Nature of Saving Faith, Part 1

The Centrality of Salvation and Faith's Place

0:02 Will you turn, please, to Paul's letter to the Ephesian church, the book of Ephesians, chapter 2.

0:11 And I shall read verses 8 through 10, the verses which are the present focus of our careful study.

0:21 Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 8 through 10.

0:26 For by grace have ye been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God aforeprepared that we should walk in them.

0:52 For unfallen creatures, such as the elect angels, many things may be of great importance, many things may be considered as of supreme importance. But for you and for me, fallen creatures, sons and daughters of Adam, nothing is of greater importance than the issues related to our rescue from sin and its consequences.

1:22 Therefore, while the Bible is silent concerning many matters which human curiosity would like to probe, and scanty in its instructions relative to many matters that men think important, on this greatest of issues, the issue of man's rescue from sin and its consequences, the word of God is abundantly clear. And few portions of the word of God are clearer or more comprehensive on the great issue of rescue from sin and its consequences than is the passage that we have been studying for these past months. Ephesians, chapter 2, particularly this first paragraph, verses 1 through 10. Having described what man is as a sinner in verses 1 to 3, the apostle has taken great pains to show us what man becomes by grace in verses 4 through 6. And then he sets before us the great purpose for which God has conferred that grace in verse 7. And now he goes back in verses 8 to 10, and he covers the same, He expands certain aspects of what he has already told us.

2:42 He underscores and re-emphasizes the great issues of salvation by grace so that I have entitled these three verses a compendium of salvation by grace. A concise but comprehensive statement of what it means to be rescued from sin and its consequences by the grace of God. In our style, study of these verses, we have noted that the transformation which God effects in its essential nature is called salvation. By grace ye have been saved.

3:21 Then we've noted, secondly, the transformation traced to its principal cause. Why does God rescue sinners and do what this text calls save them? And the text answers very clearly, for by grace ye have been saved. And that rescuing of sinners has as its principal cause the grace, the unmerited favor, the undeserved kindness of the living God.

3:51 And then last week we began to consider the third line of truth in these three verses, namely the transformation explained as to its instrumental means. By what means do we come into the possession of this life? This salvation which is rooted in grace, this transformation which is God's work of deliverance. And the text tells us that it is through faith.

4:19 For by grace have ye been saved through faith. And so the means is described in the two words, through faith, and then the means is traced to its source in the next few words in which we read, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And all we attempted to do last week was to bring into sharp focus the place of faith in salvation by grace. And we came to the conclusion from this text and supported then from the rest of Scripture two conclusions, that there is no salvation apart from faith, and there is no instrumental means of salvation, and there is no instrumental means of salvation apart from faith, and there is no instrumental means of salvation apart from faith, and there is no salvation other than faith. There is no salvation apart from faith. The Scripture tells us that when Jesus Christ returns, He will take vengeance on those that believe not the gospel. We are told in Revelation 21.8

5:22 that unbelievers have their part in the lake of fire. I read an interesting, a cryptic, gripping statement this past week in which one author said this, No other sin by itself will damn a man. But unbelief.

5:40 No other sin by itself will damn a man but unbelief, and this sin by itself will damn a man.

5:50 A man need never steal. A man need never be a lecher. A man need never be a liar or an idolater. But if he lives and dies an unbeliever, he will perish with lechers and idolaters and thieves.

6:04 That's the teaching of Revelation 21.8. There is no...

6:08 no salvation apart from faith. Our text asserts it. By grace are ye saved, not independent of or bypassing, but you are saved by grace through faith. And then we need clearly to understand that there is no instrumental means other than faith. And though this faith will always be joined with repentance, though it will always issue in a spirit of love and obedience in all the holy fruits of grace, we are never said to be saved by the instrumentality of repentance or love or vows of obedience. We are saved through faith. And we must then in the light of these things allow for nothing to become a substitute for faith. We must beware of anything that is added to faith, anything that exalts faith to the place of a Savior, anything that degrades faith.

The Necessity of Understanding Saving Faith's Nature

7:05 To a mere notion, anything that negates the necessity of faith. Now having established the place of faith as the instrumental means of salvation by grace, today and next Lord's Day, God willing, our concern will be with the nature of that faith which is the instrumental means of our salvation. Having seen the place of faith, no salvation without it, nothing else is the instrumentality of faith. Now you may be tempted to sit there and write this off as a Sunday school lesson and say, well, everybody knows what faith is. My friend, don't write it off so simply. For the scripture speaks of a faith which the demons have, which obviously does not save. James 2.19, Thou

8:04 believest, God is one. The demons also believe and tremble. Again, the scripture speaks of a temporary faith in Luke chapter 8 in verse 13. Our Lord, in expounding the parable of the sower, says who for a while believed. There is a faith of the demons that is not unto salvation.

8:25 There is a temporary faith that is not unto salvation. And furthermore, the scripture speaks of a man who was a believer, but concerning whom Peter said, Thy heart is not right with God. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter. Acts chapter 8.

8:41 And there is no different word in the original used for faith. There is a kind of faith which demons have. There is a kind of faith which is temporary. There is a kind of faith that is so convincing in its initial actings that a person is baptized, brought into the assembly of God, and even hobnobs with the local evangelist, as we find in Acts chapter 8. And the same scriptures. Give us these rich descriptions. We read of the faith of God's elect in Titus 1.5.

9:12 We read of unfamed faith in 2 Timothy 1.5. We read of that faith which is unto the salvation of the soul in Hebrews 10.39. Now my friend, you profess to be a believer. Do you have that faith which is unto the salvation of the soul, or do you have the faith of demons? You profess to be a believer. Is it the faith of God's elect? Select or is it temporary faith?

9:40 You say, how can I tell? Well, that's the purpose of our study this morning. What is the precise nature of the faith mentioned in Ephesians 2.8?

9:51 By grace are ye saved through faith. Wherever that faith is present, there is salvation. Wherever salvation is present, that faith will be present. Well, what is the precise nature of that faith?

10:03 How can I come to an understanding of what it is? To the end that I may ask myself, am I a true believer?

Biblical Figures for Saving Faith

10:13 Well, the manner in which I propose to handle this question is today, first of all, to set before you the various biblical figures for saving faith and then, God willing, next week, to suggest a formal analysis of the specific ingredients of faith. Originally, I'd hoped to do them both in one message, but it would have been loading your mind with too much. And so I've split the one sermon up into two, and I hope in having it, I haven't killed it. All right?

10:40 First of all, then, the biblical figures for saving faith. Now, listen carefully. We are not treating of the doctrine of faith in general, but we are dealing with the doctrine of faith specifically as it relates to the matter of a sinner laying hold of God's salvation in Jesus Christ. What the old catechism calls justifying faith, and one of the most interesting things is that unless I have overlooked some significant biblical materials and unless the most competent exegetes and theologians have overlooked it for 1,900 years, a thing which I seriously doubt concerning any major truth of the Word of God, the Bible nowhere, the Bible nowhere gives us a formal definition of the nature of saving faith.

11:36 Something so essential, essential to salvation, and yet the Bible nowhere gives us a formal definition of it. Now, we do have, and some of you are already thinking, we do have something that borders on a definition of faith in general in Hebrews chapter 11, but that's not describing saving faith in particular. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So the assertion still stands.

12:03 But you say, Pastor, something that's so vital. You've shown us from the text that there's no salvation apart. From faith, there is no other instrumental means but faith. Why then didn't God give us a formal definition of faith?

12:15 I'll tell you why. He's given us something far better. He's given us a many-sided description of the nature of saving faith, which is far richer than any formal definition ever could be. Now then, very briefly, what are the major pictures, the major descriptions of the nature of saving faith, in the New Testament?

12:40 I'm bypassing the old, because that would involve some strands of teaching and some explanation that would not be in the interest of edification, and I'm afraid, too, it would put you kids to sleep. And I want your ears this morning, because these things are so vital. And there's not a thing we're going to talk about that you can't understand, because we're going to talk about eating, and drinking, and walking, and looking, and running. You'd understand those things, don't you?

13:08 Well, that's... That's how the doctrine of the nature of faith comes to us in the Word of God.

13:12 Let's look at the pictures very quickly. What is the precise nature of saving faith? Well, in the first place, it is the empty hand receiving. John chapter 1, verses 11 and 12.

13:26 He, Jesus Christ, came unto His own, and His own received Him not, but to as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become, to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His name. And here you have the paralleling of these two things. Believing on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is likened to a receiving of Christ. Colossians 2.6 gives a similar language.

14:04 As ye have therefore received Christ, Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. What is the nature of saving faith? It is an empty hand receiving an offered Savior and the salvation which is in Him. Secondly, it is a thirsty soul drinking.

14:29 Turn to John chapter 7. The Gospel of John chapter 7. Saving faith is likened to a thirsty soul drinking. Verse 37.

14:41 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. You see the two things that are paralleled? Let him come and drink, he that believeth.

15:08 What is it? To believe. What is it? To be saved by grace through faith.

15:13 It is to have the empty hand receiving the offered Savior and His salvation. It is the thirsty soul drinking of the Savior and His salvation. And of course, this probably has its parallel in that great Old Testament Gospel invitation. Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.

15:38 Thirdly, it is likened to a hungry soul eating and drinking at the same time. Turn back to John chapter 6. Here is the third picture we have of the nature of saving faith. John chapter 6.

15:56 Jesus says in verse 28, or they ask a question, What must we do that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God that ye believe on, him whom he hath sent. Our Lord says that they are to be concerned with believing on the sent one, which is the Lord Jesus. Then He goes on to describe what believing is.

16:23 Look at verse 35. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall not hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst.

16:36 Coming is believing. Keep those two things in mind. Coming. Coming is believing.

16:41 Further on He says in verse 51, or verse 50, This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread come down from heaven. If a man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. Yea, and the bread which I give is my flesh for the life of the world.

17:06 And then He goes on in the subsequent verses to say, Unless you eat, my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. And then He concludes in verse 58, This is the bread which came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He that eateth this bread shall live forever. You see what He's doing?

17:25 He's using interchangeably the terms, come to me, eat of me, drink of me, believe on me. What is it to believe? It is the empty hand receiving the offered Savior and salvation in Him. It is the thirsty soul drinking of the Savior and the salvation in Him.

17:46 It is the hungry soul eating and drinking of the Savior and the salvation that is in Him. Now turn back to John 3. And we see a fourth picture of the nature of saving faith. We sang about it in the previous hymn or the hymn immediately prior to our study.

18:06 John 3 and verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, a reference to Deuteronomy chapter 21, even so, I'm sorry, I think it's Numbers 21, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish or may in Him have eternal life. As Moses lifted, so must the Son of Man be lifted that whosoever believeth. And our Lord is drawing, an analogy.

18:40 You remember the incident. The people of God had murmured. God sent fiery serpents with deadly venom to sting them. And as they are dying, they cry for help and God commands Moses to make a serpent of brass and to go out into the midst of the camp and hold it forth.

18:57 And the scripture says, whoever looked upon the serpent of brass lived. What is faith? It is the weary eye of the dying looking and finding life and finding life. Faith in the look upon the uplifted Son of God.

19:15 That's faith. The weary eye looking. This is why God says in Isaiah 45, 22, Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved. God says in Zechariah 12, 10, They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him.

19:35 What is faith? It's the empty hand receiving, the hungry soul drinking, the thirsty soul drinking, the hungry soul eating. It is the weary eye looking. In the fifth place, it is the heavy laden casting their burdens at the feet of Christ.

19:54 Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 to 30. Our Lord says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls.

20:16 For my yoke is easy, my burden is light. What is this but a graphic description of being saved? The burden of my spiritual death and bondage and corruption being lifted from me. How does it come to me when I come and cast the burden upon the Son of God?

20:35 And then sixthly, faith is likened to a hunted criminal, fleeing for refuge into the place appointed by God. In Hebrews 6 and verse 18, you have this phrase concerning the nature of saving faith. Hebrews 6 and verse 18.

21:03 That by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. He describes believers as those who have fled for refuge. And the picture, of course, goes back again to the Old Testament when a man unwittingly killed someone. God made provision that one who committed unpremeditated or accidental murder, what we would call manslaughter, could go to one of the cities appointed in the various places of Israel.

21:41 And when the relative who was going to shed blood eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life, was tracking down the guilty one, he could run with the breath of the avenger upon his neck. And the moment he passed through the gates of the city of refuge, he was protected as long as he stayed within that city as the appointed place of protection. That's what faith is. Faith is this hunted soul fleeing and finding refuge in the place of God's appointment who is Jesus Christ himself.

22:18 And finally, another of the many oft-repeated figures of the nature of faith, it is the needy coming to Christ for all that is promised. John 6, 35, we already quoted from that. He that cometh to me, verse 37 of John 6, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. The whole concept of coming to Christ is a description of faith.

Common Denominators: Impulse, Motion, and Object of Faith

22:50 Now having looked at these seven pictures of the nature of saving faith, I want to ask a question that is absolutely vital if we're to get the message of these various portions. And the question is this. What are the common denominators in all seven of these pictures of saving faith? What do they all have in common?

23:12 What is there in common between a guilty criminal running from the avenger of blood and out of breath and panting casting himself within the gate of the city of refuge? What is there in common between that and a man who's languishing with the venom of the serpent in his system casting a weary eye in the direction of a serpent? What's the common denominator between all of these things? Let me suggest that there are three common denominators.

23:42 And they tell us something about the nature of true saving faith. The first one is this. The impulse to faith is felt need.

23:56 The impulse to faith is felt need. If faith is the empty hand receiving, there will be no empty hand receiving until there is a felt need of the thing to be received. If faith is the hungry eating, there will be no eating until there's the felt need of hunger. If faith is the thirsty soul drinking, there will be no drinking until the soul feels its parchedness.

24:34 If faith is the guilty running, there will be no running until there is a felt sense of guilt. If faith is casting the burden at the feet of Christ, there will be no casting of an unfelt burden. And so the common denominator in all seven of these pictures of faith is that the impulse to faith is felt need. That's why faith is always exercised in the context of the deepest sobriety because there are grave issues before us.

25:15 The issues of oppression, the parched soul that will feel the increased parchedness of the flames of hell unless it gets to the water of life.

25:27 There is the apprehension of the guilty criminal who knows that a God who knows his sin will apprehend him and track him down to hell unless he finds a city of refuge.

25:43 It is felt need that is always the impulse to saving faith. That's why you can never reason a man into true faith. You can never plan into true faith by the clever little manipulations of the four spiritual laws or twenty-eight spiritual laws.

26:05 Until a man, a woman, a boy or girl feels the pangs of truly spirit-wrought awareness of need, there will be no saving faith.

26:19 There may be temporary faith. There may be the faith of demons. There may be the faith of a Simon Magus. But there will be no saving faith.

26:27 The common denominator of every one of these pictures is that felt need is the impulse to faith. Now there's a second common denominator and it's this. The motion of faith is always away from self to another.

26:46 The motion of faith is always away from self to another. Go back over them. Look at them. As many, as received him.

27:00 If faith is receiving, it receives something objective to and external to itself. Here's the needy sinner and he receives the offered Savior. If faith is the thirsty drinking, that which is drunk is external to the thirsty parched lips of him who drinks it. And you trace right through those sins, seven figures.

27:28 And in every case, the motion of faith is always away from self to another.

27:38 Telling us that there can be no saving faith until the sinner looks completely away from himself for his deliverance. He must look away from his own doings, his own actions, his own character, his own attainments. And he must take the offered, he must take the offered wine of life. He must take the water of life.

28:04 He must find delight in the city of refuge provided in every analogy and description of the nature of saving faith. The motion of faith is always away from self and to another.

28:21 And now the third common denominator, and this is where I want to park for a while and expound and apply. The object of faith is always Christ himself.

The Object of Faith: Christ Himself

28:37 If the impulse to faith is felt need, the sense of the burden, the hunger, the thirst, the realization that the venom of sin is destroying me. If the impulse of faith is felt need, and if the motion of faith is away from self to another, then the object of faith is always Christ, Christ himself. Look at them. As many as received what?

29:07 Not his finished work, not his promise, not his word. As many as received what? Him. If any man thirsts, let him come to my promises and drink.

29:21 No. Let him come to my church and drink. No. Let him come to the plan of salvation and drink.

29:28 No. Let him come unto me. And drink.

29:34 He that eateth my flesh and my blood. As Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever looks upon the pole, whosoever believeth into him shall have eternal life. Come unto what? Not unto my hands, by which the burden is lifted, which would be the promise of the gospel.

29:59 He doesn't say, come unto my church. He says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. The object of faith in every one of these descriptions, every one of these analogies, every one of these many-sided figures of the nature of saving faith is Christ himself. Now granted, listen carefully, granted, it will always be Christ as sent by the Father.

30:30 That's why he can say in some places such as John 5.24, He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life. There he makes the object of faith the sending Father. But that's the exception.

30:46 But it's included to let us know it's not simply believing on Christ in isolation from his being sent to the Father. Nor is it believing on him in isolation from who he is as the Son of God. That's why John says in John 20.31, These things have I written that ye may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, there must be the belief in his sentness, in his true and unique Sonship.

31:11 There must be belief in him as crucified for sinners. That's why Romans 3.25 says we're justified by faith in his blood. There must be belief in his Lordship.

31:20 That's why Romans 10 says if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus is Lord. There must be belief in his resurrection and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Granted, listen carefully now, the object of faith is Christ himself. Yes, not Christ divorced from his mission as sent, from the uniqueness of his person as God and man, crucified, buried and risen.

31:44 But oh, listen carefully, the primary object in the acting of saving faith is not any facet of who Christ is or what he has done, but it is Christ himself in all the glory of who he is and what he has done.

32:03 And saving faith never terminates on some aspect of who he is or some facet of what he has done. Saving faith terminates upon him who is the glorious Savior and who has accomplished a mighty work for the salvation of his people.

32:25 One of the most telling indexes of this fact is that the New Testament has a unique way of joining three prepositions with the verb believe. And you know what those prepositions are? N and a P. We believe in Christ, into Christ, upon Christ.

32:51 And with but several exceptions that can be understood in the context of what I previously shared concerning all the Bible teaches about his person and work, the precise object of faith is always the Lord Jesus and faith is always into, in and upon him. The scripture does not say if we believe him and say that that's saving faith, that would make saving faith acceptance of some statements that he makes. But the Bible says, and let's look at a couple of key texts that really are, in a nutshell, the teaching of the whole scripture on this. Take the most familiar verse to everyone here.

33:31 John 3.16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth him know whosoever believeth into him should not perish but have everlasting life. You see, it is not merely believing the statements of Christ as recorded in the Gospels or given through the apostolic witness that sinners can come and find forgiveness on the basis of the work of Christ. That's been the curse of evangelism as it's been carried on in the past hundred years.

34:08 It makes the object of saving faith believing him, that is, Jesus says believers are saved. I believe that statement. I'm saved. No, no, my friend.

34:18 It is believing into him.

34:24 Again, the classic statement in the book of Acts. Here's a man with felt need. And boy, did he feel it. He felt it so bad he wanted to end it all.

34:33 Mr. Jailer Man in Acts 16. He's in a bad way. He's trembling.

34:39 Big, burly, probably cursing, swarthy jailer. He comes in trembling before his very prisoners. And he cries out, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? How can I get into possession of the salvation which you men obviously are enjoying?

34:59 And what did Paul say? He said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. There must be the engagement of your person, Mr. Jailer Man, with another person who is the Lord of God.

35:15 Glory identified as Jesus of Nazareth who is God's Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Galatians 2 and verse 16. I've taken one example from the Gospels, one from the preaching of Acts, and now perhaps the most critical text on this doctrine in the epistles.

35:36 For three times in one verse the apostle makes it evident that the object of saving faith is Christ himself. Galatians chapter 2. And verse 16. Galatians chapter 2 and verse 16.

35:51 Yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by faith in Christ. Three times in one verse. Believe in, believe on, believe in. And what is the object of faith?

36:14 Not the promise, not the promise of forgiveness by Christ, not the assurance of pardon through Christ, but the object of faith is Jesus Christ himself.

36:28 I read a quaint thing this morning, earlier this morning, that really has gripped my own mind and spirit. And I hope it will stick with you. Clarkson, one of the great old Puritan divines, said this. He said that when God comes to us with the gospel, it comes like a dish with manna upon it.

36:53 And this is what he said. The promise is the dish wherein Christ, the bread of life, the manna from heaven, is set before faith and presented to it. How is Christ presented to faith? How does he come as the bread of heaven for faith to eat?

37:11 Well, he comes in the platter of the promise. Now he says this. Both are served together but faith does not feed on the platter but on the manna, the bread of life that is set before us on the dish.

37:29 You see it? How does Christ come to us in our need? He comes to us on the platter of his promises. The promises that are yea and amen in Christ.

37:40 Whosoever believeth has the remission of sin. All that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses, all of those rich gospel promises. But listen, dear friend. You don't feed upon the dish but upon the bread that is set before us on that dish.

38:01 We feed upon Jesus Christ himself. Faith then is the hand that embraces him. It is the eye that looks to him. It is the mouth that feeds on him.

38:13 The feet that run to him. The lips that kiss him. In the language of Psalm 2, kiss the son. Again, as one has quaintly said, we do not embrace the dowry of the bridegroom but with the bridegroom himself and his dowry is conferred with him.

38:34 Forgiveness, pardon, the pledge of eternal life, justification, adoption, sanctification. These comprise the dowry of the Son of God. The dowry is yours when you are a spouse to him in the embrace, self-saving faith. But my friend, you can't snatch at one iota of his dowry if you won't have him.

39:00 These, I submit, are the three common denominators of these biblical pictures of faith. The impulse to faith is always felt need. The motion of faith is always away from self to another. And the object of faith is always the Lord Jesus Christ.

39:20 In the words of, Professor Murray, in the perfection of his work and in the glory of his person as he is freely and fully offered to us in the gospel. Let me quote again Mr. Warfield because he states this so beautifully. But in believing this variously presented gospel, and that's what it is, sometimes the blessings are bread, sometimes they're a city of refuge, sometimes they're the lifting of a burden.

39:48 This gospel is so big, you can't confine it to one little figure. You can't confine it to one little figure. You can't confine it to one little analogy. It's all of these things and more.

39:56 For the thing is never less than those means to illustrate it. It's always greater. In believing this variously presented gospel, faith has always terminated with trustful reliance, not on the promise, but on the promiser. Not on the propositions, which declare God's grace and willingness to save, or Christ's divine nature and power, or the reality and perfection of his work.

40:21 But always, it is on the Savior upon whom, because of these great facts, it could securely rest as the one who is able to save to the uttermost. Jesus Christ, God the Redeemer, is accordingly the one object of saving faith, presented to its embrace at first, implicitly and in promise in the Old Testament, and more and more openly till at last, it is entirely explicit, and we read that a man is justified, in no other way, save through faith in Jesus Christ.

Self-Examination: Do You Have Saving Faith?

40:59 Now having expounded the matter, let me press it home to your consciences this morning, and may God give to me and to you a sense that we're dealing with jugular vein issues. Boys, girls, men and women, here in the auditorium and those of you downstairs,

41:21 when Paul says in Ephesians 2.8, for by grace, are you saved through faith? He's telling us that no faith, no salvation.

41:33 If faith, there is salvation. Now the question I press upon your conscience this morning is this, do you have the faith,

41:44 which attends salvation, described in Ephesians 2.8? Do you? Do you believe with that faith that Paul says, is attendant upon salvation?

41:58 You say, how can I know? Well, you just go back over the message this morning.

42:04 And this is why I've not rested the case on one figure, because I didn't trust myself, and God knows that I've been hesitant and fearful and terribly solicitous to make sure I'm steering a straight course in this. I've literally read now hundreds of pages from the theologians and old masters on the subject of saving faith, that I might steer a straight course, and God being my witness, I believe I'm steering that course this morning. Listen, my friend. Have you been impulsed to faith by felt need?

42:37 If you've never felt the pangs of the horror of your sinfulness to some degree, don't speak to me of believing on Jesus Christ. For He Himself said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. They that are well have no need of a physician. Does that mean, you dear children, that you must have the sense of sinfulness, that you must have the sense of sinfulness, that you must have the sense of sinfulness, that might be consistent with a 40-year-old man or woman who's lived years away from God?

43:09 No, no. But what I'm saying this, dear children, is that if you've never felt thirst in your soul, a thirst that all your toys and all your dolls and all your favorite TV programs could never satisfy, if you've never felt a thirst that mommy and daddy couldn't satisfy, oh, dear children, you're not Christians. You're lost. You're dead in your sins.

43:30 And unless you believe the gospel, you'll perish in hell.

43:37 What degree of felt need must there be just enough to bring you to that second common denominator to lead you wholly out of yourself to another? I find this the most helpful principle with respect to this question that's been debated and discussed in books that have been written and whole denominations. Some of my brethren here this morning know what I'm talking about. How much conviction must a man feel?

44:02 My friend, just as much as is necessary to get you out of this world, to get you out of yourself and unto Jesus. That's all. Now, with some of you, God had to give you bucket loads. You were so stubborn, so proud, so obstinate.

44:17 God had to pour the lava of hell's terrors over your conscience to get you stirred enough to seek the Savior. For some of you reared in a Christian home whose consciences have been tender from youth. Perhaps all it took was such a sight of the beauty of Jesus that you said, with such a Savior so beautiful, how could I do anything but trust Him with my eternal soul's well-being? You need not have any deep terrors.

44:47 You need not have any overwhelming bunion-like conviction in the slough of despond. But my friend, listen! You better have enough felt need that drives you to look wholly away from yourself to another for your salvation. And then thirdly, if you truly believe, this is the crucial issue.

45:09 You sit here this morning saying, yes, the primary object of my professed faith is Jesus Christ Himself. Not a Christ of my own conceiving, the weak, effeminate, pleading, simpering, whimpering Jesus who wants me to accommodate Him by making a decision. No, no. The glorious Christ of Scripture.

45:37 Glorious in His condescension. Glorious in His compassion. Glorious in all the tender aspects of the perfection of His being as well as glorious in His majesty and His power. Oh, my friend, has your soul run out to Him?

45:56 You see, faith, again, this may be peculiar to me, but I like to think of it in terms of the soul running out to the Savior. Throwing itself upon the Savior. Casting itself, itself upon the Savior. The Old Testament words and images of faith are running into the tower.

46:13 That's faith. Oh, my friend, do you rest the weight of your soul upon Jesus Christ this morning? Do you? Do you feel that He is worthy to be trusted with all the interest of your salvation for time and for eternity?

46:34 That's saving faith. By grace are you saved through faith? That's faith. Its object is Jesus Christ.

46:44 You're not just clutching at a promise, hoping to suck sweetness from a promise detached from the person. But Jesus Christ is the one upon whom your faith terminates.

The Nature of True Faith: Trusting Christ, Not Confidence in Forgiveness

47:01 Now, you notice I didn't say, do you have absolute confidence that He's received you? Saving faith is not the belief that I am forgiven. It's going to Christ that I may be. See the difference?

47:15 And I may not be sure that I truly am His. But with all of my heart, I'm set in the direction of trusting Him and Him alone. The illustration that Dabney uses is a masterful one. I may have used it on one other occasion.

47:32 It bears repetition. He said, imagine a town in which everyone was afflicted with a common malady. A malady that was deadly and was killing people left and right. And someone was able to create an exotic machine that had strange powers that were able to cure this particular disease.

47:53 And that machine was placed in the center of the village. And the announcement went out, all who are dying and weak and sickly with this common malady, come and touch this exotic piece of machinery and you'll be made well. Dabney goes on to say, imagine a man in whom the disease had not yet taken quite its full effect. And upon hearing the news, he literally runs at breakneck speed and he comes to the machine and he gives it a blow as he touches it and instantly he feels new life surge through his body.

48:24 He said, and picture a man who really wonders if there could be such a machine. And so he delays in going to it and the longer he delays, the more the effects of the disease are felt in his body and weakening him until finally, not really sure the machine can do everything it says but hopeful that it may. He says, daggers out of his house and he makes his way stumbling and halting, half walking, half crawling until he barely reaches the machine and he stretches out a trembling hand and he just barely touches it. What happens?

49:01 The virtue goes out from that machine and heals him as much as the virtue went out from the man who ran to the machine with a blow. Because you see, the healing virtue is not in the strength with which the machine is approached, or touched, but in the power that is there in that machine. Oh, my friends, that's the gospel. Jesus Christ is God's bond for needy sinners.

49:30 And all of us are afflicted with the malady of sin. And some of you may be enabled because of temperament and knowledge and background and the sheer sovereign ways of God in saving sinners. You may have been able, you may be enabled this morning to come with bounding step and lay hold of Christ and never have a moment's doubt that you've laid hold of Him. Bless God for that.

49:56 There may be some of you who've stumbled and you feel I've barely been able to touch. My friend, it is not weak faith or strong faith that saves. It is faith in Jesus Christ. Rather, it is Christ who saves wherever there is true faith, weak or strong.

Exhortation to Believe and the Source of Unbelief

50:18 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And I close the exposition this morning with this exhortation. Why will you not believe on Him? My friend, give me one good reason why you will not believe.

50:39 Is it because He is not able to save?

50:44 Well, that argument goes by the board because He saved multitudes in centuries past and many of us sitting in the room standing here this morning are monuments that He is mighty to save. Is it because He is unwilling to save? No, no, friend. If He were unwilling to save you, why would breath still course through your nostrils?

51:04 Why would He put a fellow sinner redeemed by grace to stand here this morning and to reason with you, to plead with you? Why would He put you within the orbit of a ministry that's jealous for your salvation, that dares to do what one of us was once accused of doing? I feel, said someone, that that man attacked my soul. My friend, we attacked your soul in love this morning.

51:29 Why will you not believe? It cannot be that the Savior is unable to save. It cannot be that God is unwilling to save.

51:39 Oh, dear friend, you will not believe because you love your sin. You say, but Pastor Martin, I know that's my problem. What do I do? Try to God.

51:53 Draw me and I shall be drawn. Turn me and I shall be turned. Son of David, have mercy on me. I am what Ephesians 2, 1-3 says I am.

52:06 Dead, bound, condemned.

52:09 But oh, my friend, you can cry and you have the command of Scripture. Seek you the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him that He would save you today. That He would enable you to lay hold of Him and find the blessed reality of Ephesians 2, 8.

52:27 For by grace have you been saved through faith. Oh, may God help you to cast yourself upon this Savior and child of God who's been able to answer the questions honestly, yes. I have felt the impulse of consciousness. I have been driven out of myself.

52:51 Jesus Christ is the object of my faith. My friend, do you see all God had to do to bring you to that place? People talk about simple faith.

52:59 That's why the next phrase says, in this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Only God can bring a sinner to own himself as a sinner. Drive him from every refuge and then unveil the glory of His own person in the face of Jesus Christ so that we dare to rest the whole weight of our eternal wheel or woe upon a Savior whom we've never seen and whose voice we've never heard. And yet those of us who've been brought to that place feel we are no safer than if we had Him here in our midst today in His physical presence.

53:42 He is ours and we are His. Oh, if you don't know Him, believe on Him today. Let us pray.