Saving Faith
Saving faith cannot be gained by mere intellectual means, it is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). Faith is very clearly defined in the bible as, “Being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1).
Faith has an element of belief, but it goes beyond just mere belief (for even the devil believes!), it also involves hope and being certain of an expected end.
Faith also has a very important element of trust. And this “trust” is in a person and saving faith requires putting our trust in the person of Jesus Christ. For the bible declares that, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Biblical faith, is defined as belief, trust and confidence. It also involves fidelity, which can be defined as faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support.
Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
I can recall a conversation I had with someone once who was asking me about my own Christian faith. He had a whole load of questions about the bible. However, he could see the obvious difficulty entering into some sort of debate with me. You see, he could clearly see that we were looking at things from completely differing perspectives. I had one hundred percent assurance in what I believed. I know that I know that since that day way back in 1990, my life has changed completely. I have a complete assurance of salvation and I have faith that what the bible says is true. My friend on the other hand, didn’t have faith. He very quickly came to the conclusion that it was pretty pointless trying to get me to come around to his way of thinking. He could see that the bottom line was that I had faith and he didn’t, so it was pretty futile to try and convince me about his own beliefs.
But before we can go onto look at faith further, perhaps it would be good to establish what we mean by the word salvation in the context of ‘saving faith’.
There are two aspects of this word salvation:
- We are rescued from and prevented from going to Hell.
- We are made whole and healed.
Unfortunately, there is a further complication when considering this word ‘salvation’ because the bible talks about salvation in the past, present and future tenses. Therefore, we have been saved, we are in the process of being saved and we will be saved. Now to avoid any further possible confusion, in talking about initial saving faith, we are talking about the salvation that is in the past tense. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God.” As we will see a bit later, our salvation is based entirely on the finished work that Jesus accomplished by His death, burial and resurrection. There is nothing we can do to try and earn this salvation; it has already been done for us by Jesus and Him alone. We will look into the present and future aspects of salvation when we look at the work of the Holy Spirit who is responsible for these.
So, what about the being made whole and healing elements of salvation? Well, imagine you stumble upon an old vintage motorcycle that had just been dumped at a scrap yard and seemingly forgotten about. You could see that this bike could be quite valuable and with some tender loving care, could be restored back to its original condition and could be ridden again. So, you buy the motorcycle from the scrap merchant, take it home and immediately begin the restoration work.
Now, this illustration is quite good because it identifies these key aspects of salvation:
- Someone sought us out (found us). It is God who calls us.
- It cost God something to purchase our salvation.
- God rescues us from eternal destruction
- God wants to restore us back to what we were originally intended to be.
The healing and wholeness element of salvation begins the moment we call on the Lord to save us. It is an ongoing process; our spirits man will become brand new and alive to God, however, it will take time for our way of thinking to change and our feelings to come in line with the Word of God. Our physical bodies will continue the ageing process. But, when we die, or if the Lord comes back before we do, we will receive a wonderful new heavenly body and when we get to heaven, there will be no more pain or tears.
How can we get this saving faith?
Well, it can only come as a result of repentance (see my blog on Repentance.)
Repentance and faith can be understood as “two sides of the same coin.” It is impossible to place your faith in Jesus Christ as the Saviour without first changing your mind about who He is and what He has done. Whether it is repentance from wilful rejection or repentance from ignorance or disinterest, it is a change of mind. Biblical repentance, in relation to salvation, is changing your mind from rejection of Christ to faith in Christ. (https://www.gotquestions.org/repentance.html)
The link between repentance the forgiveness of sins is established right at the beginning of the New Testament, where we read that John the Baptist preached a message about the need to repent and be baptised for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:3-4).
After John the Baptist was put in prison, Jesus preached a message that people should “repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)
After His death and resurrection, Luke records that Jesus told His disciples, “The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-47)
This message of ‘repent and believe’ did start at Jerusalem as Jesus said it would, when Peter stood up and addressed the crowd on the day of Pentecost and said: “Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38) (Before a person can be baptised, they must profess faith in Jesus, as we will see when we look at the subject of Baptism, in a future blog).
Peter, repeated this message in Acts 3:19, where he said: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
Paul, speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus, declared that his gospel message to Jews and Greeks alike, was, “repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21)
Hebrews 6:1 too makes that link between “repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God.
2 Peter 3:9 also establishes the link between repentance and saving faith, when Peter states, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
The most common way that a person will come to faith is by hearing God’s Word; either reading it or hearing someone preach from it. For the bible states that “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” (Romans 10:17).
Here are four basic facts about the Gospel message (“good news”) about Jesus, taken from Romans 4:25 & 1 Corinthians 15:1-4:
- Jesus (God’s only Son), died to take the punishment of our sins.
- Jesus was buried.
- On the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead.
- Right standing with God is received upon believing these first three facts
What must we do?
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
The substance of our faith is trusting in the truth of God’s Word which states:
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
As soon as a person receives this saving faith, they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) and some wonderful things will take place, they will become what the bible states as:
- Justified
- Sanctified
- Born Again
- Children of God
But this will have to be the subject of another blog….
