SAVING FAITH (Ephesians 2:8-9) INTRODUCTION Today I want to preach on faith. Last week I preached on repentance, today I want us to look at faith. Spurgeon once wrote: "You may think it is very easy to explain faith, and so it is; but it is easier still to confound people with your explanation!" Hopefully I won t confound anyone today with my explanation. The Holy Spirit brings us to Christ by convicting us of our sins, by enlightening our minds to the truth of Christ, and by renewing our wills to want to embrace Christ by faith. What is our response to this work of the Holy Spirit? It is repentance and faith. The Bible certainly puts these two responses together in the proclamation of the Gospel message. For example Paul said in Acts 20:21 about his preaching, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. In conversion repentance and faith cannot be separated. They are two sides to the same saving RESPONSE to the Gospel. As one person (John Murray) put it, Repentance is a believing repentance, and saving faith is a penitent faith. Or as another person put it, Repentance looks at the problem (our sin) and faith looks at the remedy (Christ). Both of these responses together are called conversion by many theologians. Conversion is sometimes equated with being born again or regeneration, but it is not exactly the same. Conversion is the evidence of regeneration because regeneration is that mysterious and sovereign work of the Holy Spirt by implanting new spiritual life into our being. Conversion is our response to the effectual call of the Holy Spirit. Or some may say conversion is the evidence of regeneration. Conversion is when we go public with our repentance and faith. We must go public with our faith as Romans 10:9-10 declares Romans 10:9-10 NKJV that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one July 23, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 1
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. To confess with our mouth is to go public with our repentance and faith. Now let s explore more deeply the nature and experience of saving faith. THREE TYPES OF FAITH You can look at faith in different ways. Jesus talked about faith as having different degrees. After he calmed the storm one time he asked the disciples if they had NO faith. In the Sermon on the Mount in talking about how God will supply what we are to eat and wear He rebuked the people by saying they had LITTLE faith. He told the Roman Centurion whose servant was sick that he had GREAT faith. And to Peter he said that when Satan tested him he would pray that his fail would not fail. One can have FAILING faith. These are different degrees of faith, but they are not specifically referring to saving faith. You can also look at different kinds of faith as it relates to saving faith. Some theologians speak of historical faith, temporal faith, and saving faith. Historical faith has to do with believing historical facts. We all have this type of faith. I believe that George Washington was our first president, because it is a historical fact. This is the kind of faith that the demons have: James 2:19 NKJV You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble!. Many people have only historical faith in Jesus. They believe that there was a historical man named Jesus who lived in the 1 st Century AD. This is not saving faith. Temporal faith has to do with having faith at a specific time and for a specific temporal need. When I fly on a plane, I have faith that it will not crash and will get me to my destination. But after I arrive at my destination, I don t have to exercise that kind of faith for that temporal event again. Many people have this kind of faith in God. They have a crisis and they pray and believe that God will help them. After the crisis, they don t have to exercise that faith again until the next crisis. This is not saving faith. Saving faith is the faith that saves us. It is a faith that is more than historical. It is more than temporal faith. Saving faith is putting our trust in a living Person who will save us from our sins. It is the kind of faith that brings salvation. It is the faith spoken of Ephesians 2:8-9 July 23, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 2
Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, (9) not of works, lest anyone should boast. THREE ASPECTS OF SAVING FAITH Let s go a little deeper in our understanding of saving faith. What is involved in having saving faith? In essence it involves our total person. Saving faith involves our MIND, our EMOTIONS, and our WILLS. Or if you want some alliteration there is a cognitive aspect of saving faith, there is a conviction or confidence aspect, and a commitment aspect of saving faith. There is a cognitive or an intellectual aspect of saving faith. If saving faith is faith in Jesus, then a person must know something about Jesus in order to believe in Him. This is the argument of Romans 10:14 Romans 10:14 NKJV How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? What is it about Jesus that a person needs to believe to have saving faith? He is to believe that Jesus is the One the Father has sent to be our Savior. John 5:24 NKJV "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. John 3:16 NKJV For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. He is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who died for our sins and was raised to life and is living today. There is much more to believe about Jesus, but these are the essential facts about Jesus to believe; that Jesus died for our sins and that he rose again from the dead. There is an emotional aspect of saving faith. This emotional aspect is exercised in having confidence in God s promise of salvation. It is the conviction that God will keep His word. This is the emphasis of Hebrews 11:1 July 23, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 3
Hebrews 11:1 NIV Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Faith is the conviction, confidence, or assurance that what God said and promised will come to pass. It is based on God s trustworthiness, not on what we can see. Finally there is a volitional aspect of saving faith. There is an action of our wills in saving faith. Saving faith is a faith that commits the person to trust Jesus. Trusting in Jesus is what sets saving faith off from historical and temporal faith. Trusting in Jesus is the commitment of our life to the Person of Jesus Christ for our eternal salvation. Now these three aspects of saving faith are not three sequential STEPS we take to be saved. They are all involved in a whole-hearted trust in the person of Jesus Christ. Now depending on an individual s background and personality and need at the moment one of these aspects may require more attention than the others. For those who have intellectual difficulties with the Gospel, it may take answering more questions and overcoming intellectual objections. For those who have problems with making a commitment, it may take more persuasion to see that sitting on the fence is not an option. For those with need for more confidence, it may take more evidence that God keeps His word. Another warning about analyzing saving faith according to these three aspects is we are not to make saving faith too COMPLICATED. Remember Jesus said that our faith is to be like a child s faith. We must come to him as a little child. Even though a child s faith is simple faith, with an emphasis on trust, it still has complex aspects to it! BIBLICAL IMAGES OF SAVING FAITH To help us exercise saving faith the Bible uses different figurative IMAGES to describe how we are to exercise saving faith in Jesus. Having saving faith in Jesus is to COME To Jesus. John 5:40 NIV yet you refuse to come to me to have life. To come to Jesus means that we have to exercise our volition, our wills, and our confidence or conviction that Jesus is who He says that He is and He will do what He promises He will do, i.e. give us eternal life. Having saving faith in Jesus is being thirsty and DRINKING in Jesus. July 23, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 4
John 7:37 NIV On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Drinking is an action of taking something into our bodies and to satisfy our physical thirst. Saving faith is taking Jesus into our inner being to satisfy our spiritual thirst that God has created in u. Having saving faith in Jesus is to RECEIVE Jesus John 1:12 NKJV But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: Receiving Jesus is to overcome the hostility towards Jesus our unregenerate hearts have. It is accepting Jesus for who is He in all the reality of His Person. Having saving faith in Jesus is TO LOOK to Jesus Hebrews 12:2 NKJV looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Looking to Jesus is to keep our eyes on Jesus, not on our faith, not on the benefits of salvation, but on Jesus. Saving faith looks to Jesus not primarily as a ticket to heaven and an escape route from hell, although that is a benefit. Saving faith looks to Jesus as the One who delivers us from our own depravity and our own sins. Saving faith looks to Jesus as the One who has come to restore us to what God intended for us to be. Saving faith looks to Jesus as the One who delivers us from our own depravity and our own sins and makes us holy before God. CONCLUSION These figurative ways of speaking about saving faith are to help us to believe in Jesus with our whole being. The Holy Spirit is calling you to come to Jesus. The Holy Spirit is calling you to drink of Jesus and quench our spiritual thirst. The Holy Spirit is calling you to receive Jesus for all that He is. The Holy Spirit is calling you to look to Jesus as the Author and Finisher of our faith. July 23, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 5
Remember that in conversion faith and repentance are two sides of the one response. Repentance is turning from our sin and faith is turning to Jesus with our whole Being. Both are essential for salvation. And both are a GIFT from God! For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, (9) not of works, lest anyone should boast. I hope that I have not confounded anyone this morning by these thoughts on saving faith. To keep it simple, let me tell you how Paul answered the Philippian jailor when he asked, What must I do to be saved? Paul said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved! Will you put your whole-hearted faith in Jesus? If so, then you will be saved! Amen? Amen! July 23, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 6