Faith

I want to speak to you about faith. The Bible says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Without faith no one can be saved.

First of all, I want to speak about what faith is not. Some people think faith is a subjective thing. They say, you know, I am basically a trusting person. Or they think it is a psychological condition, that I am a believing person, a trusting person. Well, that is not what biblical faith is. Faith is not credulity. What is credulity? It is believing anything without evidence, believing things that are unreasonable. Look at the proliferation of cults. Look at all the gurus. Thousands and thousands of people are joining these cults and relating to these gurus. Let me tell you, these are credulous people. They are believing things without any evidence.

Faith is not an attitude of optimism – a positive mental attitude. You know, when you look at a very successful salesman, what does he have? A positive mental attitude. But optimism or a positive mental attitude has nothing to do with the object of faith. This is the Norman Vincent Peale-type idea, where the object of faith is completely irrelevant. It is like reciting a mantra. You get up in the morning and say three times, I believe, I believe, I believe, like popping pills. You don’t have to worry about believing what or believing whom. You simply say what? “I believe, I believe, I believe.” Well, that is not biblical believing, biblical faith.

Faith is not self-confidence. There is a song that says, I have confidence, confidence in me, but, in fact, this self-confidence destroys biblical faith, and biblical faith destroys this sinful self-confidence.

Biblical faith is not mere orthodoxy – that is, believing correctly with our minds the right doctrines of the Bible. The Bible says that mere orthodoxy alone will qualify us to be like demons. Demons are orthodox. Demons believe in God. Demons believe in biblical doctrines. But that doesn’t make demons able to see or enter the kingdom of God.

Secondly, let me say to you again that faith, like repentance, is the fruit of regeneration, not the cause of it. There are a lot of a people who would believe that faith is the cause of regeneration; that faith is something you do and then God, in turn, will give you regeneration. Oh, no. It is the other way around. Just like repentance is the fruit of regeneration, faith is the result of regeneration. It is the gift of God.

Let’s turn to the book of Philippians, chapter 1, and verse 29, where St. Paul makes this statement. For it is has been granted to you… Notice, it means given to you as a gift. It is not something you or I manufacture. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him… So, in other words, believing on Jesus Christ is a gift granted to you and to me, not something that we manufacture. Faith in the biblical sense is not the same as faith in a good bank. If that is the case, everybody should believe. The truth is, everybody does not believe. Faith is a gift of God to you in the context of your hearing of the preaching of the gospel. Faith comes by hearing – hearing the message of the gospel.

Now what are the constitutive elements of true faith? What are the essential elements of true faith? The first is cognition or knowledge. Biblical faith is not a leap into the dark. It is not ignorant faith. St. Peter speaks about faith in 2 Peter 1:16. We read, We did not follow cleverly invented stories… That is what cults are all about. That is what all these other religions are all about. They are humanly created. They are works of their own imaginations. But Peter says, We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received glory and honor from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. When Luke wrote his gospel, as well as the book of Acts, he spoke about careful investigation. He spoke about convincing proofs Jesus Christ offered concerning his resurrection. He did not speak about myths.

Christianity is a historic religion. It is based on historical happenings. So we read in the Apostles Creed, Jesus Christ “suffered under – who? Pontius Pilate. It is not legend and fables, the creation of the human mind. It is based on God’s action in time and space. In other words, true faith is based on knowledge – knowledge of the object of faith. And the object of our faith is the person of Jesus Christ and the work of Jesus Christ as given in the Holy Bible – in other words, knowledge concerning Jesus.

Therefore, if we are speaking about Christian faith, we must speak about biblical doctrines. We must speak about the authority of the Bible. We must speak about who Jesus is, that he is God and true man. We must speak about the virgin birth, the sinlessness of Christ, the miracles of Christ, his substitutionary death in our behalf, his burial, his resurrection in time and space, and his ascension into the heavens. We must speak that Jesus Christ is sovereign Lord – he is Lord of all. And we must speak about his second coming. We must speak about his judgment. And the person who denies that Jesus Christ is God, no matter how he confesses to be a Christian, cannot be a Christian. He is not a Christian. It is impossible for him to be a Christian and deny the deity of Jesus Christ, or any serious doctrine of the Bible.

So in 1 Corinthians 15, St. Paul makes this point about the gospel: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians 15:3-6). In other words, when we speak about Christian faith, we must first speak about notitia – that is, knowledge. That is the first constitutive element of true Christian faith.

But this knowledge will not alone be sufficient, because as I said before, even demons believe in orthodox biblical doctrines. So this knowledge, this cognition, must move into conviction. That is the second constitutive element of true faith – assensus. The intellectual understanding of Jesus Christ must move into conviction. One must agree that Jesus saves from sin and that he is sufficient for my need. This truth is vital for me. Jesus is the prescription, but now we say he is the prescription for my terminal illness. Paul says the gospel is the power of God, the prescription of God, unto salvation to everyone who believes. Jesus is able to meet my need and he is able to save me. That is the conviction.

But that is not saving faith yet. This conviction must move again into something called commitment – fiducia. This conviction must move into the commitment of the individual to Jesus Christ. He must say, “I am a sinner; I abandon all reliance on myself for my salvation. I abandon all my trust in my own works for my salvation.”

Look at what St. Paul is speaking in Philippians 3, beginning with verse 4: If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

There has to be a total abandonment of self-trust and a total reliance and confidence in the person of Jesus Christ. I rely on Jesus Christ alone for my salvation. Jesus is my Savior. Jesus is the prescription, and this prescription is good for me, but now when we come to commitment, I actually take this medicine. I appropriate that medicine, that I may be healed and saved by the person and work of Jesus Christ. Faith in its essence is commitment to Jesus Christ alone that we may be saved, says Professor John Murray. This and this alone is saving faith. Faith without this vital commitment to Christ will only qualify one to be a demon, because even demons are orthodox and believe in right doctrine.

Now some people use the illustration of a chair to demonstrate this. Cognition means I believe that the chair is, that the chair exists, and conviction is believing that the chair is strong enough to bear my weight if I sit down. But that is not faith yet. I must move into commitment, which means what? I am sitting on the chair, and I now know that this chair is bearing my entire weight.

Or look at the thief on the cross. Let’s turn to Luke 23, beginning with verse 39. You know those two thieves. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him. “Aren’t t you the Christ? Save yourself and us.” You see, he understands the gospel, that Jesus is the Christ and Jesus is the Savior, but he refuses to believe in it and believe in him. But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Right there on the cross this thief moved from cognition to conviction to commitment, and was saved instantly. Today you’ll be with me in paradise. That is saving faith.

You may ask the question, Why should we believe in Scripture? Why should we believe in the bible? Let me tell you what the Bible says about the Scripture. Titus 1 says, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness – a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life – now listen – which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time. In other words, the Scripture is the word of God and God cannot lie. God is not a man, the Bible says, that he should lie. Man lies, but God does not lie and cannot lie. It is impossible for God to lie.

Not only that, in 1 John 5:9 we are told something which condemns all people who refuse to believe in Jesus Christ. Listen to what John is saying: We accept man’s testimony. In other words, we accept the testimonies of liars. If we don’t accept the testimonies of human beings, life itself would be impossible. Every day we accept the testimonies of human beings. But, he says, God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God which he has given about his Son. On the Mount of Transfiguration, do you remember what God said? This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; listen to him. This is the Father s testimony – the Father who cannot lie. And we who believe in human testimonies every day must believe in the testimony of God who cannot lie.

Let’s look at verse 10 of 1 John 5: Anyone who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. This is a serious issue here. In other words, if we refuse to believe in the testimony of God concerning his Son – we who believe in the testimonies of people – one day God is going to judge us because we treated the testimony of God with contempt. And this is the reason why I believe in the truth concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ. This is the reason why I commit my whole life to Jesus Christ, that I may be saved. I would rather believe in God’s testimony concerning his Son and be saved than believe in man’s word and go to hell forever.

Faith in Christ also secures present enjoyment of what? Eternal life. This is not “pie in the sky by and by.” We are told in John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, Jesus says, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life.

And again, faith like repentance, is continuous. We continuously trust in God, rest in God, abandon ourselves to and commit ourselves to God for the present as well as for our future life. My question to you is, Have you heard of Christ? Have you ever heard of Christ? I was in Israel recently and the guide spoke about A.D. Well, do you know what A.D. means? Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord. And I said this man knows the gospel, because he just used the letters A.D. – anno Domini.

Yes, you have heard of Christ, but have you been convicted? Have you committed yourselves to Christ to save you? Oh, you may say, Jesus Christ is the prescription. And you may say Jesus Christ is the prescription for my ill, for my terminal ill. But that is not sufficient. Have you taken the medicine? Have you trusted in him alone for your salvation? If not, I urge you to trust in Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Amen.