I've never known a Christian who simply believed without having faith, works, and love.
Neither have I. Faith without works is dead (James 2:20) and faith works through love (Galatians 5:6).
The bible says that you can have all the faith as to move mountains, but if you do not have love you are nothing...
Paul emphasized the importance of love in 1 Corinthians 13. If someone has genuine saving faith in Christ and have received the Holy Spirit, it would be impossible for them to have NO love at all. 1 John 4:7 - Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
In 1 Corinthians 13:13, we see that love is the greater quality of the three because God is love and it outlasts them all. Long after faith and hope are no longer necessary, love will still be the governing principle that controls all that God and his redeemed people are and do. We will not need faith and hope in heaven.
further, James 2:26 says "faith without works is dead". It doesn't matter how much faith you have if you don't bear fruit, your faith is in vain.
In James 2:26, the comparison of the human spirit and faith converges around their modes of operation. The spirit (Greek pneuma) may also be translated "breath." As a breathless body emits no indication of life, so fruitless faith exhibits no indication of life. The source of the life in faith is not works; rather, life in faith is the source of works (Ephesians 2:5-10). In James 2:20, "faith without works is dead" does not mean that faith is dead until it produces works and then it becomes a living faith or that works are the source of life in faith. That's like saying a tree is dead until it produces fruit and then it becomes a living tree and the fruit is the source of life in the tree. *James is simply saying faith that is
not accompanied by evidential works is dead. If someone
says-claims he has faith
but lacks resulting evidential works, then he has an
empty profession of faith/dead faith (James 2:14) and not authentic faith.
faith is a requirement to please God, and we cannot "work" our way into the kingdom (so no man may boast) yet God wants us to exert effort to put on the new personality. This requires all three forms.
If we have faith, then we have hope. Hebrews 11:1 - Now
faith is the evidence of things
hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. The
love of God has been poured out in the hearts of believers by the Holy Spirit who was given to them (Romans 5:5).
In fact Paul, in 1 Corinthians 9:26, compares putting on the mind of Christ to a fight...aiming his blows as not to strike the air. The scriptures clearly teach that the love of God means following his commandments.
1 John 5:3 - For
this is the love of God, that we keep (Greek word "tereo" - guard, observe, watch over) His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
No so called Christian can live in sin and expect to reap the rewards of grace. In fact, you become unclean if you carry on willfully sinning.
To "sin willfully" (Hebrews 10:26) in the Greek carries the idea of deliberate intention that is habitual, which stems from rejecting Christ deliberately. This is CONTINUOUS ACTION - A MATTER OF PRACTICE with no goal or effort to stop. Now we don't walk along our daily life and "accidentally" fall into a pit called sin. We exercise our will but, the use of the participle clearly shows a CONTINUOUS ACTION. The
unrighteous practice sin - (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21);
not the righteous, who are born of God - (1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 John 3:9).
sanctification is something that God does for us as a reward for our faith, works, and love.
I once saw an interesting thread on a different Bible discussion forum that discussed whether sanctification is and event, a process or both. It generated a lot of good discussion.