Ep. 2:8
Nature of Saving Faith, Part 3
Pastor Albert N. Martin expounds Ephesians 2:8-10, continuing his series on the nature of saving faith by focusing on its third essential element: trust (fiducia). He argues that true saving faith involves not only knowledge and conviction but also a whole-souled commitment to Christ alone for salvation. Martin uses linguistic analysis of the Greek word 'pisteuo,' the prepositions used with 'believe' (in, into, upon), and various biblical figures of faith to demonstrate that trust is inherent in saving faith. He then applies this understanding to challenge unbelievers to commit themselves to Christ and exhorts believers to test all Christian teaching by this biblical definition of faith.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 9 sections · 47 min
- Introduction: The Instrumental Cause of Salvation 0:02
- Review: The Nature of Saving Faith (Knowledge and Conviction) 3:17
- Argument 1: The Linguistic Evidence for Trust in 'Believe' 8:46
- Argument 2: Prepositions 'In,' 'Into,' and 'Upon' Signify Trust 17:08
- Argument 3: Figures of Faith Imply Trust and Committal 20:46
- Westminster Standards on Saving Faith and Repentance 22:58
- Illustration: The Dread Disease and the Competent Physician 27:09
- Application to Unbelievers: Why Not Trust Christ? 31:36
- Application to Believers: Testing Christian Faith by Trust 39:40
Key Quotes
“Faith cannot be saved if it is not stopped short of self-commitment to Christ. It must be a transferal of all reliance upon ourselves and all human resources to reliance upon Christ alone for salvation.”
“That knowledge having become conviction leads to the what? To the entrusting of myself to Him to be to me as a sinner. All that He's promised to be to needy sinners who trust Him.”
“As one has beautifully said, faith is a receiving and resting upon Him. It is here that the most characteristic act of faith appears. It is the engagement of person to person.”
“Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon that's the key word, receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel.”
“My friend listen listen until you put yourself in his hands there's no saving faith must put yourself in his hands and say Lord Jesus operate on me by the spirit change my heart Lord Jesus by the spirit change my affections Lord Jesus by your blood blot out my sins by your quickening power give me life by your own sovereign gracious power break my chains and give me a new heart does that help to clarify it that's what faith is putting yourself in the doctor's hands Lord Jesus I'm yours and there's biblical warrant for that concept didn't Jesus say they that are well have no need of a physician but they that are sick I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to what to repentance to a total change of mind about themselves and about me that's what he came to do”
“my friend unbelief is the most irrational wicked thing in all the world it's the most irrational wicked thing in all the world that's why the Bible never treats unbelief as a weakness for which there ought to be pity unbelief is looked upon as that which provokes God's wrath”
“how cruel to put even 30 feet between you and the Savior we put no distance between you and the Savior but your unbelief and 722 walk we'll never deal with your unbelief but oh friend believing here and now in this place in this hour you are saved for by grace have you been saved through faith”
“faith is the naked hand the empty hand receiving but when it brings us into vital contact with the Savior then the reproducing power of the gospel or the transforming power of the gospel the renovating power of the gospel will inevitably be manifest for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God aforeprepared that we should walk in you better get your works in the right place if you get them”
Applications
All listeners
- Examine if you have the necessary knowledge of God (as holy, sovereign judge), yourself (as hopeless sinner), and Christ (as only sufficient Savior) for saving faith.
- Commit yourself to Christ, putting yourself in His hands to be saved on His terms, allowing Him to operate on your heart and affections by the Spirit.
- Give a rational reason for your unbelief and delay no longer in resting upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Test all so-called branches of the Christian faith by the biblical concept of saving faith (knowledge, conviction, trust) and the place they give to Christ and faith.
- Understand that saving faith involves committing oneself to Christ on His terms, resolving all questions about accepting Christ as Savior vs. Lord, as He is offered as both.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 87 paragraphs, roughly 47 minutes.
Introduction: The Instrumental Cause of Salvation
And now let us turn this morning once more to Paul's letter to the Ephesians. And I am grateful that in the good providence of God, this is the final word you shall hear from me for a few weeks, at least in terms of the exposition of the scriptures. For I know of no note sounded in the word of God which brings more delight to the heart of a true servant of God than the note that I shall be privileged to sound this morning in the exposition of the word of God. Again, I read in your hearing, verses 8 through 10, this portion of Ephesians 2 that I have entitled A Compendium of Salvation by Grace.
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. Thus far in our study of this section of the word of God, we have noted that the Apostle Paul describes this amazing transformation of the grace of God as being a work that can best be understood by the use of the word saved.
The transformation is described, and as to its essential nature in these words, ye have been saved, you have been rescued from sin and its consequences unto all of the gracious privileges of God's grace. And then he traces that transformation to its principal cause, and he says, for by grace have you been saved. Everything that pertains to that salvation has as its principal cause the understanding, the unmerited favor, the undeserved kindness of God to sinners. And now we are presently examining the third thing
that the Apostle tells us in this compendium of grace, namely the transformation explained as to its instrumental cause. For by grace have ye been saved through faith. And the little phrase through faith is describing the transformation as to its instrumental means. And so the whole subject of saving faith is a vital one because according to this text the place of faith is precisely this.
There is no salvation without it and there is no other thing assigned the precise place of the instrumental means of our salvation. By grace have ye been saved through faith. God does the saving, but he never saves apart from bringing rebel sinners to the place of faith. And sinners have reason to believe they are saved when they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Review: The Nature of Saving Faith (Knowledge and Conviction)
And so we've noted the centrality of faith in God's salvation and now we've been working on coming up with some understanding of the nature of this faith. For the Bible describes many kinds of faith. Temporary faith, the faith of demons, what the theologians have called miraculous faith, and all these other kinds of faith which obviously are not the faith of Ephesians 2.8.
They are kinds of faith that fall short of salvation. Likewise, the scripture tells us there is the faith of God's elect. There is the faith which is unto the salvation of the soul and it is that faith that we are concerned to examine and to understand. What is its precise purpose?
What is its precise nature? And for one Lord's day we looked at a whole block of scriptures which give us a beautiful description of the actings of faith. Not a formal definition, not a dictionary-like definition, but a beautiful description. And we looked at all of those passages, particularly in the Gospel of John, and we saw that the common denominator of every one of them was that faith is always the result of self-need, or is drawn to God.
Faith is drawn out of a sense of felt need. The impulse to faith is always felt need. Then the activity of faith is always going out of self to another, and the object of faith is always the Lord Jesus Christ. So whether faith is conceived of as receiving, looking, eating, drinking, fleeing to Christ, in every instance these three common denominators are present.
And then finally, and this concludes our review, in our last study together, we began to come to grips with a more formal analysis of saving faith. And I suggested that this was both necessary and helpful because of the strategic place of faith, and because of the many errors that have existed in the past and exist in the present. We should have a clear, well-defined understanding of the precise nature of saving faith, not only the beautiful Biblical examples, but a rational explanation of its various elements. And we saw that the two elements that are always present in true saving faith are knowledge,
and secondly, assent or conviction. And then this morning, God willing, I shall attempt to open up the third. Wherever there is true saving faith, there will always be knowledge. When the Apostle Paul said to me, Ephesians, by grace have you been saved, through faith, he was not talking to people who were ignorant of the Gospel.
For in chapter 1 he says, the word of the truth of the Gospel came and you believed. And their faith was exercised in the context of knowledge. And no one exercises saving faith in the context of total ignorance. And there must be this minimal knowledge, knowledge about God, as Creator, Lawgiver, and Judge, so that my relationship to Him becomes the all-absorbing issue.
How much about God? I am not prepared to say. But enough to know that I am His creature, answerable to Him, and things are going to be ill with me if I don't get right with Him. And then secondly, there must be enough knowledge about myself to know there is no hope in me.
That I must go completely out of myself to another. If I am to find forgiveness and acceptance with God. And thirdly, there must be enough knowledge about Jesus Christ in His person and work to see Him as the only and sufficient Savior of sinners. And that knowledge must then pass into the place of conviction.
It must become a realization that these things are not only objectively true, but they are perfectly suited to my situation as a sinner. My need is such, that Jesus Christ alone can meet it, and Jesus Christ is such, as perfectly to meet my need. Now this morning, the third element of saving faith. When the Apostle said, by grace have ye been saved through faith, he was speaking of a faith that involved knowledge.
Yes, the word of the truth of the gospel came. It involved conviction. This gospel is perfectly suited to my need. But it involves something else.
And unless the knowledge that passed into conviction passed into this third dimension, there would have been no saving faith. A man may have knowledge of the gospel. He may have knowledge of himself and of Christ. And that knowledge may be a conviction that even makes him tremble and haunts him.
Even as Felix trembled and yet not believed. In the sense of saving faith. For there must be this third dimension, this third element, and that's what we are calling, as it has been traditionally called, trust, or fiducia, if you're using the Latin term. Now how do we know that saving faith involves this matter of trust?
Argument 1: The Linguistic Evidence for Trust in 'Believe'
As one has stated, faith is knowledge passing into conviction, and conviction passing into confidence. Faith cannot be saved if it is not stopped short of self-commitment to Christ. It must be a transferal of all reliance upon ourselves and all human resources to reliance upon Christ alone for salvation. And in a real sense, this is the heart of what saving faith is all about.
Though it cannot be exercised without knowledge and conviction, until the knowledge and conviction passes into trust, there is no saving faith. Now, how do we know this? Well, let me give you three lines of argument this morning. First of all, we know that faith involves this trusting, this resting upon Christ from the very use of the word for faith in its verb form, the word to believe.
Now this word is used with great latitude in the New Testament. And so you must never say, the moment you see the word believe, that believe means this. No, no. The word is used with great latitude.
The demons also believe. It is the same word there as you have, and so and so believed and was saved. It is the same word, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So you see, the meaning is not to be discovered by just going to a dictionary and saying, well, believe means this and therefore it must always mean that.
As with the English language, so with the Greek language, any language, there is tremendous latitude in the use of the word. You may say, I fed my baby this morning. Now what you may mean by that is entirely different from what you may mean if you say, I fed my husband. I fed my baby.
Now a mother saying that, it may mean that she took the spoon, took the pablum, tried to find the mouth and get what she got into the mouth to stay in there and pick it up as it dribbled off the lip. All of that was involved, I fed my baby. It may mean that you nourished that child from your own breast. When you say, I fed my husband, it doesn't mean you sat there with knife and fork and opened his mouth and put it in and said, now chew and swallow.
It means you provided the food that he in turn cut, masticated, swallowed and is now presently digesting. Right? Same word, but in great latitude. Now it's the same way with the word believe.
But it's significant that so bound up in the concept of believe is this idea of trust that this very word, pisteuo, can be used to describe the entrusting of something or someone to another. Turn to John chapter 2. And the word could never have been used in this strong sense unless bound up with it are these strands of faith that we have in our hearts and in our hearts and in our hearts and in our hearts and in our hearts and in our hearts and in our hearts and in our hearts and in our hearts and in our hearts are these strands of thought that belief is trust resting upon committal to another. John chapter 2
and verse 24. Well back up to verse 23. Now when he, Jesus, was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast, many believed pisteuo many believed on his name beholding the signs which he did. Now this was obviously not saving faith for we read in the next verse but jesus did not and it's the same word in the original jesus did not trust himself unto them for that he knew all men and because he needed not that anyone should bear witness concerning man for he himself knew what was in man it's the
same word they believed in him he did not entrust or trust himself to them in other words jesus would not commit himself to them in the kind of relationship that is proper when true faith exists jesus knew that their faith was what the old writers call miraculous faith they saw the miracles they could not deny the reality of them so they believed on him and they believed on him and they believed on him and they believed on him and they believed Him in the sense that they recognized that He was a prophet from God or someone special. But this was not saving faith that perceived the beauty of Christ.
It was not saving faith that perceived the suitability of Christ as Savior to their needs as sinners. For the passage says Jesus would not commit Himself to them. He knew there was something spurious about their professed attachment to Him. But the significant thing, and this is the only thing I'm driving at this morning, is that John can with great ease move from the one use of the word believe into this other use.
And there is bound up in it that sense of the referral or the transferal of confidence from one to another. Likewise in Luke 16 and verse 11. Here's another instance of the use of the word that is often translated believe. Luke 16 and verse 11.
Our Lord is given a parable. And now he's applying his parable and he says, If therefore, Luke 16 and verse 11, you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will, and here's the verb, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
Who will commit to your trust the true riches? Isn't that a beautiful figure of what faith is? He says, wait a minute, if someone is not faithful in this, who will put in their hands as a dependent, a deposit to be received and treasured the true riches of heaven? But the word used is the same word.
See the concept of committal of one thing to another, the concept of a trust? It's the word used in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 11. Familiar passage I'm sure to many of us. 1 Timothy 1 and verse 11.
Where Paul speaks of the gospel of the glory of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. And we could multiply several other, not multiply, but show from several other passages, this concept of something committed as a trust.
Now then, apply this to saving faith. What is saving faith? Saving faith is self-commitment to Jesus Christ as He is offered to us in the gospel. It is the knowledge, the knowledge of what I am, of who God is and what Christ is.
Having passed into the conviction that I need desperately what Christ is and has done, Christ is perfectly suited as to what He is and has done to my need as a sinner. And that knowledge having become conviction leads to the what? To the entrusting of myself to Him to be to me as a sinner. All that He's promised to be to needy sinners who trust Him.
That's saving faith. It is the transferal of trust in myself, in my church, in my morality, in my activities, in anything else. To where there is that reposing in Jesus Christ. And so in asserting that the third element of saving faith is this matter of trust, reliance, the self-compliance, commitment to Christ, I say, bound up in the very overtones of the word believe is this concept.
Argument 2: Prepositions 'In,' 'Into,' and 'Upon' Signify Trust
But then secondly, the fact that the three prepositions in, into, and upon are used in connection with faith prove that faith involves trust.
We read in John 3.15 these words. Very familiar gospel passage. Having mentioned the analogy between the serpent in the wilderness and the healing that came to all who looked upon that brazen serpent,
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him may have eternal life. Believing in Him. Now John 3.16, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him or better translated, believeth into Him.
And then Acts 16.31, believe on or upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Now take those little words. Believing in Christ.
Believing into Christ. Believing upon Christ. You see what God is saying? He's saying that the moment saving faith is exercised, there is no distance between the Savior and the sinner.
No distance between the sinner and the Savior. By believing in or into or upon the Lord Jesus, there is a whole-souled movement in the direction of Christ and in the direction of Christ alone as the ground of forgiveness and pardon. By believing upon Him, there's no other resting place for the feet of my soul, if I may use a mixed-up image to try to convey the thought. No resting place for the feet of my soul, but upon Jesus Christ.
He only is my rock and my salvation. In the text that Pastor Blaze quoted in his prayer this morning, the name of the Lord, beautiful gospel text, all that God is as revealed in Jesus Christ is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it. That's faith. Running into that tower, not leaving a finger out, a foot, a hand, not even a hair.
Running into the tower and finding shelter in Jesus Christ. As one has beautifully said, faith is a receiving and resting upon Him. It is here that the most characteristic act of faith appears. It is the engagement of person to person.
The engagement of the sinner as lost to the person of the Savior, mighty and willing to save. That's what faith is. No longer standing at a distance with the knowledge that I need Him, with the conviction that He's suited to my need, but there is that casting of oneself upon Him, running into Him, believing into, believing upon the element of trust. It is there because of the overtones in the very word believe. It is there because
Argument 3: Figures of Faith Imply Trust and Committal
of the use of the three prepositions in, into and upon and then thirdly, and I've already hinted at this, we know this is true from the various figures and descriptions of the actings of faith. In that initial study when we saw the place of faith and then moved to the nature of faith, we saw that in all of those things, the hand receiving, the eye looking, the thirsty parched mouth drinking, what do we have? Well you see, the moment I drink water,
I commit myself to the influence of that water. If I knew that that water had poison diffused to it, the moment I drink it, what am I doing?
I say I'm committing myself to the influence of the poisonous water upon my being. Right? If I'm convinced that that's good water, good H2O and that I'm thirsty and that that will refresh me and I drink it,
I commit myself, what a sneaky way to get a drink, isn't it? I commit myself to the influence of that water upon me. When I go home today and my wife has a meal prepared and I cut up the meat and I masticate and swallow it, what am I doing? I'm committing myself to the influence of that meat upon me. You see,
in all of these various figures of faith, the element of trust, of committal to is inherent in those very descriptions of faith. Whether it's eating the bread of life who is Christ, whether it's running to the protection of the city of refuge who is Jesus Christ, whether it is drinking the water of life who is Christ, in every instance all of the figures point to one thing that saving faith is this matter of trust, this resting upon the Lord Jesus. Notice how beautifully the larger and shorter catechisms of the Westminster standards define
Westminster Standards on Saving Faith and Repentance
saving faith and this element is brought out so clearly.
The question is asked what is faith in Jesus Christ? The answer, faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon that's the key word, receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel. How is he offered to us in the gospel? Is he offered to us as a savior who says fix yourself up and when you attain a certain degree of sanctification I will then accept you? No. He's offered
in the gospel as a savior who takes sinners as they are and where they are. The son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and there are no words in front of that. Good sinners, fixed up sinners, half decent sinners, not so bad, no no he came to save sinners. But now the gospel
also says that he's offered to us as a savior who saves the vilest of sinners the most polite of sinners just plain sinners but he saves them in such a way as to deliver them from the love and the practice of their sins. And so you see repentance is mingled with saving faith. For if I rest upon Christ to save me as he's offered in the gospel, I not only can come in all of my guilt and vileness and foulness and bondage and say Lord Jesus I'm warranted to rest upon you because you're offered in the gospel as a savior of sinners without qualification. Just
plain old sinners like me Lord but you're also offered as the one who will save me from my sins and Lord I cast myself upon you not to be hardened in my sins while feeling I'm pardoned but Lord I cast myself upon you to be delivered from my sins from the love of my sin, from the practice of my sin, from the power of my sin and Lord Jesus one day even from the presence of my sin, Lord I trust you to be a savior to me as you're offered in the gospel receiving me in my vilest state but receiving me to
make me holy. The larger catechism expands this notion of the scriptures so beautifully stated in the shorter. What is justifying faith? Justifying or saving faith is a saving grace wrought in the heart of a sinner by the spirit and the word whereby he being convinced of his sin and misery, that's the knowledge and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition that's knowledge of myself, knowledge of God, knowledge of myself
not only assented to the truth of the promise of the gospel there's assent conviction, but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his righteousness therein held forth for pardon of sin and the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation. Oh dear people, don't complicate the essence of saving faith don't involve yourself with all kinds of philosophical distinctions and theological barriers to understanding that this is the pinnacle aspect this is the crowning aspect of every
Illustration: The Dread Disease and the Competent Physician
true acting of saving faith. Let me try again to illustrate it because it's the simple that so often causes us our greatest stumbling here's a man afflicted with a dread disease he's come to the absolute conviction that unless something is done to arrest that disease he's going to die in three months time all the indications of all the tests are that this is no figment of his imagination this is no remote possibility everything has come through indicating as far as medical science can determine things that the man has a dread disease that will take his
life in three months and then in his desperation as he begins to cast about concerning what course of action he shall take because he loves life and he wants to live he hears of a physician who has had unusual success in treating this particular malady and he does some investigating he wants to know if this is just hearsay and he writes some letters and he makes some phone calls and he visits some hospitals and from every direction there comes a unanimous consent of opinion that this doctor is indeed the man who humanly speaking is the most competent man in the whole country if not the entire world to treat this particular kind of disease he gets testimonials
from patients who've been cured he checks into the medical records and he finds that this is no exaggeration that this man is confident to handle those who have his malady and just as he's become convinced of his malady through the indications of all the tests he now becomes convinced that there's someone who can help him the knowledge of himself and that doctor has passed into a deep conviction but he's still got his disease and the moment of truth comes when he enters that doctor's office and says doc I put myself in your hands you call the shots and the doctor says
well the first shot is this you're going to have to go under anesthesia and lay on the table and let me take my knife doc I don't care what you do doc I'm in your hands you don't have the disease I do and all the testimonials indicate that you can deal with the disease doc I set up no terms you're the physician I'm the patient doc I'm in your hands what's happened knowledge that grew to conviction has now passed into what faith he sits in the office there with the doctor and says doc I believe I'm dying doc I believe in all your credentials
doc I believe I believe I believe but everything that follows the but cancels out his professed belief you may sit there this morning and say yes I believe I'm a sinner I believe that I'm answerable to God I believe there's a day of judgment I believe I'll meet my sins furthermore I believe Christ is the savior of sinners I believe he's willing and able to save the vilest of sinners oh my God I believe I'm a sinner my friend listen listen until you put yourself in his hands there's no saving faith must put yourself in his hands and say Lord Jesus operate on me by the spirit change my heart Lord Jesus by the spirit
change my affections Lord Jesus by your blood blot out my sins by your quickening power give me life by your own sovereign gracious power break my chains and give me a new heart does that help to clarify it that's what faith is putting yourself in the doctor's hands Lord Jesus I'm yours and there's biblical warrant for that concept didn't Jesus say they that are well have no need of a physician but they that are sick I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to what to repentance to a total change of mind about themselves and about me that's what he came to do
Application to Unbelievers: Why Not Trust Christ?
so I would press upon the conscience of every person sitting in this building this morning can it be said of you in the words in the language of Ephesians 2 8 for by grace have you been saved through faith has there been that knowledge of God of yourself and of Christ if you're ignorant of who God is if you've got some notion that God is sort of the super elevated granddaddy doesn't know too much and very harmless my friend don't talk to me about believing on Christ no no you know nothing of faith in Christ
until you know something of the God of the Bible who is holy who is sovereign who holds your life in his hands who's the judge of the world and before whom you'll stand in the last day do you know that you say yes preacher I know that in fact it's the knowledge of that that haunts me if I didn't know that I could sin with a man abandonment I could really enjoy my self-centered life but it's the knowledge that God's eye is upon me it's the knowledge that God's judgment throne is before me that is the worm in the gourd of every sinful pleasure some of us remember how that worm ate for years we could never sin with abandonment why we couldn't shape the knowledge
that almighty God had made us and we're accountable to him my friend you know enough about yourself to know there's no hope in yourself have you been brought to the place where you say all self-help schemes have got to be jumped no band-aids of a little religious ceremony no aspirin tablets of a few vows and resolutions will help me I'm mortally ill unless the great physician takes me in hand to do something I can't do have you been brought to that conviction oh what a painful but blessed day that is when God brings us to the place where we say Lord I'm mortally ill unless you do something but my friend listen
that's not enough I'm almost dead confident I'm speaking to some people this morning who do have that knowledge about yourself and about God and about Christ as the only savior of sinners furthermore that knowledge has become conviction with you that's why you're here you're not a Christian but you can't stay away from this place why? because you're convinced these things are true and when you hear the word of God expounded though on the one hand something in you would want to just chuck the whole business and say I'm done with it there's a little amen-er you've got your own amen corner every man has an amen corner in his own bosom that when the voice of God
is proclaimed from the scriptures there's an amen corner inside that says it's true it's true it's true it's true that's the faculty of conscience God's little amen corner in your own bosom so the problem is not knowledge with you the problem is not conviction oh but you're not saved and you know why you're not saved? because there's been no trust you've not committed yourself to this blessed this willing and this able savior and I want to bear down upon your conscience this morning and say why have you not trusted him? children adults teenagers
whoever you be here and down in the overflow auditorium why? give me one rational reason for your unbelief you say you know that God is God and you're going to stand before him you say you know you're a sinner and you cannot help yourself you say you know that Christ is the only savior of sinners why then will you not roll yourself upon him? why will you not cast yourself upon him? receive and rest upon Christ alone what rational reason?
can you give?
are you trying? are you casting about for one?
my friend unbelief is the most irrational wicked thing in all the world it's the most irrational wicked thing in all the world that's why the Bible never treats unbelief as a weakness for which there ought to be pity unbelief is looked upon as that which provokes God's wrath the wrath of God abideth on him that believeth not John 3.36 because unbelief either says I'm not accountable to God and that takes God and wrenches him from his universe that's wickedness my friend or if you'll consent that there's a day of judgment perhaps your unbelief says that well
I can delay my friend you know what you're saying you're saying that you control the actings of God's grace and that's to dethrone Jesus Christ from the throne of grace the wind blows where it wills salvation of the soul is in the sovereign hands of omnipotence not your hands you see why unbelief is so wicked unbelief is wicked because it says there's some defect in Christ that he's not worthy of my confidence oh my friend the most irrational thing in all the world is unbelief the most unreasonable thing and therefore I plead with you I entreat you
to delay no longer but to rest upon the Lord Jesus Christ ah but someone says isn't faith the gift of God you know what you're trying to do you're trying to rationalize your unbelief by saying the thing is too mysterious for me and Paul dealt with that argument in Romans 10 he says don't think that this is some mysterious thing and search out matters in the heights above or in the depths beneath he says the word of faith which we preach is mighty in my mouth and in my heart my friend Jesus Christ is the water of life comes right to your very lips in the preaching of the gospel and he says drink
he comes to your lips as the bread of life and says eat he comes to you as the city of refuge you don't need to run to it it has come to you and the door stands open God says flop him oh may God grant that some of you here today will by the Spirit's attendance with the word right as you sit there roll down roll the weight of your soul upon Jesus Christ and the moment you do sitting there today you are saved this is why among many other reasons we don't ask people to walk down an aisle
how cruel to put even 30 feet between you and the Savior we put no distance between you and the Savior but your unbelief and 722 walk we'll never deal with your unbelief but oh friend believing here and now in this place in this hour you are saved for by grace have you been saved through faith dear child of God I would conclude this morning by pressing upon your conscience or upon your understanding a solemn responsibility that you and I have as we seek to proclaim and preserve the gospel
Application to Believers: Testing Christian Faith by Trust
we must test all so-called branches of the Christian faith by this biblical concept of saving faith it involves knowledge conviction passing into trust and so central is faith that Paul even calls the gospel the word of faith that we preach any deflections here are deflections at the heart they touch the juggler vein of the Christian faith test every so-called branch of the Christian faith by this principle what place does it give to Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ Christ and what place does it give to the faith by which we come into vital union
with Christ and his salvation if it clogs up the way to Christ with the sinner's performances as the sacramentalists tell us that somehow we get to Christ in the context of water water on the head as an infant a la Rome a la Lutheranism water in the tank as an adult or a child a conflictor or a confessor a la the Campbellites a la the Mormons a la so many other movements my friend they're not of God the sinner in his need comes into direct contact with the Savior in the plentitude of his grace
and nothing between in the embrace of faith no water no penance no performances the needy sinner into direct of a mighty Savior that's the belief of biblical salvation you test the so-called cults Mormonism the Jehovah's Witness all of them they dare to tell a sinner look we've set before you the Savior believe in your Savior why that would sound as strange in their mouth as an Arab
singing the national anthem of Israel now you think on that for a little bit you say the two cannot be found cannot be found that's right you'll never find the cultist with all his verses that he spits out like a machine gun spits bullets you'd never in a thousand years of reading the literature and listening to the talk get the idea that we are saved with a salvation that has its roots in unmerited favor and comes to us by means of that resting upon Christ
and Christ alone my friends test the present notion of faith abroad in evangelicalism today that says faith stops with the first two oh yes I know and believing these things are true then we're told if you confess you're a sinner admit your need believe Christ died for sinners then you are saved and oh my there is the engagement of one person to another person and when there is the engagement of the sinner in his need to the Savior in the plentitude of his grace my friend there's no dickering with the Son of God there's no setting up my terms
I commit myself to him to be saved on his terms and all this talk about whether you can accept Christ as Savior or not as Lord it's all resolved in this simple understanding of what saving faith is involved how is he offered to me in the gospel believe upon Jesus Christ the one upon whom I reign rest is the Lord of course I capitulate of course he becomes boss all talk about people being saved but not surrendered being on their way to heaven but living
like the children of darkness and of hell no no my friend you see you don't need to set up conditions other than faith you just need to understand what the Bible means when it says by grace you're saved through faith and understanding the nature of that faith and the nature of that faith that faith which is unto salvation and all of these deflections are seen for what they really are and as we shall see God willing in subsequent studies that faith which takes no account of my performances in coming to Christ will of necessity and inevitably produce a life
full of good works that's verse 10 isn't it beautiful how Paul has guarded the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith faith is the naked hand the empty hand receiving but when it brings us into vital contact with the Savior then the reproducing power of the gospel or the transforming power of the gospel the renovating power of the gospel will inevitably be manifest for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God aforeprepared that we should walk in you better get your works in the right place if you get them
between yourself and the Savior my friend you'll miss it if you say you've come to the Savior and there's no works flowing out you'll miss it by grace you're saved through faith what is the nature of saving faith it's the looking the taking the fleeing the eating the drinking it is that self commitment to Christ it is that self commitment to Christ it is that self commitment in all the beauty of his person and perfection of his work as he is so freely offered to us in the gospel it involves knowledge knowledge of what you got it knowledge of God myself and of Christ it involves assent conviction my need is such that only he can meet it
Jesus Christ is such that he's perfectly suited to my need but it's the knowledge the assent or conviction passing into trust the rolling of the weight of my sin sick soul upon the Lord Jesus Christ oh my friend I ask you as we close this morning have you been saved by grace through that kind of faith have you there is no other salvation let us pray
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
This passage is the central text, providing the framework for understanding salvation by grace through faith, with the sermon specifically dissecting the 'through faith' component.
Texts Expounded
Also Referenced
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