Nature of Saving Faith, Part 2

Introduction: The Cruciality of Saving Faith

0:02 Will you turn please to Paul's letter to the Ephesian church, Ephesians chapter 2, and I shall read the three verses in the first paragraph that are presently the focus of our careful study, verses 8 through 10.

0:25 Having shown what the Ephesians and all men are by nature in a state of sin in the first three verses of this chapter, having described in those amazing words of verses 4 to 6 the transformation that grace has wrought, the purpose for which God did this mighty work in verse 7, now in verses 8 to 10, he summarizes, expands, and underscores various aspects of the nature of this amazing transformation of grace by saying, for by grace have ye been

1:02 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.

1:26 There are many things concerning which a man may be totally ignorant, and yet live and die in the same way. I know you kids wish there were a lot more things you could be ignorant of and still live a reasonably well-ordered life that would make school a lot easier and a lot simpler. There are many things that you're even forced to learn now that you could live quite well without and die quite well without. But no man, woman, boy, or girl is fit to live or to die if he or she is ignorant of what Paul is teaching us in Ephesians 2, 8 through 10.

2:11 These are life and death issues. These are issues that touch the most vital matters that any human being can ever consider. These verses constitute what I have called a summary or a compendium of salvation by grace, or, in other words, God's only way of rescuing dead, bound, and guilty sinners from their sins. And since, as we've already mentioned, these verses repeat and expand and underscore what the Apostle has already told us about salvation by grace in verses 4 through 6, every word,

2:55 every phrase is pregnant with weighty matters of eternal consequence. Thus far in our study of these verses, we have considered the transformation described as to its essential nature. All that he has told us about being quickened with Christ, raised with Christ, seated with Christ, can be summed up in the little words, ye have been saved. And being saved, being rescued by God from sin unto all the blessings that he has designed for us in Christ, that's the essential nature of the transformation.

3:33 It is a being saved by God. And then he says, He traces the transformation to its principal cause, for by grace have ye been saved. And now for the past two weeks, we have been studying together the third line of thought in these three verses, the transformation explained as to its instrumental means. For by grace have ye been saved through faith, and the means by which we come into the possession of that salvation.

4:08 And that salvation is described here in the two words, through faith, and then that means itself is traced to its origin, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And so the first thing we did was to establish the place of faith in God's salvation. And according to this text, by grace are ye saved through faith, we are right to assert that there is no salvation. There is no salvation apart from faith.

4:41 Unbelievers have their part in the lake of fire, Revelation 21.8. And secondly, there is no instrumental means of entering into God's salvation other than faith. We are never said to be saved through love, through zeal, through prayer, through holiness.

5:00 But we are again and again described as a people who have been saved through faith. Have you ever been saved through faith? Having established then the place of faith in salvation by grace, last week we began to consider the precise nature of that faith which is unto salvation. When Paul said here, by grace are ye saved through faith, what did he mean by the word faith?

The Nature of Saving Faith: Biblical Descriptions and Common Denominators

5:26 Having shown that there is no salvation apart from faith, that there is no instrumental means of entering into salvation but by faith, what did he mean when he said through faith? And last week, acknowledging that the Bible gives us no formal definition of faith, we looked at seven wonderful descriptions of faith in the word of God. The empty hand taking, the thirsty mouth drinking, the hungry soul eating, the burdened soul casting its burden upon Christ, all of these images, these descriptions of faith. And we saw that the common denominators in all of these pictures of faith, the common denominators in all of these pictures of faith, are these.

6:10 The impulse to faith is always felt need. Whether the need is described as hunger or thirst or the sense of impending doom, whatever it is, there is no impulse to faith but that of felt spiritual need. And secondly, we saw that the motion of faith is always away from self to another and the object of faith is always Christ himself. Now, having looked at the nature of faith in these rich biblical figures, what I propose to do this morning, and I promised to do this last week, is to give a formal analysis of the essential ingredients of saving faith.

Why a Formal Analysis of Saving Faith is Necessary

6:54 Now, someone may ask, well, why in the world is that necessary? This is not a philosophy class. This is not a theology class. Why engage our minds in a formal analysis of the ingredients of saving faith?

7:07 Why is this necessary? Or, how in the world can this be profitable? Well, that's a fair question. It deserves a straight answer.

7:15 And here's the answer. Since the place of faith is so crucial in our salvation, we should not be surprised that the biblical teaching concerning faith has been under constant attack from the spirit of error. And so, if we are to clear our way from the debris of error, and if we are to guard and hedge the biblical concept of faith, it is essential for us to have some understanding of what constitutes saving faith in a formal way. Add to this the fact that we do not come to God's truth in a vacuum.

7:57 The Spirit of God has been present in the Church of Christ throughout the centuries, helping the people of God to understand biblical concepts biblically. And therefore, it is a form...

8:09 It is a form of cheating a congregation for any minister standing in the 20th century not to give them some appreciation of what the Holy Ghost has said to His people in bygone days. And I would be irresponsible as a minister of the gospel, as a shepherd of your souls, if I did not give to you something of the fruit of the godly study and scholarship and pastoral insights that come to us as our heritage. And so, for that reason, or those two reasons, I propose to instruct you this morning from

8:50 the scriptures concerning the formal analysis of the essential ingredients of saving faith. Is saving faith blind trust, a la Rome? This has been the traditional teaching of the Church of Rome. Implicit trust in the Church is the essence of saving faith.

9:09 Whatever the Church tells you, accept it. Whether you know anything about it, blindly trust that saving faith. Or, is it merely crediting God's testimony about His Son, a la Sandeman and Sandemanianism, which is just an old form of our present easy believism? Believe God's testimony concerning His Son, that's the essence of saving faith.

9:33 Well, is it blind trust, as Rome teaches? Is it merely crediting God's testimony? As the Sandemanians taught? Or is it heart commitment, as the Reformers taught?

9:47 Well, you see, we're wrestling with issues that have been sensitive areas of biblical concern. And what I propose to do is to give to you what is the general consensus of God's people throughout the centuries as they've wrestled with this issue concerning the ingredients of saving faith. Now, I remind you, we're not dealing with faith. We're dealing with faith in general.

10:11 We're dealing with that faith that is particularly involved in laying hold of God's salvation in the person of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, let me say that these ingredients, and there are three, are not in insulated categories so that one is totally divorced and separate from the other. There is an interpenetration, an overlapping, an overflowing, of one dimension into the other. But in spite of that, there are three discernible elements in every acting of saving faith.

Ingredient 1: Knowledge (Notitia)

10:50 What are they? First of all, there is knowledge. Secondly, there is assent or conviction. And thirdly, there is trust.

11:03 And if you want to put down the Latin terms with which the theologians usually express these things, there is knowledge. Notitia or notitia. There is conviction, assent or assensus. There is trust or fiducia.

11:20 First of all, then, there must be knowledge. That knowledge is an essential ingredient of saving faith or an indispensable prerequisite seems so obvious that I'm almost reluctant to press the point. But it needs to be pressed. Let's ask the question, with the book of Ephesians before us, how did these Ephesians get saved by grace through faith?

11:49 How did they come to exercise that faith which was unto salvation? Well, Paul has answered that question for us in chapter 1. Turn back, please, to chapter 1 of Ephesians.

12:05 In that first paragraph of praise to God for his salvation, he says in verse 13, "...in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise."

12:32 You will notice that the immediate matters before their believing are these. They heard the word of the truth, specifically, the gospel of their salvation, having believed they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now, notice the similarity of words. You have the word salvation here in chapter 1.

12:59 You have the word saved in chapter 2, that we are presently expounding. You have the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed by grace are ye saved through faith. You see, we're in the same ballpark, of language and concern. And so these Ephesians came to this experience of saving faith, first of all, when the knowledge of the gospel was imparted.

13:29 They heard the word of the truth, the gospel of their salvation. In the article, the definite article is used in each of those things. The word of the truth of the gospel, showing us, that the faith that they had was not some kind of a nebulous, subjective spiritual experience, wrenched loose from the moorings of absolute truth. No, no.

13:56 It was a faith that had its basis in knowledge. And without this knowledge, there is no saving faith. Turn to the classic statement of this, in the book of Romans, chapter 10. If there were no other passage in the word of God, this would be adequate, would bear all of the weight we are putting upon it, to demonstrate that the first essential ingredient of saving faith is knowledge.

14:30 Romans, chapter 10. I should begin reading with verse 9. Because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. You see, we're talking about salvation.

14:47 That mighty work of God's deliverance. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

15:05 For the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Calling is the language of faith. Now he asks a question.

15:22 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?

15:40 Now notice what the sent ones bring. Even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring, glad tidings of good things. But they did not all hearken to the glad tidings. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report, so belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

16:05 And you see what he does? He ties together in this unbreakable chain the hearing of the word of Christ and the calling upon the name of Christ in faith. And he says without the one, you can never have the other.

16:22 Therefore, right knowledge is an indispensable ingredient of saving faith, or to state it more bluntly, without right knowledge there can be no salvation.

What and How Much Must Be Known for Saving Faith

16:39 Now that immediately raises some lesser questions. What and how much must be known? And the answer to that question is, first of all, you must know enough about God as Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge to take seriously your relationship to Him.

16:58 No man will ever call upon the Lord. No boy, no girl will ever believe on the Lord Jesus Christ if he does not know something about God as Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge that makes him concerned about his relationship to the living God.

17:21 The foundation, upon which the whole gospel scheme is set before us, is the reality of the creature's relationship to God as Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge. And when that knowledge is absent, there can be no saving faith.

17:42 There may be some nebulous kind of so-called faith or belief or something else, but it's not saving faith. Secondly, there must be enough knowledge about myself, to know that I must go out of myself for help.

17:59 I must know enough about myself to be convinced that I've got to go out of myself for help. That's what Jesus meant when He said, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. And then thirdly, I've got to know enough about Jesus Christ in the uniqueness of His person and work, to see Him as the only and sufficient Savior.

18:32 This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. There's great inclusiveness and great exclusiveness. Christ Jesus came to save. He can and does save.

18:48 And this is worthy of all acceptation. But there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved in His own way. In words, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

19:03 In the words of the apostle to the jailer, what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Would you want to reduce the knowledge any more than that?

19:18 If the first essential ingredient of saving faith is knowledge, this is the irreducible minimum of knowledge that is necessary to salvation. You must know something of God as Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge so that you take your relationship to Him seriously. It's not enough to know that something is wrong in your relationship to society, something wrong in your relationship to fellow man, something wrong in your relationship to yourself. And there are multitudes being duped into thinking that somehow looking somewhere to somebody called Jesus in some way is the answer to all your hang-ups, to all your problems, within and without on a horizontal plane.

20:02 My friend, the gospel is only the gospel when it's set in the context of Almighty God as Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge. For apart from that, the cross is nonsense. And apart from that, repentance is impossible. And apart from that, the whole end of redemption can never be secured, namely to bring us to God.

20:26 That knowledge is absolutely essential. How much must I know of God as Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge? I don't know. But I've got to know enough that I take my relationship to Him seriously.

20:38 Secondly, I've got to know enough about myself to know that I've got to go completely out of myself to seek help in another. Now, how much does that mean? I don't know. Just enough to make me despair of helping myself.

20:53 I've got to know enough to know that help is not in me or in any other fellow creature. Help is laid upon one who is mighty. Even upon the Lord Jesus. And I've got to know enough about the Lord Jesus to know He's not just some superman.

21:11 He's the God-man.

21:14 I've got to know enough about Him to know that because He is God and man, He's able to save. He died a true and a real death. And in that death, He bore away the sins of all who will trust Him. Now must I know how He can be God and man in one person?

21:36 And must I be able to exegete the Athanasian creed? And no, no, my friend. But there is no saving faith if Jesus is regarded simply as man, as creature, or as angel. Therefore, no intelligent Jehovah's Witness has saving faith.

21:53 He has no saving faith. He has no saving faith because He does not know that the One whom He calls Jesus is God with us. You see? That knowledge is, absolutely essential.

The Source of Saving Knowledge: Holy Scripture

22:12 Then the next question that flows out of it, what is the source of this knowledge? And the answer is very clear in Scripture. Let me give you just two texts. 2 Timothy 3.50

22:23 Paul says to Timothy, From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, the sacred writings, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. You know why I chose that text? It brings us into the same ballpark of vocabulary. Salvation, faith, Christ Jesus, and wisdom, knowledge.

22:49 How do we get that knowledge which leads to faith that is out of ourselves and in this unique God-man, Jesus Christ? He says, You've known the Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. It's the Scriptures that make us wise unto salvation. Not the pious mouthings of the religious, religious experts.

23:11 We suffer in every realm today from the tyranny of the so-called experts. Parents don't know how to raise their kids, we're told. It takes us experts to tell you how to raise them. You don't know how to educate them.

23:23 So the educational, quote, experts tell us how. And the problem is, you see, the experts of 20 years ago are being lambasted by the so-called experts of today. And hang around, today's experts will get shot down by tomorrow's. Yes.

23:39 Today's truth is tomorrow's error.

23:44 The day after tomorrow is not just error, it's folly.

23:49 Well, how in the world are we to come to any certain knowledge of this God who is Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge? How do I come to any certain knowledge of what I am as a sinner alienated from God and under the wrath of God? How do I come to any certain knowledge of who Jesus Christ is? Do I need to wait for the experts who tell me that simple-minded Christians through the years have taken literally the Gospels, that Jesus actually healed people, that He was conceived, conceived of a virgin?

24:16 And they say, oh no, that's the myth, and that's the stories that have gathered. We've got to dig through all of that and find the real Jesus. And they still haven't found Him. They're still looking for Him.

24:28 I don't know what they'll do when they find the one they hope they're looking for. He's no Jesus to set before bound, guilty, dead sinners such as we have in the first three verses of Ephesians 2.

24:43 Thank God the Jesus of the Gospel records, the Jesus of apostolic testimony is perfectly seen. He's suited to meet the need of dead, bound, condemned sinners as God and man who've lived and died and rose again. And my friend, listen, the only certain source of this knowledge that is essential to salvation is the Holy Scriptures. Let me give you one other text that teaches it with unmistakable clarity.

25:13 Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1.

25:23 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, the first verse, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God. What Gospel? Which He promised afore through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. And who is the great central focal point of that Gospel concerning His Son?

25:45 What Son? Born of the seed of David according to the flesh, declared to be the Son of God with power. And then he goes on to say, concerning this Gospel, verse 5, we've received grace and apostleship unto obedience of faith among all the nations. What kind of faith?

26:06 Faith that rests upon the wispy notions of the latest religious fads? Faith that rests upon the latest pronouncements of the experts? No. He says faith that rests upon the Gospel which is rooted in the Holy Scriptures.

26:23 Rooted in the Holy Scriptures. And so, we come to understand from the Scriptures that the first essential ingredient of saving faith is knowledge. Knowledge about God, myself, and the Savior. And oh, my dear friends, if this is a right and proper exposition of the first ingredient of saving faith, do you see how it just bristles with implications?

Implications of Knowledge as Essential to Saving Faith

26:50 Let me just give you a couple to get your mind going. And then you can complete this part of the sermon at your leisure. This fact, that knowledge is essential to saving faith, is first of all a scathing indictment against much modern religious thought and practice. As I was trying to bring into a brief statement what is the common mentality in our day in religious circles, I thought of a little ditty that Roy Rogers and his wife sing.

27:19 And it goes like this. I'm not going to sing it. I'm just going to say it. Have faith, hope, and charity.

27:25 That's the way to live successfully. How do I know? The Bible tells me so. Oh, the Bible does tell you so.

27:33 Where? Where does the Bible say just have faith, hope, and charity? Not once in that little song does it say faith in whom based upon what? Just have faith, hope, and charity.

27:43 They're your spiritual vitamin pills. You know, a little vitamin A, C, and D make you feel good? Well, vitamin A is faith. Vitamin D is hope.

27:52 And we'll throw in a little vitamin E in charity. And you just feel great.

27:58 What's the object of the faith? It doesn't make any difference what is the source of the faith. Just so long as you have some faith, some hope, and charity, everything will be all right. Oh, my friend, listen, listen, listen.

28:14 This is the kind of climate that has made the Reverend Ikes and the Norman Vincent Peale so successful. You ever listen to Reverend Ike?

28:24 Don't write him off as a fool. You read this week's TV guide and you'll be shocked at the following he has. Whites, blacks, rich, poor, poor, common people, lower class, upper class, middle class.

28:40 What is his faith? Faith in yourself. You can do it. You just believe it, you can do it.

28:46 That's Norman Vincent Peale. He throws in the word Jesus once in a while, but it's ultimately faith in yourself. That's all it is.

28:53 Have faith in yourself and in your own faith. And what is the tragedy of the common mentality in evangelical circles? It's have faith in your decision. If you know your decision was sincere, then never, never doubt your faith.

29:08 What's that? That's saying have faith in your decision.

29:12 Have faith in your decision. Faith in the sincerity of your decision. And what is the thrust of the charismatic movement? Have faith in the reality of your experience.

29:24 And if you've talked in tongues, doesn't matter. You know that you have the Holy Ghost. Have faith in your experience. My friend, this is not the teaching of the Word of God.

29:34 The teaching of the Word of God is that if faith is not based upon true knowledge, rather than being a virtue, it is a damning vice.

29:45 You say, that's strong language, Pastor. I'll support it with a text of Scripture. You turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. If our faith is not rooted in true knowledge, rather than being a virtue, it can be a damning vice.

30:03 And I have simply paraphrased the teaching of the Apostle in 2 Thessalonians 2, beginning with verse 9, speaking of the working of the devil, in the person of his peculiarly equipped messenger,

30:20 whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause, God sends them a working of error that they should believe a lie that they all might be judged to believe not the truth. You see what he's saying?

30:56 They have faith, and their faith is even rooted in miracles.

31:04 That's what it says.

31:07 And Christ is able to perform miracles as an attestation of what he teaches, but nothing that he teaches is rooted in Scripture.

31:18 And when they believe what he says because of the apparent ability to attest it with the miraculous, God says, believing that lie, they are damned.

31:31 Do you see why I'm in earnest to establish the point that I'm making this morning?

31:36 Saving faith is rooted in truth, and truth is found in the pages of the Word of God.

31:48 So the first thing it tells us is that of a scathing, a scathing indictment upon much modern religious thought and practice. This fact of the basic place of knowledge in faith also in the second place constitutes a sober exhortation to us as God's people. If we believe there is no salvation without faith, and there is no faith without true knowledge of God, of self, and Christ, oh dear Christian, what an obligation is upon us to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. When Jude said, I wrote unto you to contend earnestly for the faith,

32:32 was he being what some say we are, doctrinaire? We're just intellectualists? We're just concerned about preserving beautiful notions? My friend, no! Unless you

32:45 have right notions, notions according to reality, notions according to truth about God, yourself, and Christ, you're going to perish!

32:57 And if we're to have a gospel to lead, to unborn generations, away with this irresponsible smoothness and sweetness that says if people are sincere, and if people are finding meaning in their religious experience, leave them alone, my friend! We will not leave them alone!

33:19 Would the town of Essex-Fells, Cedar Grove, Hawthorne, Wyckoff, Little Falls, would they leave alone a man who was operating in an office with a shingle, calling himself a doctor, who was giving out medicines that were crippling and poisoning and killing the inhabitants of these communities? Tell me, would there be that lovely spirit of live and let live in your community if such a character was known to be operating? Yes or no? The whole community would be up in arms, demanding that his shingle be torn down and he be run out of town!

34:00 Shall we stand by while men, with their reverends and their doctors, and their degrees, and their turn collars, and the other signs of professional ecclesiastic authority, peddle their wares in the name of truth, and men are being damned by their medicine?

34:22 Oh, dear Christian, what an awesome responsibility is upon us to contend earnestly for the faith. Must we be sticklers about the authority of the Bible, even the first eleven chapters of Genesis? Yes! Because if we lose God as Creator, we'll lose Him as Redeemer. It's the fact

34:41 that He's Creator that makes redemption necessary. It's the fact that He's Lawgiver that makes redemption necessary. Christian, you work out those implications. There are many.

34:54 The second word it says to us as believers is this. We must insist on the integrity and trustworthiness of the written record given to us. The moment they cease to be the Holy Scriptures, the sacred writings, they will no longer make men wise unto salvation. They aren't sacred writings if they're full of errors, full of myths. They're sacred

35:18 because they reflect the mind of the God who is truth and His Word is truth. And then you see, Christian, how we should be busy disseminating the true knowledge of God essential to faith. If your neighbors are not going to be saved unless they believe and if they cannot believe without this true knowledge about God themselves and Christ, oh, how zealous we ought to be. By every legitimate means disseminating the knowledge of the truth. Good

35:47 tracts, good literature, tapes, books, word of mouth, loving entreaty to come to the house of God by every means possible. Doing what? Not trying to trick people into decisions, but trying to confront them with truth. God might be pleased to work faith in their hearts.

36:08 Look at the peddlers of heresy. They put us to shame. Invest 15 cents or a quarter, whatever it costs for a TV guy. And you read this week's article in there on religious broadcasters.

36:22 Millions, several of them have multi-million dollar annual budgets. At our elders meeting last night, I shared this knowledge with the brethren. I said, God, have mercy on us. Where are those of the truth capturing the airwaves for Jesus and for the knowledge of the gospel?

A Solemn Directive to the Unsaved

36:43 May God expand our vision increase our faith that we may ask great things of our God for our own confused generation. But you see, this principle that knowledge is the first essential ingredient of faith not only forms an indictment upon much religion in our day, not only does it form the basis of an exhortation to believers, but oh, it constitutes a solemn directive to the unsaved amongst us. Oh, listen to me, boys, girls, men, women, listen. If without true knowledge you'll never be saved, you better start taking seriously what the Bible teaches.

37:26 And any man, woman, boy or girl who says he's your friend spiritually and doesn't bring you into the book is not your friend. If he takes you into the book to prove his own notions as does the Jehovah's Witness, he never lets the Bible speak to him. He comes to the Bible and tells it what it has to say. And everything it says must line up with watchtower pronouncements.

37:51 Straight out of Brooklyn.

37:55 The average Jehovah's Witness has never spent ten minutes without watchtower notes to tell him what the Bible says. Don't take my notes, their notes. You get down on your knees before Almighty God and open up the Bible and say God of heaven and earth, whom I know exists because my conscience affirms it, and to whom I know I'm accountable because my conscience constantly reminds me oh God, show me who you are. Show me who I am.

38:23 Show me who your son is. No Jehovah's Witness would ever dare tell you to do that without saying, and by the way to help answer your prayer here's a little literature.

38:37 I dare to tell any man, woman, boy or girl who has the ability to read you cry to God to show you who he is, who you are, who his son is, and you start reading the scriptures absolutely confident that God by the word and the spirit can reveal who he is, what the sinner is, and who the savior is. Oh dear unsaved friend, you better stop dickering with God. It's mercy that he sent, saving knowledge in his holy word. You begin to take it seriously.

Ingredient 2: Assent or Conviction (Assensus)

39:14 Let me proceed to touch briefly, and I'm tortured with that clock. Upon the second element, and that's all we'll have time for this morning. The second element of saving faith.

39:30 For some of you who wonder, why can't the preacher know how long things are going to take? Well, when you're preaching new sermons every week, it's an untried commandment. It's an oddity. And you look at your notes and you say, well that's about 15 minutes, but you never know quite what's going to happen when you get involved in preaching.

39:45 But the second essential element of saving faith is something more than knowledge. For remember, the demons have knowledge. James 2.19 Thou believest God is one, the demons also believe, and they tremble.

39:58 There must be this second element that we may call assent or I like the term conviction better. The Latin term assensus. There must be assent. There must be conviction. That is,

40:12 if a man is to believe unto salvation, he must not only come to the awareness of the truth about God, about himself, and about Christ, but there must be the awareness that these things are not only objectively true, but they are true with reference to me.

40:35 You see, in some instances this very aspect of saving faith is called believing even though saving faith was not present. Look at Acts chapter 26 and verse 27.

40:47 The Apostle Paul is standing before the heathen potentate and ruler to give a defense of the gospel. And he says to King Agrippa in verse 27 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. And Agrippa said unto Paul with but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian.

41:15 You see what he's saying? He's saying you are not only acquainted with the contents of the prophets. Agrippa, I know that you give credit to those pronouncements of the prophets. You believe, you assent to the reality of what the prophets have said. Not only the fact

41:35 that they are objectively true, but that they are worthy of your own confidence.

41:42 Now you see, in all acts of the saving faith, this knowledge of God, of myself and of the Savior must move from mere notion and abstract, detached concept to the conviction that what is objectively true is specifically and perfectly suited to my needs as a sinner. Professor Murray has stated it so beautifully in that classic work of his Redemption Accomplished and Applied. He says this, The conviction which enters into faith is not only an assent to the truth respecting Christ, but a recognition of

42:26 the exact correspondence that there is between the truth of Christ and our needs as lost sinners. What Christ is as Savior perfectly dovetails our deepest and most ultimate need. This is just saying that, that Christ's sufficiency as Savior meets the desperateness and hopelessness of our sin and misery. It is a conviction which engages therefore our greatest interest and registers the verdict Christ is exactly suited to all that I in my sin and misery am and to all that I should

43:09 aspire to be by God's grace. Christ fits in perfectly with the totality of my situation in its sin, its guilt, its misery, and deserved judgment. You see the difference now? It's one thing to say God is Creator. God is Lawgiver.

43:29 God is Judge. I am part of Adam's fallen race. Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. But when that knowledge passes into conviction, I now say God is my Creator.

43:41 He is my Lawgiver. He is my Judge. I have a sin. I have offended Him. I've broken

43:46 His Law. I deserve His Judgment. And yet wonder of wonders for sinners. As vile as I, He has sent His Son. He has sent

43:56 the only begotten Son of His bosom. And Jesus Christ has died and been buried and raised again. I do believe that the facts of the Gospel are perfectly suited to my personal needs as a sinner bound, dead, condemned. Now this element of conviction, of assent, is essential to saving faith. There must

44:24 be more than the mere nodding of the head to the facts. What I called two weeks ago, notionalism. For you see again, if that constituted saving faith, then the demons would have saving faith. Because they know the facts. Furthermore,

44:41 the angels know the facts, but they exercise no saving faith. And we can even go a step further and say, this assent is not even far enough. Knowledge that is moved to assent, for we read in Acts 24, 22 to 25 of a certain man who hearing Paul's reasoning of righteousness and of temperance and of judgment, the issues of God and law and sin and redemption, he trembled. I tell you, this guy assented to the reality of what Paul was saying.

45:11 He felt it in his very emotional structure. He still wasn't a Christian. Why? Because true faith will never stop short.

Ingredient 3: Trust (Fiducia) – The Crowning Activity of Faith

45:19 Of trust. And I can only touch on it this morning, and it will demand a full exposition of its own, but I want to just let you have a peek at the direction we're going. True faith passes from knowledge to conviction, and from conviction into trust. Saving faith finds its crowning activity in the resting of the soul in the totality of its need upon Jesus Christ as He is offered in the gospel. We sang this

45:56 morning, and this is why I chose the hymn. Hangs my helpless soul on the hill. What is saving faith? The knowledge of God, of myself and of the Savior that passes into the conviction that I am alienated, I am under wrath, that Jesus Christ is a Savior perfectly suited to my need and that knowledge leading to that conviction gives birth to that trust that resting upon that casting of oneself upon the Lord Jesus Christ. As we were discussing

46:33 this last night in our elders meeting two of the brethren mentioned illustrations that they've used to demonstrate this, and with this I'll close this morning. One said in teaching his class he's tried to illustrate it this way. Here's a man who's out in an angry sea. Ship has been sunk.

46:52 And he's being kicked about and tossed about by the waves. And he feels that he's just about gone, and his strength is ebbing, and he's swallowed water, and he feels that a watery grave is to be his portion and just at the fraction of a second before he gives up all hope and just relaxes and gives himself over to the ultimate end of the waves, drowning him in the sea. A large plank floats by and with the last ounce of strength he reaches out, pulls himself up upon the plank, and exhausted he sinks his body down upon that plank which bears him above the ultimate doom to which

47:37 the water would have taken him.

47:41 And I said to the elder last night and the wonder of wonders is what he thought was a plank that would just barely hold him, he discovers is a sea going vessel with iron clad sides that can never sink. That's faith. That's fiducia. That's trust. That's the resting

48:02 of the whole weight of the soul upon Jesus Christ. That he will bear me up from the angry waters of divine judgment. That he will keep me from being swallowed up in the just dessert of my sin. I rest the whole weight of my soul upon him. And the other illustration

48:22 please take the youngster out. It's distracting the mind. It's of the people.

48:42 The other illustration, one of the brethren mentioned a missionary who had been wrestling in the native language to try to find a word for faith. And he couldn't find a word in the native vocabulary. And he wrestled and prayed and wrestled and prayed and observed. Then one day, a large man, his black body glistening from the long, wearisome trip he had taken, came to the area where the missionary lived and stood there, his body glistening with sweat and obviousness bone weary as we say his strength having gone from him in the exertions of coming to that village.

49:18 And the missionary pointed to a chair and told him in his native language to sit and to rest upon it as he saw the man go over and take his large frame and position it above that chair and then just slump down resting the full weight of every last cell of his weary body upon it.

49:43 Coming in our weariness to Jesus Christ and resting every last atom of the weight of our soul upon the Son of God. Oh my dear friends, that's faith. That's faith. Resting upon Jesus.

Conclusion: A Call to Personal Trust in Christ

50:00 Can it be said of you, by grace have you been saved through faith? You profess to believe. Is this the faith with which you have laid hold of the Son of God?

50:14 Or have you thought, oh well I got some faith, hope and charity. That's the way to live and die successfully, my friend. If that faith is not rooted in true knowledge, you better throw it out this morning.

50:27 Have you thought that mere notions, oh yes, Christ came, Christ died, I believe all of that is faith. No, no, unless there's been the conviction that this is true with reference to you and the conviction passing into trust, resting upon Him. I hope to demonstrate in our next exposition that this is the proper understanding of faith and we'll have three lines of argument. To show it from the scriptures.

50:52 But oh, suffice it to say this morning you are warranted to believe on the Lord Jesus and this is the glory of the gospel of God's grace to say to any sinner, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And to face the fact that your unbelief is a wicked sin. For your unbelief says He's not able or He's not worthy or He's not worthy.

51:20 He's not sincere in the offers of His mercy. All of which is to ascribe terrible things to the Son of God. He is willing. He is able. He is

51:30 sincere when He says, Come unto me all ye that labor nor heavy laden and I will give you rest. Oh dear people our message to you this morning is not join this church. Leave your church. It has nothing to do with the visible organized church.

51:48 It has nothing to do with men expressions of their understanding of the word of God in this creed or that. The issue is this. Here's the issue. Have you personally engaged the Son of God personally in a living faith? That's the issue.

52:07 That's the glory of the gospel. It puts nothing between the coming sinner and the seeking Savior.

52:15 Faith engages the person of the sinner to the person of the Savior. That's why he's the object of faith. Oh may you trust Him. And having begun to trust Him, may you continue to trust Him knowing that He is worthy of that trust. For by grace

52:36 have ye been saved through faith. Let us pray.