And without faith it is impossible to please God, for anyone who comes to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
“When you fast, do not be gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so that they may be seen by others to be fasting. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.
“When yoʋ pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and at the street corners so that they may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting anything in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
How then will they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without someone preaching?
For we also have received good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united by faith with those who listened.
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm that you are among those whom God has called and chosen, because if you do these things, you will never stumble.
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the sinful, the detestable, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their portion is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”