The Object of Saving Faith

Driving home: if you were the devil and wanted to damn the souls of men and women and boys and girls, and you knew, as the devil does know, that the only bond by which a sinner in the nakedness of his need can be joined to Christ in a…

Martin recounts a personal evangelistic encounter where a man believed Jesus was merely 'for good,' illustrating the widespread, inadequate understanding of saving faith.

The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, November 13, 2005, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Many years ago, more years than I'd like to count, I was seeking to witness to a total stranger. We came to a point in our conversation when I asked the man, Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? And he said, Yes, sir, I believe in Jesus.

0:03 - 0:34 Read in full sermon

Driving home: if you were the devil and wanted to damn the souls of men and women and boys and girls, and you knew, as the devil does know, that the only bond by which a sinner in the nakedness of his need can be joined to Christ in a…

He uses the analogy of the devil wanting to damn souls by confusing their understanding of faith, highlighting the strategic importance of clear teaching on this doctrine.

That believing that Jesus was somehow or other for good was all the Bible meant when it said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. And if the confusion were limited to that, one isolated man there in the South many years ago, one might not be too concerned. But as I said last Lord's Day, if you were the devil and wanted to damn the souls of men and women and boys and girls, and you knew, as the devil does know, that the only bond by which a sinner in the nakedness of his need can be joined to Christ in all the fullness of his saving power is the bond of faith, you would do ...

1:19 - 2:37 Read in full sermon

The point: Exercise saving faith because you are desperately in need of what only Christ can provide.

Repentance and faith are described as the 'hinge on which the door of salvation turns,' emphasizing their foundational role in conversion.

and I have identified them as the hinge on which the door of salvation turns. Last Lord's Day, having spent eight studies on the necessity, the nature and fruit of repentance unto life, we began to consider the necessity, the nature and the fruits of saving faith. And last Lord's Day, I sought to accomplish only two things. I sought to accomplish only two things.

2:37 - 3:07 Read in full sermon

The point: Listen carefully to the preaching so you can articulate who the object of saving faith is.

Martin humorously imagines disguising himself as a stranger to test if congregants truly understood the sermon's point about the object of saving faith, underscoring his desire for clarity.

Well, what was the preaching about? I hope you'd be able to say, the preacher tried to teach us from the Bible who is the object of saving faith. I hope every one of you could go out in the parking lot and meet the pagan, and if I could, I'd be a quick change artist and put on a disguise and be that stranger and walk up randomly to some of you and say, hey, what happened in that building? And see if you really listened.

6:12 - 6:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Listen carefully to the preaching so you can articulate who the object of saving faith is.

He assures the congregation that the definitions of faith presented are not his own invention but are 'hammered out' by astute theologians, lending authority to his teaching.

And then secondly, the object of saving faith identified in the witness, of some selective portions of the Word of God. So I'm going to set before you, very briefly, two helpful definitions of saving faith, and you're going to see that in those definitions, one of them hammered out by dozens of very astute, careful students of the Word of God over a period of many years, and the other hammered out by one man who himself was very much influenced by that great body of theologians and pastors who hammered out the first definition. In other words, these are things not just spun out of the stuff of...

7:05 - 7:55 Read in full sermon

Driving home: no no my friend you come to real saving faith and you and Jesus are one and you're attached to him and you're attached to him in a faith that is no sooner born in your heart by the Holy Spirit than it has a baby called l…

The story of the Philippian jailer is recounted to illustrate how Paul and Silas directed him to believe 'on the Lord Jesus Christ,' emphasizing the person as the object of faith.

And I want us to look now at some texts. Two of them in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 16 we looked at this in conjunction with one aspect last Lord's day when that trembling jailer who had seen the moral power of God in the lives of two innocent men beaten unjustly thrown into prison and yet they're blessing God and have a glory fit at midnight and then they see the physical power of God who shakes that jail and then they see the moral power of God restraining prisoners whose shackles fell off but they didn't split and run off they remained in the prison this was too much for them and all thi...

14:17 - 15:46 Read in full sermon

Driving home: no no my friend you come to real saving faith and you and Jesus are one and you're attached to him and you're attached to him in a faith that is no sooner born in your heart by the Holy Spirit than it has a baby called l…

He describes saving faith as giving birth to 'a baby called love,' which in turn has 'many babies called obedience,' illustrating the inseparable connection between faith, love, and obedience.

Jesus Christ now granted shortly after they take the man or the man takes Paul and Silas into his home and gathers his whole household together in the wee hours of the morning and they tell him who this Jesus is and they tell him about his birth and about his life and about his death and about his resurrection but they let him know at the outset Mr. Jailer Man if you're ever going to get saved you in your person are to engage the Son of God the only Savior of sinners in his person the person of the sinner engages the person of the Savior believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and in all of these t...

15:46 - 17:16 Read in full sermon

Driving home: his love cannot swallow up his justice any more than his justice can swallow up his love

Martin uses the acrostic 'JESUS' to convey that Christ's unique person perfectly suits the needs of sinners, summarizing His fitness as Savior.

he perfectly suits our need as sinners I remember an acrostic I'm not enamored with little acrostics but this one is stuck with my old brain Jesus J-E-S-U-S just exactly suits us sinners there's a lot of good theology in that little acrostic Jesus just exactly suits us sinners and how does he just exactly suit us sinners listen to the definition again of the old shorter catechism who is the redeemer of God's elect and the answer is this the only redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ who being the eternal son of God became man and so was and continues to be both and man in two distin...

27:39 - 29:09 Read in full sermon

Driving home: his love cannot swallow up his justice any more than his justice can swallow up his love

He explains that God's love cannot 'swallow up' His justice, nor vice versa, illustrating the theological problem Christ's person and work solve in reconciling God's attributes in salvation.

he perfectly suits our need as sinners I remember an acrostic I'm not enamored with little acrostics but this one is stuck with my old brain Jesus J-E-S-U-S just exactly suits us sinners there's a lot of good theology in that little acrostic Jesus just exactly suits us sinners and how does he just exactly suit us sinners listen to the definition again of the old shorter catechism who is the redeemer of God's elect and the answer is this the only redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ who being the eternal son of God became man and so was and continues to be both and man in two distin...

27:39 - 29:09 Read in full sermon

The point: If you claim to believe in Jesus, ensure it is the Jesus of the gospel, not a self-made one, and that His Lordship is settled in your life.

Martin vividly describes Jesus' prenatal development, birth, and childhood growth (e.g., 'skinned his knee,' 'first time you found something enough to shave') to emphasize His true, sinless humanity.

and he is sin is not essential to our humanity Adam and Eve were created sinless everything it means to be flesh he was and is the angel said you will conceive in your womb and in a way that we cannot begin to fathom God implants by the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb that little microscopic that divides and divides and divides and he went through every single stage of prenatal development he was that little speck and then the little flippers began to appear and all that you see in those marvelous pictures that they're now able to take of interunarine development he went through every single stage ...

30:37 - 32:07 Read in full sermon

The point: If you claim to believe in Jesus, ensure it is the Jesus of the gospel, not a self-made one, and that His Lordship is settled in your life.

He encourages listeners to remember that 'Jesus made it all' when seeing pictures of new galaxies, illustrating Christ's divine power and role as Creator.

is set before us in the gospel in that way not the Jesus of your notions that you can cuddle up to and occasionally look to him in some icon on the wall in your bedroom who before his incarnation knew what it was for cherubim and seraphim to veil face and feet in his presence and be intimidated by his holiness through whom God spoke worlds into being the next time you see a picture in some new galaxy they've discovered say Jesus made it all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that hath been made John 1 3 think of it that's the savior set before us in the gospel truly ...

36:32 - 38:01 Read in full sermon

The point: If you meet the Christ presented in the gospel by faith, the question of who runs your life is 'all over'.

Peter's response to accusations of drunkenness at Pentecost is humorously recounted to set the scene for Peter's preaching of Christ's validated identity.

that Christ presented in the gospel you meet him by faith and it's all over the question who's going to run your life it's all over it's done it's settled I'm off the throne he's on the throne if that hadn't been settled you don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ but it's not only the Christ presented in the gospel in the glory of his person but in the perfection of his work in the perfection of his work his work in three dimensions it was so hard to try to reduce it to three things and I know there are things I've left will have left unsaid but I hope this is helpful his work that validated h...

39:29 - 40:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not let others cheapen your Jesus or be duped by unprincipled, commercialized portrayals of Him.

He imagines hundreds of people testifying to Jesus' miracles ('these eyes were blind and he opened them,' 'my mama couldn't have babies now she got six of them'), illustrating how Christ validated His identity.

no there were hundreds who could come forward and say these eyes were blind and he opened them and I see these limbs were crooked and he straightened my body my body was dead and we were out playing football yesterday my mama couldn't have babies now she got six of them Jesus laid his hands upon her opened her wall approved of God by mighty signs and wonders that's the Christ of the gospel he is not a bunch of religious notions he's the Christ who validated his identity by his mighty works and secondly he's the Christ who validated his work his work is one of representative obedience that secu...

42:28 - 43:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not let others cheapen your Jesus or be duped by unprincipled, commercialized portrayals of Him.

Martin critiques popular, unbiblical portrayals of Christ as the 'muscular Christ of the half converted weight lifter,' 'athletic Christ of the half converted fullback,' or 'sentimental Christ of the half converted female poet,' emphasizing the need for the biblical Christ.

what's the Christ of the biblical gospel he is not the muscular Christ of the half converted weight lifter he is not the athletic Christ of the half converted fullback and he is not the sentimental Christ of the half converted female poet he is this Christ God and man two distinct natures in one person bringing to his work the reality of true humanity sinless but true humanity bringing to it all the virtue and all the power of deity and in that person there was rendered by his mighty works every day every day every day every day every day every day every validation of his identity as God's Mes...

46:53 - 48:21 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not let others cheapen your Jesus or be duped by unprincipled, commercialized portrayals of Him.

He criticizes the 'guitar twanging Jesus who's hip and cool,' contrasting it with John's awe-struck reaction to the risen Christ, to highlight the reverence due to the biblical Jesus.

and cool and he's with it you won't get with Jesus he's cool I get sick of these unprincipled unconverted people who appeal to the addiction that some of you young people have to contemporary music and just justify their rotten commercial self-serving interest by putting a smattering of Jesus in there it sickens me it's making merchandise of the word of God that's not the Christ of the Bible he's not hip and he's not cool he's the Christ whose glory is so ineffable and so grand that when a holy man like John the Apostle sees the risen exalted Christ he's not cool he falls on his face like a de...

48:21 - 49:51 Read in full sermon

The point: Fall down and worship the Jesus of the gospel, acknowledging His Lordship and surrendering your life to Him.

Martin uses the metaphor of Christ riding in the 'chariot of the propositions about him' to explain that while faith is in Christ's person, it is through biblical truths that He is known and received.

of his need has warred with no battle in between no war and the Savior they come together in the embrace of faith that's glorious this man receives sinners yeah that's right that's the glory of who Jesus is and then secondly it's not the propositions about the person and his work that are the object of faith but Christ himself but now hear me carefully this Christ whom you and I are to receive he only rides forth in gospel grace and conquest in the chariot of the propositions about him you want Christ you'll find him in the chariot of the propositions about him he's God he's man he's God he li...

51:20 - 52:49 Read in full sermon