True or False
A Christian can earn favor with God by doing good works.
Favor? True. Salvation, false. I think many times people confuse the two as the same topic. Good works are counted as righteousness by God in certain circumstances.
Heb 11:4
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
Heb 11:5
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he
pleased God.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to
God must believe that he is, and that he
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, 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.
Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Heb 11:9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
Heb 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Heb 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Heb 11:12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
By faith, obedience, sacrifice, seeking, and action (all verbs) you can please God, and find his favor. What is more it is written in James to be a doer, not a hearer only deceiving yourself. Faith requires action. And God is the rewarder of the faithful. Works are necessary for faith, but not necessary to become saved.