|
Saving Faith
Again, in our Baptist Confession of Faith,
we are brought to the fundamentals … the foundations of what we believe.
Spurgeon referred his people to this body of doctrine time and time again,
“This
ancient document is the most excellent epitome of the things most surely
believed among us. It is not issued as an authoritative rule or code of
faith, whereby you may be fettered, but as a means of edification in
righteousness. It is an excellent, though not inspired, expression of the
teaching of those Holy Scriptures by which all confessions are to be
measured. We hold to the humbling truths of God’s sovereign grace in the
salvation of lost sinners. Salvation is through Christ alone and by faith
alone.”
Yes, these doctrines pour out of our Bible. Grace is
the overwhelming theme that runs the whole way through its pages. Based upon
this Book is the whole counsel of God, - this body of doctrine (the
Confession of Faith). As Spurgeon said though, the Confession
itself is not inspired … but we its teachings are taught plainly in
Scripture. When someone denies these great truths they also deny the Word of
God.
I assure you I am not a Baptist because I was born into a Baptist
home … for I wasn’t. Neither am I a Baptist out of convenience. But I’m a
Baptist because of what the Word of God plainly and simply teaches … and I
adhere to this Confession of Faith … which I believe is a faithful
presentation of sound Biblical Truth.
Moving a step on … Saving faith is the bedrock of what we
believe. Take my Bible away and I have nothing upon which I can prove to you
my faith. Feelings aren’t sufficient … neither is good works, baptism or
church membership, - people of other faiths have feelings and organisational
structures. But the Bible clearly teaches the doctrine pertaining to
saving faith, - a doctrine that no other faith or religion can claim.
Therefore, it follows then that if anyone says they are a Christian and
denies the doctrine of saving faith … no matter how sincere they try
to seriously and passionately convince you, I have it on good authority, -
the Bible, - they are not saved.
It’s an eternally important subject so let’s
take it slowly …
The grace of faith
 |
What does that mean … the grace of
faith? It simply means that without God’s grace you wouldn’t have faith to
believe. |
|
Does give grace to everyone? Yes … and no. |
|
Yes … in that God shows grace to all
humanity. |
|
Ps. 107:8,15,21,31 Oh that
men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to
the children of men! |
|
God is good to the saved and unsaved alike!
God shows ‘grace’ (in theological terms, ‘common grace’) to this world all
the time. |
|
Imagine if God did not show grace … this
world would be totally out of control. There would be no measure of
restraint or order |
|
If God didn’t show grace the seas would
overflood the land, the planets would be crashing into each other. |
|
God carries out this work which is ‘common’
and shared by mankind. |
|
In these matters God is as good to the
unbeliever as to the believer. |
|
However, whilst there is ‘common’ grace, -
enjoyed by all mankind, - there is also ‘saving’ grace. |
|
Saving grace, - as our Confession
teaches us, - is “the grace of faith by which the elect are enabled to
believe to the saving of their souls [and] is the work of the
Spirit in their hearts”. |
|
Whereas common grace is God’s gift
to all mankind, saving grace is the particular gift to those He has
chosen in eternity to save, His elect. |
|
To believe in God to be saved is not
possible until and unless saving faith is granted by Sovereign grace, i.e.
you will only believe in Christ to be saved when the Holy Spirit imparts
the ability for you to believe. |
|
Now, of course, some draw back from this
Biblical teaching and they explode and tell you this is wrong and
that you are speaking error! … But how can it be wrong/error if it is what
the Bible plainly teaches?! |
|
It doesn’t matter to me that you can’t work
it out in your mind … and if you think you can work these kinds of things
out in your mind you’re putting yourself on the same level as God! These
things are beyond you and me! Job said,
42:3 therefore have I uttered
that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Ps.
139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain
unto it. |
|
This is “the grace of faith”, - the gift of
God whereby we would believe in His Son to save us. Without this gift of
God, - to believe, - we would never believe of ourselves. |
|
Now, how do we hear about this saving
faith? Is it through Christian ‘clowns’ or Christian rock concerts or
workshops or inter-faith discussion?
L |
|
The Bible teaches us that it is through the
preaching of the Word of God. You see, once again … God is to get all the
glory! |
|
When the disciples preached on the Day of
Pentecost they preached from the Old Testament, e.g.
Acts 4:4 many of them which
heard the word believed
… 31 And when they had
prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with
boldness. |
|
They went on from there … Acts 8:4 tells us
they that were
scattered abroad went every where preaching the word … 25 And they, when
they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to
Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
… Acts 11:
19 Now they which
were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen
travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word …
13:5 And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the
synagogues of the Jews … 49 And the word of the Lord was published
throughout all the region. … 14:
25 And when they had
preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia
… etc, etc, etc Paul told Timothy,
II Tim. 4:2 Preach the word! |
|
It is through the preaching of the Word
that sinners are saved and it is through the preaching of the Word the
saints are matured and established! |
|
Where the Word is not preached any growth
that there is can often be seen to be spurious! |
|
Saving faith, “brought into being through
the preaching of the Word”. |
|
… Moving on … Why should I believe in
something I cannot fully understand? … |
The Confidence to
Believe
|
Can you understand that God is able to be
everywhere at all times? Can you understand that God is three actual
Persons in One? Can you understand all there is to understand concerning
some of these great mysteries of the faith … because I can’t understand
them all … but I believe them … because the Bible teaches them! |
|
How can I believe them? Is it blind
faith? … No, it’s not blind faith … instead, it is faith in what
the Bible teaches. |
|
Do I believe the shepherd boy faced up to
the giant Goliath? Yes, I do because the Bible says it! |
|
Do I believe a whole nation walked through
the sea as they left Egypt on their way to the Promised Land? Yes, I do
because the Bible says it! |
|
Do I believe three men walked out of a
fiery furnace without suffering any harm? Yes, I do because the Bible says
it!! |
|
This confidence to believe is not
mine to boast of … because I might be gullible and easy fooled; no, this
confidence to believe is something God installs within the believer
… to believe. |
|
The Confession says, “In this way
the Christian is enabled to trust himself implicitly to the truth thus
believed, and to render service according to the different requirements of
the various parts of Scripture”. In other words, obedience to the whole
counsel of God’s Word is a non-negotiable requisite of being an obedient
child of God. |
|
We cannot choose to obey or to question
God’s Word. “To the commands he
[the believer] yields
obedience”. |
|
“How do I know Christ has saved me? I don’t
want to think I’m saved and then find out I’m not; how can be I be certain
I’m saved?” Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
II Cor. 1:19 For the Son of
God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us … was not yea and nay,
but in him was yea. 20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in
him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. 21 Now he which stablisheth us with
you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22 Who hath also sealed us,
and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. …v.24 for by faith ye
stand. |
|
If you don’t stand by faith upon God’s Word
… your faith will fall or become polluted with the false doctrines and
erroneous superstitions of men. Your obedience to His Word is the
prerequisite and it is the constant thread that runs through the process
of sanctification that God is working by His Holy Spirit within you. |
|
Only in God’s Word are we called to be
confident to believe. If the Bible says it … then believe it! |
This grace of faith … this
confidence to believe …
The Development of our Faith
|
One way to cause harm to anything we have
is simply not to look after it. If you don’t look after your car … it will
soon become a ‘rust bucket’! |
|
It is the same regarding our walk with God.
If we don’t seek to develop our faith in Him, - the faith He has gifted us
through grace, - will soon flounder and falter. |
|
And if you are not going forward you are
going backward, - there is no standing still! … Certain characteristics of
the backslidder, - … acknowledging that they were truly born again in the
first place, - are: |
|
Dissatisfaction, argumentative, prone to
cause strife and to speak only half-truths, absent from the place of
prayer and Christian fellowship, - … study the Scriptures for further
examples! |
|
On the other hand, those who are determined
to live faithfully and Biblically for Christ are a different type
altogether. Any difficulties they have, they will confront them knowing
that Jesus said He would never leave them or forsake them. |
|
No matter what circumstances you find them
in they will always speak to you about God. |
|
Some of the old hymns illustrate this; |
When thickly beat the storms of life,
And heavy is the chastening rod,
The soul, beyond the waves of strife,
Views the eternal Rock—her God.
Upon life’s boundless ocean where mighty
billows roll,
I’ve fixed my hope in Jesus, blest anchor of my soul;
When trials fierce assail me as storms are gathering o’er,
I rest upon His mercy and trust Him more.
Conclusion.
|
Yes, you see, the Christian’s confidence is
in God. To become a Christian – by grace – He gives you the grace to
believe. |
|
We, - who were dead in sin, - He breathed
into us life that we would receive Him; He drew us unto Himself and He
saved us. |
|
He brought about the circumstances whereby
we would believe in Him … and He opened up our hearts, - in an even
mightier way, - than He opened up the tomb of Lazarus! |
|
And then He put within us the desire to
follow Him, to read His Word and pray and be with His people. |
|
He gave us a longing to be faithful to what
His Word teaches and He helps us to believe what it says … even though we
mightn’t always understand it. |
|
The arrows and darts of affliction and
opposition might come at us from all roads and directions … but in it all
we know He has us in the palm of His hand for
he knoweth the way that I
take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. |
|
Saving faith, -
looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith, it is a
doctrine all of God … and only through God can we believe it! |
|
