I've entitled this message, Faith
That Does Not Save. And really, if we can understand
something about this faith that does not save, we'll understand
the faith that does save. That is what is important. Verse 23. Now, when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover, in the feast day, many, many believed in his name when
they saw the miracles which he did. Now, these people Had a
kind of faith, didn't they? Scripture says when they looked
upon these miracles, they couldn't deny what they saw. They had
the same type of faith as Nicodemus. Look in chapter three, verse
one. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews. The same came to Jesus by night. and said unto him, Rabbi, we
know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can
do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Nicodemus observed these miracles,
and he said, only God could do this. This man must be sent by
God. We know you're a teacher sent
from God, but did you know that no one has ever had saving faith
by what they saw? Never happened. Never will happen. No one has ever savingly believed
by seeing a miracle. Paul said, we walk by faith and
not by sight. Don't let that get by you as
the Lord enables you. We walk by faith, not by sight. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Faith does not come from seeing. Now, what if the Lord enabled
me to stand up before you and snap my fingers and all of a
sudden food would appear, brought into the universe that was not
there before? What if I was enabled to heal
people? I mean, you could be dying of
cancer and I'd pray for you and you'd just be perfectly whole. There wouldn't be any medicine
you'd need to take. There wouldn't be any gradual
process of healing. You'd be healed. What if I could
Raise the dead. What if I could control the weather?
You would be impressed if you saw those things. You would be
impressed. But do you know that would not
create faith in any measure to any degree. You would have the
same kind of faith these people had. A faith that does not safe. Now look what it says about these
people who believed when they saw the miracles, but Jesus did
not commit himself unto them. Now that word commit is the same
word translated believed in verse 23 exact same word. What that
says is they believed in him, but he didn't believe in them. He would not entrust himself
to them. He would not commit himself to
them. He did not believe in them. Because he knew all men. He needed not that any should
testify of man. He didn't need any information.
He didn't need anybody telling him about anyone or anything. Scripture says he knew what was
in man. The Lord inspired Paul to say
this with regard to man. Nay, but old man, who are you
to reply against God? Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man. Whosoever thou art, the judgest.
For you, the judgest, condemn yourself because that you, the
judge, do the same things. He knew what was in man. He was the one who saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth. and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. He knew what was in man. Now these men believed, but they
did not have saving faith. They did not have the faith of
God's elect, the acknowledging of the truth, which is after
godliness. Now, what I've done in this passage
of scripture, there's seven or eight passages in the New Testament
where people were said to believe, but they didn't have saving faith.
And I want us to look at those, and when we look at these, we
can find out what saving faith really is. And that gets my attention. I wanna know what saving faith
really is. Now, turn a few pages over to
John chapter eight. Verse 30. And as he spake these words,
many believed on him. And there we have it. These people
believed, but by the end of this chapter, the same people will
be picking up stones to stone him. Now, what does he say to
these people? Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then are
you my disciples indeed. Not in word or name, but in truth. It is only those who continue
in his word that are disciples indeed. Now these people didn't
continue. As a matter of fact, they picked up stones to throw
at him. They were gonna stone him to death. Obviously, they
didn't have saving faith, but saving faith continues. We are
made partakers of Christ. Listen to this scripture. We
are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence. What's the beginning of your
confidence? It's pretty easy to answer, isn't
it? The beginning of your confidence is the only thing you have that
could recommend you to God as Christ himself, what he did.
You have nothing else. That's the beginning of your
confidence. Now that beginning is to be held
steadfast to the end. I think of that scripture with
regard to the believer in Colossians 1.22, that he'll present every
believer wholly unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Now think about that in God's
sight and God sees things as they are. I mean, you don't,
he does in God's sight. Every believer is wholly unblameable
and unreprovable. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved from the hope of the
gospel. Now, a faith that does not continue
is not saving faith. It was said of the stony ground
hearers in Luke 8, verse 13, who for a while believed. Might be five years, might be
five days, might be 50 years. But if you don't continue, it's
not saving faith. The just shall live by faith.
But if any man draw back. And that's not simply talking
about going back to the world. Somebody gets religion and it
doesn't last and they go back to being a worldly. That's a
bad thing, but that's not what that's talking about. The just
shall live by faith only, looking to Christ only. Can't say that
with enough emphasis. Looking to Christ only, nowhere
else. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing
else. But if any man draw back from
that, God says, my soul shall have no pleasure in them. Real faith continues to look
to Christ alone. In John chapter 12, Verse 42, nevertheless, among the chief
rulers, also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees,
they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the
synagogue. This would cost them. Here's what was behind all this.
For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. They believed, says they did,
but they wouldn't confess it. It wasn't worth that for this
reason. They loved the praise of men
more than the praise of God. In faith, it does not say there's
always something that is loved more. In John chapter five, verse
44, the Lord said, how can you believe that receive honor one
from another and seek not that honor that
cometh from God only. Faith that is not saving faith. There's a form of belief in that
faith. There's always something that
it loves more. James put it this way, and I
think this helped me so much. You believe there's one God,
you do well. The devils believe. They believe
that just as they're sure of it and tremble. But here's the difference. They
have no love for that one they tremble at. They don't love his
person. They don't love his attributes.
They don't love his way of saving. They're scared of him. They think
of being tormented in hell, and they know something about that.
They've come from the deep. They know something of the power
of his wrath. They're scared of him. They tremble.
Oh, they believe in one God. Oh, it's real. They believe. but there is no love to him. They love the praise of men more
than the praise of God. I think of those people who of
it said they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Or they could see the logic of
the truth and they would even say they believed it. But they
received not the love of the truth. If you need to be saved
by what the truth declares, you love the truth. Not these fellows. They love the praise of men more
than the praise of God. Turn to Acts chapter 8. Verse eight, there was great
joy in that city at Philip's preaching. You know, I love that
verse of scripture. Let's think about that. Philip came preaching
the gospel and many people were saved by the grace of God. And
can you imagine in a city like this? I love thinking about this.
There was great joy in that city. Well, I pray that happens in
Lexington, Kentucky, don't you? that there would be great joy
in this city over the gospel of Jesus Christ. But there was
a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city
used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out
that he himself was some great one to whom they all gave heed
from the least to the greatest saying, this man is the great
power of God. He had them impressed. And to him they had regard because
of a long time he'd bewitched them with sorceries. But when
they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom
of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men
and women. Then Simon himself believed also. I think that word
also is almost like a disclaimer. Simon believed also. He didn't believe, he believed.
also. And we come as we go on reading
in this passage of scripture to see what kind of faith this
man had. He believed, says he believed,
but he believed also. Now look in verse 18. This is
the same Simon who believed and was baptized. And when Simon
saw that through the laying on of the apostles hands, the Holy
ghost was given. He offered them money, saying,
give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he
may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, thy
money perish with thee, because thou hast thought the gift of
God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither partner, Lord,
in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of
God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, this thought
that the gift of God could be bought. If perhaps the thought of thine
heart may be forgiven thee, for I perceive that thou art in the
gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Now, Simon demonstrates two things
about his faith. One, and these two things go
together, one, he had a very low, debauched view of God that
he thought God could be bought. I'll give you this money to get
this gift. What kind of God do you think
he is? You brought him down to human level. That's the only
thing you understand. His view of God was completely debauched. What kind of God could accept
something that I give him anyway? He had a completely debauched
view of God and a completely debauched view of himself. You can talk all you want about
believing, But if you think God can be bought by your works or
your money or anything you do, you do not have saving faith. He believed. A saving faith believes
the gift of God can't be bought. It can only be freely given for
Christ's sake. Everybody that believes, they
understand that. First Corinthians 13. Verse two, and though I have
the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge, And though I have all faith so that I could
remove mountains, that's a pretty good resume, isn't it? Pretty
good resume. And have not charity, I am nothing. There's nothing to my faith.
I might have the faith that removes mountains, miracle working faith,
but that doesn't make it saving faith. If I have not charity. Now, faith
in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. Now listen to this statement.
This is very important. Faith alone is never alone. It always has love. Always. Faith without love. is not saving faith. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples, by your love one to another. Now is that minimizing
the importance of correct doctrine? Of course not. But yet I love
the way the Lord uses this. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples, by your love one to another. First Corinthians
15 verse 14, and if Christ may not risen,
then as our preaching vein and your faith is also vain, a faith
that's not founded. on the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead is vain, unsaving faith. Now, what do I mean by that?
A faith grounded in the resurrection of Christ finds rest and satisfaction
only in what God finds rest and satisfaction in. When God raised
Christ from the dead, when God the Holy Spirit raised Christ
from the dead, when Christ raised himself from the dead, you know
what that meant? God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit
were completely satisfied with what Christ did. The only thing
that I find any satisfaction in, any assurance in, Any rest
in is that empty tomb. Everything God requires of me,
I have in the Lord Jesus Christ. The faith that does not find
all of its assurance in the resurrection of Christ from the dead is not
saving faith. Well, saving faith is the opposite
of that, isn't it? Turn to 1 Corinthians 2. Verse three. Let's start in verse two. Paul
said, for I determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now, what do you think of that? Paul said, I'm not going to preach
anything but Jesus Christ. And him crucified. I've made
this my determination. And I was with you in weakness
and in fear and in much trembling. I was conscious of my own weakness. I was afraid of misrepresenting
God. Cause trembling. And I tell you
what, anytime I preach, if there's not weakness and fear and much
trembling, I don't have any business preaching. Paul felt that way. If you can preach without weakness
and fear and much trembling, don't do it. Now look what he
says. Verse four, and my speech and
my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, plausible
arguments to talk you into something, but in demonstration of the spirit
and of power. Now what that means is I preached
the gospel and I simply waited on God the Holy Spirit to apply
it. I didn't try to manipulate you. I didn't try to get you
to do anything. I waited on God the Holy Spirit to apply his
power to that. Verse five, here's why. That
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men. I don't want a faith that stands
in the wisdom of men, but in the omnipotence of God. Now here's saving faith, faith
that is produced by the omnipotence of God, the same omnipotence
that created the universe, the same omnipotence that raised
Christ from the dead. The same omnipotence that gives
life to a dead sinner, that faith is the product of God's omnipotence,
not me being talked into something by the wisdom of men, not by
me making some kind of decision, well, I'm gonna believe. That
kind of faith is not saving faith. The only faith that's saving
faith is that which is created by the omnipotence of God. I won't ask you to turn to these,
but in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 5 we read of unfeigned faith
and in 2 Timothy 1 verse 5 we read of faith unfeigned. Now unfeigned, faith, faith unfeigned. You can put this unfeigned, unfeigned. Feign is the word hypocrite,
it's where we get the word acting from. What is unfeigned faith? It's
not just me saying what I know I'm supposed to say. It's not
me simply saying that Christ is all I have, that I look to
Him only. It's me really believing that.
And I can't be moved from that. That's, I cannot, that's all,
at all times, I really believe that. I'm not just saying it
because I know it's the right word to say. I'm not acting it
out. Unfeigned. You really believe. When God
looks in your heart, he sees someone who really knows that
the only hope they have is that Christ died for them, lived for
them, put away their sins, and represents them. Everything is
right there. Unfeigned faith. And then in James chapter 2 verse
1, we read of a, speaks of faith with the respect of persons.
It says in James 2, 1, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory with respect of persons. Now, the only way
we can really understand this thing of respect of persons is
God having no respect of persons when he poured his wrath upon
his son. There was no special leniency.
No turning his head for his son's sake. No, isn't that awesome
and glorious? No respect of persons even with
his son. There's one gospel. It's got
a specific content. And if somebody doesn't believe
that, they're not saved. Well, I know my mother saved. I know my mother saved. You can't
tell me any different. She was such a good woman. Did
she believe the gospel? Better watch out. Are you going
to protect your mother at the expense of the truth of God? If any man loved mother or father,
sister or brother, son or daughter more than me. He's not worthy
of me. Have not the faith of our Lord
Jesus Christ with the respect of persons. In James chapter
two, verse 20, this is the final scripture we're going to consider.
And then I want to make some applications of this, but James
chapter two, verse 20, we read these words, faith without works
is dead. Faith without works is dead. It's not saving. Faith without
works is dead. Now, I don't know how many times
when I've been talking to people and I try to preach the gospel
to them, they'll go straight to James chapter two. Well, what
about James chapter two? What it says, faith without works
is dead. Yeah, you gotta have faith, but you gotta have works
too. Faith without works is dead. It's all by itself. That's not
real. Bible says that. Now, how do you maintain that,
what you believe, in light of James chapter two, faith without
works is dead? Well, what does he say? Are you there in James chapter
two? Look here with me, James chapter two. Verse 20, but will thou know,
O vain man, that faith without works is dead. Was not Abraham
our father. Listen to the language justified
by works. Holy spirit inspired statement
was not Abraham. Our father justified by works. when he had offered Isaac his
son upon the altar. Now, let's think about what took
place. God said to Abraham, take now
your son, your only son, whom you love, and offer him up as
a burnt offering in a mountain I'll show thee. Now, God had
promised that in that boy, in that seed, all the nations of
the earth would be blessed. The Christ was going to come
through Isaac. And now, God says, slay him as
a burnt offering to me. If I do that, then God's promise
won't come to pass. Abraham knew God's promise would
come to pass because God promised it. And he knew that even if
he put his son to death, God was gonna raise him from the
dead. And he said, before he went up the mountain, he said,
I and the lad go yonder to worship and we will return again to you. He knew God would raise him from
the dead because he knew that whatever God promised must come
to pass. Even if Isaac is killed, seed's
still gonna come through him. He didn't know how it was gonna
happen, but he believed God. Now what if he would have said, if
I do that, then God's promise won't come to pass. What would
he be saying? He didn't believe God. If you
think that there's any scenario under which God, what God says
may not come to pass, you don't believe God. It's that simple. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. Now faith. based upon sight,
faith that has other things that it loves more, faith that does
not persevere, faith that arises from false views of God and false
views of self and that thinks the gift of God can be bought,
faith that does not have charity, faith that is not grounded in
the resurrection, Faith that does not stand in the power of
God. Faith that is feigned, acted
out. Faith with respect of persons. Faith without works is unsaving
faith. Amen? Well, what is saving faith? I'm gonna give you four scriptures
real briefly. I could give just one, I could
give hundreds. But these four scriptures came to my mind and
I wanna nail down this thing of what is saving faith. The first one is found in the
Philippian jailer, it says, to Paul and Silas, sirs, what must
I do to be saved? He knew he couldn't save himself.
He was convinced of that, or he wouldn't have asked, what
must I do to be saved? He would have been saying, what
can I do to save myself? No, he knew the only way he could
be saved if God would save him. What must I do to be saved? And
I love the simplicity of this answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. He's the Lord. And what that
means is he's the one whose will is always done. That's what the
Lordship of Christ is. He willed creation. He wills everything that takes
place in providence. And if you're saved, it's because
he willed your salvation. He's the Lord. Believe on the
Lord Jesus. Don't you love his name, Jesus?
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins. Jesus means Savior. That's who
He is. He's the Savior. He's the Christ,
God's prophet, God's priest, God's King. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. The Ethiopian eunuch said, what
hinders me from being baptized? And that's such a good question.
He'd heard of baptism. He'd heard you're supposed to
confess Christ in believer's baptism. Is there a reason why
I shouldn't? And Philip said, if you believe
with all your heart, you may. And here we have the clearest
definition of faith. I reckon you're going to find
it all the word of God. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the son of God. You believe that? That's faith. Faith is believing
who he is. He didn't say, I believe I'm
saved, or I believe I'm one of the elect, or I believe the cross
died for me. He said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son
of God. That's the issue, knowing who
he is. Once you know who he is, everything
else is taken care of. Romans 4, 5 says, and I love
this verse, to him that worketh not. You are convinced that insofar
as you are concerned, salvation by works is impossible for you.
If there's one condition that you have to meet It's over for
you. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly. There's your hope. You're relying
on him who justifies the ungodly. Your hope is in the cross of
Christ that he actually justified the ungodly by what he did. There's
where you're hanging your hat. You believe on him that justifies
the ungodly. And the last one I want you to
turn with me to second Timothy chapter one. Verse 12 for the witch cause. I also suffer
these things. Now, because Paul preached the
gospel, he knew that bonds awaited him, beatings, whippings, imprisonment,
and every town he went to. Man, he was a tough man one day.
I admire thinking about this. I mean, he'd go into town knowing
after he preached, he's going to get tied to a pole and whipped
with a cat and iron tails. He knew it was going to happen.
Did it stop him? No. Oh, for that kind of zeal for
God's glory, that believing the message so much that you're willing
to. But the witch cause, I suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm
not ashamed. For. I know. Whom I have believed. And am persuaded. That he is
able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that
day, the day of judgment. Now here is saving faith. I know whom. Everything we believe is predicated
on who he is. I know whom I have believed. I think the best way to illustrate
this is if we looked at it last week, I think the thief on the
cross, when he said with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, this
man had done nothing amiss. He hadn't known him but a couple
hours. He didn't know any of his previous 33 years. He knew
nothing about him up until that time. But now that he knows him,
he says, I know this man had done nothing amiss. How did he
know that? Because he knew who he was. If you know who he was, you know
that. You know everything the thief
knew. I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded. And the word
is actually in the passive. I've been persuaded. You see,
if he persuades you, you know what? You're persuaded. If he
persuades you, you're persuaded. If I persuade you, you won't
be persuaded. But if he does, you're persuaded. I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able. You're completely convinced of
his ability to save you without your help. I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I have committed unto him against that day. Now here's saving faith.
When you have saving faith, you commit the entire salvation of
your soul to Him. Hands off. If He doesn't do it
all, if there's anything that He doesn't do that's left for
me to do, I won't be saved. I've committed the entire salvation
of my soul to Him. And I'm relying on Him to save
me. That is the faith that saves. Let's pray. Lord how we thank you for your
word and Lord we ask that we might be given saving faith in
thy dear son so that we might be enabled to say with Paul,
I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. Bless this word for your glory
and for our good in Christ's name we pray, amen.