SAVING FAITH

The Need to Examine Our Faith

The Bible commands us to examine our faith to be sure it is genuine saving faith.

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

2 Peter 1:10–11 “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

There is a kind of faith that is not saving faith.

See Matthew 7:21-23...

James 2:19 “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”

People are easily deceived when it comes to their faith.

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Proverbs 28:26 “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.”

Proverbs 21:2 “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.”

Proverbs 16:25 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

Faith Defined

Hebrews 11:1–2 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.”

Faith is being assured and convinced that God will do what He has promised.

Romans 8:24–25 “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

2 Corinthians 5:7 “for we walk by faith, not by sight.”

John 20:29 “Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.””

See Romans 4:18-25 and Romans 10:9-10...

So from these verses we learn that faith is trusting in what isn't visible. It is trusting in what isn't received. It is trusting in what isn't experienced. It is trusting in something not yet manifest.

The Source of Faith

The Lord is the One who produces faith is us.

See Ephesians 2:8-10...

Philippians 1:29 “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,”

Romans 12:3 “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

Hebrews 12:2 “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

The Lord draws us to Himself. He sends the Word of God to us. The Spirit applies the Word to our heart and convicts us of our sins. Then He opens our eyes to see our need of Christ clearly. Then WE believe in Christ to save us from our sins.

John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

John 16:8 “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:”

See 2 Corinthians 4:4–6...

Saving Faith is Repentant

True saving faith is always repentant faith. If there is no repentance, there is no saving faith.

Mark 1:14–15 “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”” (see Luke 13:3)

See Acts 20:17-21...

Saving Faith Trusts in Christ Alone

True saving faith always trusts in Christ alone for salvation. If your faith is in Christ plus your good works, then it is not saving faith.

John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

See John 6:26-29...

Acts 16:30–31 “Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.””

Galatians 2:16 “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Galatians 2:20–21 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

If you are trusting in your own works, then you are not trusting in Christ alone.

See Jeremiah 17:5-10...

Galatians 5:4 “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”

Saving Faith Produces Good Works

True saving faith always produces good works in the life of the believer.

See James 2:14-26...

Saving faith always produces good works because saving faith is a work of God in us.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

See Ezekiel 36:25-27...

Galatians 5:22–23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Romans 6:1–2 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

Titus 2:11–12 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,”

See Hebrews 12:5-11...

We are not saved by our good works, but our good works are evidence that we are saved.

John 14:15 ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

See 1 John 2:3-6...

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

According to 1 John, true believers walk in the light (1 John 1:5-7), confess their sins (1 John 1:8-10), keep Christ’s commandments (1 John 2:3-5), does not love the world (1 John 2:15-17), practices righteousness instead of sin (1 John 3:4-10), and loves fellow Christians (1 John 3:14-15).

Saving Faith Endures

True saving faith always endures to the end.

Matthew 24:13 “But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

John 8:31 “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,”

Hebrews 3:14 “For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

1 Corinthians 15:1–2 “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”

Hebrews 3:6 “but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”

See Colossians 1:21-23...

If someone falls away from the faith, it is proof that their faith wasn’t genuine.

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

See Hebrews 10:35-39...

Saving faith always endures because God started His saving work in us, so He will bring it to completion.

Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

See Romans 8:28-30...