Faith For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8–9 The occasion was a typical Sunday church service, but the locale was behind the iron curtain in Communist Eastern Europe. The service was progressing as usual when suddenly two Communist soldiers brandishing submachine guns kicked open the door. With flailing arms and angry voices, they denounced the Christians and their vile worship. “Such worms as you have no right to exist upon the face of the earth!” they shouted. “We are going to shoot all of you! However, those who are willing to denounce their faith and deny Christ can move immediately to the right side of the sanctuary, and you will be free to leave.” A portion of the congregation got up and moved. The soldiers then commanded them to get out. Most of the congregation sat motionless in their pews. When the doors were closed, the Communists turned to those sitting before them. “We, too, are Christians,” they said. “We’ve come to fellowship with you, but we first had to get rid of the hypocrites.” I like this story because it perfectly illustrates this important matter of faith. Faith is important because it is the key that opens the door to the Christian life and all Christ has done for us. It is the key that opens the door to Heaven. The Scripture says, “He that believeth … shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). Three Aspects of Faith I would like to consider this matter in three aspects: first, the nature of faith; second, the object of faith; third, the origin of faith. Many people bring themselves to church to hear words they have not the slightest intention of obeying. This is exceedingly strange when we consider the secular world where belief and faith are easily understood. If, for instance, a person is told his business venture is entirely spurious and is presented with the facts as to why this is so, he will listen to the reasons and then decide to accept or reject them. If he believes, he will immediately remove all property from the misrepresented venture. If someone comes to you and says in desperate tones, “The rear of your house is on fire!” and you believe him, you will immediately leap from your chair, call the fire department, and flee from the premises with your family. If a man is shown an X-ray that contains a dark and ominous spot representing sure death unless he takes immediate steps for its removal, and if he believes the diagnosis, he will immediately place himself in the surgeon’s hands. There is no question about it! In the secular world, belief is plain, simple, and understood by all; but when we come to Christian truth, things seem to change. Most hear over and over again that “the wages of sin is death,” that “God is angry with the wicked every day,” that “he that believeth not shall be damned,” that God “will by no means clear the guilty,” that “Except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish” (Romans 6:23; Psalm 7:11; Mark 16:16; Exodus 34:7; Luke 13:3). Those who are ashamed of Christ in this world will find that He is ashamed of them in the world to come. They hear also that God offers forgiveness, a gracious salvation, and eternal life, and that this offer will not continue indefinitely. They hear that a time is coming when the day of grace will irretrievably be gone and the opportunity lost. They know that for them this moment is completely uncertain. They know that in a moment they have not considered, there may be a sudden pain in the chest or a screeching of brakes and crashing of glass, and death will transport them into eternal woe. This they hear, but though God calls loudly and clearly to change from one path of life and to enter upon another, they neglect to do anything about it. By a calculation of chances, on which they would not risk so much as a penny in the mercantile world, they deceive and assure themselves that they are able to face such a risk. Though they hear these words often, many do not practice the truths they have heard. Professing to believe, they act throughout the week in point-blank opposition to what they have heard on Sunday. Such is the condition of multitudes of people who call themselves Christians. Now the question I propose is this: Does such indolent assent deserve the name of faith? Do these people in fact believe? Place this question before any secular jury and the verdict would be inevitable. When people in the secular world believe in a business deal, they act on it. Regardless of what you might have thought about the people who fled that morning from the church in Eastern Europe, there is one unmistakable thing—they believed the soldiers! The man who tells you he believes what you’ve told him about his business picture and does nothing about it only invites you to doubt his word. The person who says, “Oh, the house is on fire? Yes, of course—” and then goes back to reading the sports page is telling you he doesn’t believe you. The man who leaves the doctor’s office and does nothing as a result of the declaration of the physician is simply declaring to the world that he does not believe the diagnosis. The secular world is not befuddled; it knows what believe means. It knows that if a person believes something concerning a matter which involves action, he will inevitably do that which his belief demands. True Faith The principle is exactly the same in religious matters. People who do not act upon what they have heard are simply people who do not believe. People who are not moved to a correspondent action or volition by what they hear are people without faith. Martin Luther said that many people suppose themselves to have faith, but they don’t know what it is. True faith is a divine work of God in our hearts that makes us new in all our faculties. It is a busy, active thing which doesn’t stop to ask if good works should be done. To put it in the words of our Confession of Faith, “We are justified by faith alone.” It is faith alone that is the instrument of justification. The faith that alone justifies is never alone in the justified individual. It is always accompanied by those graces that will inevitably be produced by a living faith. James said, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26), which simply means that a faith that does not produce a transformed life is a vain, empty illusion and is no real faith at all. There have been many long dissertations on the matter of faith—most of which confuse more than clarify. Innumerable theologians have given themselves sedulously to distinguishing the various types of faith, the various organs of believing, the various types of mental assent, et cetera. Average laypeople who read such works come to the conclusion that faith is something that is reserved for the mystical saint or the obtuse theologian. Though the Bible says that if they believe, they will have eternal life (John 6:47), they find themselves incapable of understanding what is meant by belief. The faith that justifies is not something different in nature from that which we know as faith and believing. How did Christ begin His ministry? Did He begin by establishing a school where He spent the first year or so in long theological and philosophical arguments about the nature of this new thing called “faith” that He was going to reveal to the world? And after many dissertations and explanations about the meaning of faith, did He say to the people, “Now that you know what believe means, you can believe”? He did no such thing! Rather, we read in Scripture that Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent and believe” (Mark 1:15). Throughout Scripture there is every indication that Jesus used the words believe and faith in a way that all would understand. There was nothing confusing about it. Thus, to have faith is to believe; to believe is to have faith. When I come to see that something is true (not merely understanding it, but seeing that it is true), then I have faith in it—whether I like it or not. I may accept it willingly, or I may accept it unwillingly. But if I believe it to be true, then indeed I have faith in it. This is the meaning of faith. Perhaps you think you do believe, but you don’t have the temperament or disposition to serve Christ, to give yourself unstintingly for Him, to bear witness to His Gospel as He commands, to read His Scripture, to pray, to fulfill His Great Commission, and indeed endeavor by all you have within you to walk in the ways of complete and new obedience. No, it’s not that there is something different about your disposition. What I would have you see is that you do not believe. Coiled deep down in your soul is the lurking serpent of unbelief. If you believed, you would be transformed by that belief. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [a new creation]” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is the nature of belief; there is nothing confusing about it. Do you believe the Word of God? Our Confession of Faith states clearly that “by this faith a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God Himself is speaking therein.” There it is. He believes it to be true. When you truly believe something to be true, you will invariably act according to it. Therefore the problems with our behavior are simply evidences of our unbelief. What are we to believe? What is the object of our faith? In the broadest sense, it is the whole Word of God, whatever is revealed in His Word. And we act differently upon each particular passage—yielding obedience to the commands and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come. It is believing the Word of God. This is faith. But this is a faith that inevitably works by love. The supreme object of our faith is the person of Jesus Christ Himself. As our Confession continues, the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life. This is the principal act of saving faith: receiving Him, resting upon Christ who comes to us in all His grace and glory as our High Priest, our Sacrifice, our Surety, who offers Himself in our stead, and who promises us eternal life. Our acceptance of Him is based upon the promises of God’s Word. Scripture says, “Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16); “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37); “He that believeth on [me] is not condemned” (John 3:18). Faith is believing what God has said to be true. Many of those who do not have faith are those who believe some false or distorted notion that does not allow them to understand or believe what God’s Word says. They suppose the Bible presents Christ as a taskmaster requiring them to do something to save themselves. They do not understand that Jesus Christ is not a taskmaster but indeed our Surety who fulfilled God’s demands and died for our sins. When we come to believe His Word and trust in Him, we are reconciled to God, our sins are forgiven, and we are made heirs of eternal life, adopted into His family, and become the children of God. When we believe that we are saved, our lives are invariably transformed. But why the problem of unbelief? The problem is we are blind and cannot see Him because Satan has deluded our minds. Jesus said, “Having eyes ye see not” (Mark 8:18). Blind! Groping in darkness! Christ said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3)—much less enter into it! After talking to a lovely young lady about the meaning of Christ, I said, “If you really want Him to come into your heart, go home and ask Him to come in, to open your eyes, and to give you eternal life.” She called several days later to tell me she had received Christ. “And,” she said, “for the first time in my life the worship service means something to me. It’s a whole new world!” “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Faith comes by the Spirit of God at work in our hearts, and yet many cannot believe because their hearts are hardened in sin. But I say to you, look unto Him who has died in your place and paid your penalty. Look unto Him whose hands are extended unto you and offering you life eternal. There is life for a look at the Crucified One. Look—and believe! Kennedy, D. J. (1974). Truths that transform (pp. 68–75). Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Coral Ridge Ministries. now truthinaction.org/
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 05:42:45 +0000
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