The Faith That Saves

I want you to open your Bibles
today to the book of Ephesians. I'll be speaking to you from
chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. My subject, the faith that saves. Now, let me read the text. Ephesians,
chapter 2, verse 8 and 9. Paul writes, 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." Now,
my friends, if words can mean anything at all, the Bible clearly
states that men and women are saved from sin and made heirs
of eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what Paul writes in this scripture. For by grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Let's
read several scriptures from other parts of the Word of God.
First of all, from Mark 16, verse 15. Our Lord had been crucified,
risen from the tomb, and was going back to the Father. And
before He ascended, He spoke to His disciples and said these
words, All authority is given unto Me in heaven and earth.
Go ye therefore into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And then in John chapter 3, verse
14, the Master is speaking again. And he said, As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have eternal life. And then in John 5, 24,
the Savior said this, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, shall not
come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life,
he that believeth. The Bible teaches that salvation
from sin is by faith in Jesus Christ, not by works, not by
human merit, but by faith in Christ. When Paul was in prison
at Philippi, And God sent the earthquake to shake the jail
and to shake loose the doors. And the Philippian jailer, trembling,
saw the power of God and what had taken place. And he came
and fell at the feet of Paul and Silas and asked this question.
Acts 16, verse 30. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And Paul answered and said unto
him, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, And thou shalt be saved
in thy house." And then in Romans 10, the Apostle Paul is writing
concerning the people of Israel. And he said, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
And then down in verse 9, he said this, "...if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine
heart God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
So if words can mean anything at all, it is clear that salvation
from sin is by faith in Jesus Christ. If we would be heirs
of eternal life, if we would know the living God, if we would
pass from death to life, it is by believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now here's the second thing I
want you to see. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is that saving
grace upon which all other grace depends. In other words, to believe
on Christ is the foundation of redemption. It's the foundation
of sanctification. It's the foundation of justification. It's the foundation of eternal
inheritance. Everything depends upon believing
in Christ. Everything comes through that
grace. That's the foundation grace. When our Lord talked to
the apostle Peter about Peter denying him, he said, you will
deny me, but Peter, I prayed for you that your faith fail
not. This is the foundation grace.
This is the foundation upon which all other graces depend. We must
believe. And we must continue to believe.
And before the apostle Paul died, he said, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith. So faith is the foundation grace
upon which all other graces depend. For example, listen to this,
Hebrews 11, 6. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Whatever I do, whatever I know,
whatever I say, whatever I claim, whatever I give, is empty without
faith. It's impossible to please God
without faith. Listen to this in Romans 10,
13, and 14, without faith there can be no saving call for mercy. Now we know the scripture says,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But now Paul asks this question, how shall they call on him in
whom they've not believed? So there can be no saving call
for mercy without faith. What I'm saying is faith is the
foundation grace. And everything else depends upon
my faith in Christ. If I have not faith in Christ,
I cannot please God. I cannot effectively call on
God for mercy. And then listen to this. In John
6, 28, without faith, I cannot work the works of God. They asked
the Master in John 6, verse 28, what shall we do? that we might
work the works of God. And he said, this is the work
of God, that you believe on him whom God has sent. So our works
without faith are vain. Our works without faith are empty.
Our works without faith are unacceptable to God. Faith is the foundation
grace. It is by Faith that we're saved,
it is by faith that we call on God. It is by faith that we work
the works of God. Now listen to this, in James
1, 5, prayer without faith is a mockery. Back in the Gospels,
our Lord Jesus Christ said, when you pray, believe. What things
soever you desire in your heart, when you pray, believe. And they
shall be done. And then James says, if any man
lack wisdom, let him ask of God, but let him ask in faith. Nothing wavering, for he that
wavereth is like the troubled sea. Let not that man think that
he shall receive anything of God. Faith is the foundation
for prayer. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is. and that he is the rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. It's useless to come to God if
we do not believe that he is, and that he is merciful, and
that he is the rewarder of them that do come to him. So without
faith, prayer is a mockery, and there's no need to engage in
prayer without faith. Now listen again in John 3, 36.
Without faith, the blood of Christ availed you nothing. He said
in John 3.36, He that believeth on the Son hath light. He that
believeth not the Son shall never see light, but the wrath of God
abideth on him. So look to your faith. That's
the importance of the subject that I have this morning. What
is saving faith? What is this thing called faith?
First of all, it's the way that God saves men. We're saved by
grace through faith. We're kept by the power of God
through faith. And faith is the foundation grace
of all other graces. It's the foundation of regeneration,
of repentance, of sanctification, of justification. Without faith,
it's impossible to please God. Without faith, prayer is a mockery. Without faith, we cannot work
the works of God. Without faith, the blood of Christ
avails you nothing. Without faith, there can be no
call for mercy. Faith is the foundation of peace.
Paul wrote in Romans 5, therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God. Peace comes to us through faith. And then faith is the foundation
of all blessings. When that man came to our Lord
and asked Him to heal his son, the Lord Jesus said, if you believe,
all things are possible to them that believe. So faith is the
foundation of blessings. Blessings come by faith. And
then faith is the foundation of assurance. One of the apostles
said, I believe, therefore have I spoken. There's no need to
speak if we do not believe. Now one other thing before we
get to several points that I want to bring out in this message.
Saving faith can be and should be known. In other words, we
know whether or not we have faith in Christ. God commands us to
determine whether or not we believe on Christ. He said in 2 Corinthians
13, 5, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Know ye
not your own selves, how that Christ dwells in you, except
you be a reprobate? Do you have saving faith? Do
you have living faith? Do you have a heart faith in
Jesus Christ? Examine yourselves. He said in
2 Peter 1, verse 10, Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence,
Make this an important searching of your heart and soul, to make
your calling and election sure. God commands us to know and to
determine whether or not we have faith. The people of God in Scripture
knew that they had faith. Listen to Job. I know that my
Redeemer liveth, and that on this earth again he shall stand. And I shall see him with my eyes. I know that, Job said. I trust
him. I believe him. I know that he
lives. Listen to David. The Lord is
my shepherd. I shall not walk. Surely, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever, because he is my shepherd. Listen to Paul. I know whom I
have believed. I am persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed to him against that day. Listen
to John. We know that we have passed from death unto life.
So this thing of faith, it's not guesswork. It is a certainty. We can know that we have saving
faith. God commands us to determine
whether or not we have faith. He commands us to examine ourselves
and determine if we have saving faith. And the men of the Scripture,
knew they had faith. I know whom I have believed,
said Paul. And then our assurance that we
have faith must be determined by the Word of God. Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. I'm not talking
about searching to see if you've had an experience. I'm not talking
about searching to see if you have a certain feeling. I'm not
talking about searching to see and determine if you've experienced
certain emotions. I'm talking about searching the
Word and determining by the Word of God that we have faith in
God. In the book of Hebrews, chapter
13, verse 5 and 6, the Scripture says, He has said, I will never
leave you nor forsake you. So we can boldly say, The Lord
is my helper. I will not fear what man can
do unto me. He said it, therefore I can say
it. He promised it, therefore I can
claim it. He purposed it, therefore I,
in my heart, can receive it. But the basis of it is the Word
of God. Now, with those introductory
remarks, I want to point out four basic facts about faith.
And as I bring you this message on what is saving faith, You
remember these three things with which I open the program. First
of all, if a man is saved, he's saved by faith. That's what God's
Word says. He that believeth on the Son
hath light. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see light. Faith is the with, justified
by faith. And then faith is the foundation
grace of all other graces. It's the foundation of redemption,
of sanctification, of justification, of peace, of comfort, of assurance,
of all things. I cannot please God without faith.
I cannot work the works of God without faith. I cannot pray
without faith. I cannot sue for mercy without
faith. I cannot claim the blood of Christ without faith. That's
the foundation grace. And then remember this, you can
know your faith because God commands it. God commands it. And then
the Old Testament and New Testament believers, they knew they believed.
But now here are four facts about faith. First of all, saving faith
is born of need. That's where it's born. That's
where it comes from. That's the source of faith, is need. Now
let me show you that. Turn, if you will, in your Bibles
to Matthew 9. The 9th chapter of Matthew, verse
10 through 13. Our Lord was eating with publicans
and sinners. He was eating with a group of
people who were looked down upon by the Pharisees and religious
leaders because they were sinners, publicans and harlots and sinners.
And Christ was eating with them. And Christ was talking with them.
And they were talking with him. And they were asking him questions.
And he was answering their questions. And he was preaching to them.
And the Pharisees were standing off to the side, these religious,
ecclesiastical leaders. And they asked his disciples,
they said, why does your master eat with publicans and sinners?
Why does he fellowship with those people? Why does he put himself
in such a position as to be called a friend of sinners? Christ knew
their thoughts. And he replied. Now, you look
at it in Matthew 9, verse 10 through 13. He said, the well
do not need a position. People who are well do not need
a position, a doctor, but they that are sick. I am come, not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. You go learn what
that means. The well do not need a doctor.
Who needs a doctor? Sick people. Who needs a savior?
Sinners. Who needs a redeemer? Guilty
people. Who needs a mediator? Those who, because of their guilt
and shame and sin, have been separated from a holy God. And
if you go through the scriptures, you'll find that all who savingly
believed on Christ, all who savingly came to Christ, did so out of
a need. They were in trouble, and they
needed salvation. They were in trouble, and they
needed grace. They were in trouble, and they
needed mercy. Two men went up to the temple
to pray. One of them was a Pharisee, one of them was a publican. One
of them was a moral religious man, one was a sinner. The moral
religious man prayed thus with himself, God I thank you I'm
not like other men. Here he is, he's stating his
sufficiency. He's stating his merit. He's
declaring he has no need. I am all right, he said. I'm
not an adulterer. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. I tithe. I fast. I give alms
to the poor. I'm not like this publican over
here. Christ said the publican would not so much as lift his
eyes to heaven, but because of his guilt and because of his
sin and because of the shame of his soul. He would not lift
his eyes to God, but he smote on his breast in repentance.
And he cried, O God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That man, Christ
said, went to his house justified, while the other departed from
that place guilty before God, still unsaved. So the faith of
that publican was born out of need. Even so, blind Bartimaeus
sat by the wayside. He was blind from birth. And
he was begging. And he heard a commotion. He
says, what's going on? They said, Jesus of Nazareth
is passing by. And he began to cry. He began
to cry out of a need. He began to cry out of darkness.
He began to cry out of helplessness. He began to cry, Jesus, thou
Son of David, have mercy upon me. I need help. I need mercy. And the Scripture says, Christ
stood still. And Christ beckoned him to come
to Him, and He healed him. He met his need. He met the need
of the publican. He met the need of Bartimaeus,
the thief on the cross. He cried out of need. He said
to the other thief who cursed and blasphemed God, he said,
don't you fear God seeing we're in the same condemnation? And
we indeed justly. We're getting exactly what we
deserve. But this man's done nothing amiss,
and he turned to Christ and he said, Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom. Here's need, here's emptiness,
here's guilt, crying for mercy, crying for help, crying to be
remembered. And Christ turned to him and
said, today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. The harlot who
washed his feet with tears and dried them with the hair of her
head came to the feet of Christ because of her need. The Canaanite
woman came to him crying, Lord, have mercy upon me. The woman
with the issue of blood, she had spent everything that she
had on doctors and physicians and home remedies and all types
of cures and was no better. She was just worse and she came
to Christ. And she said, if I can just touch
but the hem of his garment, I shall be made whole. She came out of
need. And this faith is born of need. There'll be no cry for mercy
until a need is felt. There'll be no saving grace until
there's a cry for mercy. But that cry is born out of need. And when your sins ever become
real to you, and you can say with David, my sins are ever
before me. I've sinned against God. Like
the prodigal son who came home saying, Father, I've sinned against
heaven and in thy sight. I'm no longer worthy to be called
thy son. Just make me a hired servant,
but let me come home. Knee. When your sins are before
you, when death and judgment are real to you, when the wrath
of God and condemnation is upon you, when Christ becomes your
only source of help, you cry and you'll be saved, you'll be
delivered, you'll be forgiven. But faith is born of knee. The
well do not need the physician, therefore they don't call him
on the phone, they don't go to his office, they don't summons
his aid. But those that are sick do. The
minute they get sick and find out they can't help themselves
and can't cure themselves, they call on someone who can. And
one day Peter was walking on the water. Our Lord had sent
for Peter to come to him out of the boat. He said, come to
me. And Peter stepped out, walked on the water, and then he began
to be afraid and he began to sink. And in his helplessness,
in his need, in the urgency of the moment, he cried, Lord, save
me or I perish. Lord, save me or I perish. That's
when faith is born. Why do men not have faith in
Christ? The basic reason is they do not feel their need of Christ. All right, the second thing about
faith. I mentioned this a moment ago. Saving faith rests upon
the Word of God. Now, true faith does not require
a sign, only the Word of God, the naked Word of God. True faith
does not require a dream or a vision or even a feeling or an experience.
It rests on the Word of God. Noah built an ark, and on the
basis of the Word of God, Noah moved with fear and prepared
an ark to the saving of himself and his household. He believed
God's Word. There was no sign given. There'd
never been a rain. There'd never been a flood. He'd
never seen anything like this, but he believed God. Abraham,
get out of your father's house and land, the land of idolatry,
and go to a land that I will show thee, and I'll make of thee
a great nation. And Abraham arose and left, not knowing where he
was going, not knowing what God was going to do, but he believed
God's Word. Even so, Moses. God said to Moses, at midnight,
I'm coming through the land of Egypt. I shall smite the firstborn,
even of the cattle on the hillside, in every home. Now, you slay
a lamb, and you eat the flesh of the lamb and put the blood
on the door. And when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. No
sign, no dream, no vision, just God's Word. And my friend, I'll
tell you another illustration of this that I think is one of
the best. The disciples were out fishing. They'd fished all
night. And they'd caught nothing. These men were professional fishermen. But they'd fished all night and
caught nothing. And the Lord appeared on the shore. And He
said, Children, do you have any meat? And they said, None. He
said, Cast your nets on the right side of the ship, and you'll
catch some fish. And Peter looked at Him. He said,
Lord, we've toiled all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless,
And this is the key, nevertheless, at your word, I'll let down the
net. And he let down the net and he
caught fish. But here's what I'm saying, this faith is rest
upon the Word of God, not upon signs and dreams and visions
and experiences, emotions and feelings, just the naked Word
of God. Whatever you say, that's what I'll do. I've toiled all
night and caught nothing, but Lord, nevertheless, at your word,
I'll let down the net." If you have a need and if you can have
that kind of confidence in the Word of God, you can be saved.
Charles Spurgeon said one time, when I came to Christ, I had
no assurance of any personal or saving interest in the death
and work and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But I knew that
it was written in God's Word, He was made sin for us who knew
no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. I knew that it was written in
God's Word, coming to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I'll give you rest. So I came to Him. I came to Him
on the strength of His Word, on the strength of His promise.
I trusted Him. I trusted my soul to His care
on the strength of His Word. Sink or swim, I go to Him. And God spoke peace to my heart.
Faith, saving faith. is born of need. Saving faith
is based entirely on the Word of God. And thirdly, saving faith
is a heart work. Now, the Scripture says, If thou
shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe
in thine heart God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. It's
true. that in order for a man to believe
on Christ, there must be a head work. There must be an understanding. He hath come and given us an
understanding. We've got to understand who He
is. Who is Jesus Christ? He is God in the flesh. What
did He do? He came to this earth and obeyed
the law and died on the cross for our sins. Why did He do it?
That God the Father might be just and justify the ungodly.
Where is He now? He's at the right hand of God.
We understand the ruin of sin. We understand the redemption
by the blood. We understand regeneration by
the Holy Spirit. But Christ is received in the
heart. Faith is not just mental acceptance
of a creed. Faith is not just mental acceptance
of a few facts. Faith is receiving a person. When our Lord sat down by the
seashore and talked to the apostle Peter, he said, Peter, do you
love me? Do you love me? And he said, Lord, you know all
things. You know that I love you. In John 1.12, the Scripture
says, "...as many as received Him." Not just facts about Him,
but Him. Not even the truth about Him,
but Him. "...to them gave He the right to become sons of God."
And fourthly, faith is a committal to Christ. Now, in 2 Timothy
1.12, Paul said, "...I know whom I have believed." And I am persuaded
he's able to keep that which I've committed to him against
that day. And the old timers used to say this is the best
definition of faith. Knowledge, I know whom I have
believed. Confidence, I'm persuaded he's
able to save, to keep, to raise me. That which I thirdly committed
to him. It's a conscious committal of
my heart to Jesus Christ.

The Faith That Saves

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The Faith That Saves

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