"Faith without works is dead." The difference between Works of the Law and Works of Faith.

Believers, good works (works of faith) are the evidence of our salvation and not the condition. The condition for our salvation is to believe in Jesus; It's in John 3:16 "...that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." and Acts 16:3- "They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

As believers, having the Lord Jesus Christ as our Righteousness, faith works must follow. We see this in the life of Abraham who was pronounced righteous long before he was going to offer Isaac at Mt. Moriah or even did any work.  See Genesis 15:6 - 

"And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness." See the MSG: "And he believed! Believed God! God declared him “Set-Right-with-God.”" 

Between the time that he was “Set-Right-with-God.” and when he was going to offer Isaac at Mt. Moriah, Abraham helped himself get an heir through Hagar, even after the Lord had promised him an heir. The result was Ishmael who was born "according to the flesh." See this in Galatians 4: 

"21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, 24 which things are symbolic."

In this period also, Abraham lied that Sarah was not his wife to save his own life in a place called Gerar (Genesis 20.) And look what happened to Abimelech of Gerar after he took Sarah in Genesis 20:3-

"But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”

Notice that when Abraham tried to save himself by lying, he never lost his right-standing with God because he did nothing to earn it to begin with. In fact, the Lord was a terror to those who put fear in Abraham! Seeing God's goodness even in our failures makes us trust in Him so much as to be willing to do anything He says: It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. 

Many of those who are using "faith without works is dead" as an excuse to go back to obeying the Ten Commandments and doing good things in order to prove their faith and be “Set-Right-with-God” would have condemned Abraham in the times when he slept with Hagar to produce Ishmael according to the flesh and when he lied about Sarah, but the Lord was transforming Abraham into the man of faith that we know him as today, working in Abraham both to will and to do for His good pleasure. 

Abraham was justified before God, but not by works. He was justified by faith, because he believed God. He has nothing to boast about here.

This righteousness is a gift to be received (Romans 5:17) and not a product of good works or law-keeping. With God's gift of righteousness, we get to live right and do faith works. 

4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven,
And whose sins have been covered.

8 “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”

Also see Romans 3: 26"...and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. 27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."

Believing Jesus is to believe that God has made you righteous forever, not because you obeyed the law but because of Christ's obedience, "For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous." Romans 5:19.

Saved by grace through faith and made righteous by Christ's obedience and not ours from trying to obey the law which no one can be made righteous by (Romans 3:20,) we get to live in triumph over sin and death:

"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:17.

No longer trying to obey the law to make us right with God because Christ is our righteousness, we GET TO do faith works: Romans 7:4- "So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the One who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God."

With Christ as our righteousness and no longer under the power of the law (trying to obey the law in order to be righteous, we GET TO "produce a harvest of good deeds for God." See how this ties in with James 2:17- "So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless." aka "Faith without works is dead."

Works (good deeds) always follow after faith in Christ; never works of the law (done in order to get right with God) but works of faith done by Christ in and through all who believe that He set us right with God by His obedience. Only when we have Christ as our righteousness, no longer trying to do works of the law in order to be righteous, can we "produce a harvest of good deeds for God."

On the flip side, remember Romans 5:19- "For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous."

Many profess Christ but don't have Him as their righteousness. Such who try to obey the law in order to be righteous before God and thus deserve His blessings have the old (sin) nature that is as a result of Adam's disobedience. Such do works (of the law) in order to be righteous and thus reject Christ's righteousness. According to Romans 7:5, the law that they try to obey causes them to sin more-

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."

Believers, faith without works is dead. But what works are you doing? Are they works of the law that are done by human effort to get right with God and which lead to death or works of faith done through the power of Christ in believers? The law is not of faith.

You know the difference between works of law and works of the faith because you are unable to take credit for or boast about faith works. Christ does it all. See Ephesians 2:8-9:

"God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."

Be wary of "men of God" who boast about how their law-keeping, various fasts, good works, dowdy clothes and religious tithe payment are what make God bless them/heaven-bound. These ones take credit and boast in their own effort (ability to obey the law) and not in Christ. This is not grace (undeserved, unmerited, unearned favour.) There is no Jesus saving in their equation. They are their own saviour. Believers, let's not be found here.

James 2:17 says "So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless."

The law is not of faith. When you go to Christ in faith aka empty of all "menstrual rag" works of the law and good deeds done to get God's favour and looking to Him alone for salvation from whatever bugs you, He constantly fills you up to overflowing with the abundance of grace and His gift of righteousness so much that with what is constantly spilling over, you can't help but live right and "produce a harvest of good deeds for God." These are works of faith. 

Christ does it all.