants faith. Obedience grows faith. Obedience is faith in motion. I I used to teach or still teach in my school of healing class. Because you know, a lot of people will say, How how do I get more faith? How how can I grow my faith? And in street, and every preacher will give you. The same answer. They'll say faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. And that's true. Faith does, that's what the Bible says. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. How can they hear without a preacher?

How Obedience Grows Faith

V.M. Mansfield 22:10

How can he preach unless he be sent? That is Bible, 100% Bible. And their answer is correct. But I have an expert experiential answer that I can give you. It is literally written in James chapter 1, verse 22 be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. Okay. When you work faith, when you do faith and you produce faith, when you're a doer of the word, it absolutely 100% will grow your faith. It will cause your faith to exponentially expound. Let me let me give you an example. If you heard, if you didn't act like you're new, if you're not, act like you are. If you are, listen very closely because I was you. If you heard that God can heal, but you've never seen it, and all of a sudden you get this thing conjured up inside of you that says, I think I can go pray for the sick. You've read enough Bible verses, you've watched enough uh of faith revealed podcasts uh to really get the faith inside of you, and you say, I can do this. And then you go find somebody and they're like, Oh, I got this terrible headache, and oh my goodness, and I can't hardly even think, I can't walk, and all this stuff. And you say, Let me pray for you. God's gonna heal it, and you pray. Headache, I command you to leave in the authority of Jesus Christ, be gone and never return. And you tell them you're healed. And then all of a sudden, they're like, Hey, I don't think my headache, I think my headache's leaving. And now you're just so excited and you feel like you could go raise the dead. It absolutely works that way. 100% works that way. The doing of faith grows your faith. Okay, it's obedience, uh, faith in motion. It's obedience. All right, Hebrews chapter 5, verse 9. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto them that obey him. Now look at that. That's really important. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. Obedience is the path of maturity. Okay? So obedience is the path of maturity. So, what what's our takeaway on all of this? Obedience is not an attempt to earn from God. It is the natural manifestation of faith that has become alive and active. I'm gonna say that again. Obedience is not an attempt to earn from God, it is the natural manifestation of faith that has become alive and active. Okay, so kind of recap here because we want to we want to begin this segment of our Foundation of Faith series, okay, where we are putting faith into action. We are doing things. And a lot of you are going to experience people that that are going to tell you, uh, you know, you got to do this and you've got to do that. Listen, stay with me on this one. All right. I'm not telling you I'm the end-all-be-all expert, but I absolutely know what the Bible says about works and faith. Okay, obedience. That's what it is. When you read faith without works is dead, faith without obedience is dead. It can produce nothing. Don't let those people put you into a bind making you feel some kind of way because they're they're trying to put their legalism on you.

Practical Activation And Prayer

V.M. Mansfield 25:52

Listen, pray this with me. Say, Lord, let my obedience be the overflow of living faith. Move in me, speak through me, and strengthen me to act on what I believe. Now confess this. Say, I show my faith by my obedience. And my obedience is the fruit of living faith. I want you to identify one area where the word has been prompting you to act and take one step of obedience this week. And when you do, think this. Think faith is the root, obedience is the fruit. And where faith is alive, obedience naturally will grow naturally. It naturally grows where faith is alive. That's where we'll stop

CTA

V.M. Mansfield 26:48

for the day. We're going to take the time, let this settle in you, let it establish faith in you, let it guide your steps. If faith revealed has helped you to understand more of the word clearly, uh, please take just 30 seconds and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Um, if you are watching on YouTube, uh, please be sure to subscribe and turn on the notifications so you don't miss future teachings. Please share this with your friends, share this on your social media, help us get this word out there. Uh, we are trying to organically grow this podcast and we need your help to do it. We want to thank you for being part of this community and tuning in every week with us. And until the next time, may God continually bless you abundantly. Thank you for tuning in to Faith Revealed. Please subscribe, share, and join our email list to receive our monthly magazine and teaching updates keeping you rooted in the Word. We appreciate you keeping us in your prayers, and we will see you next week right here on Faith Revealed.