Saving Faith
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Roman Recap:
Roman Recap:
Step 1: Everyone has sinned.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Step 2: The Punishment for Sin is Hell.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Step 3: The Gift of God to sinners in Eternal Life through Jesus Christ.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Step 4: You must put your Faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.
Step 4: You must put your Faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.
Faith in a central theme in the bible, particularity faith in Jesus Christ.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Other scriptures:
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Pretty Clear. But today i want to speak not about faith in general, but on a specific “type” of Faith - Saving Faith.
The Word “faith” is very overused and misunderstood, particularly in a pluralistic society.
Faith nowadays is more of a spiritual term than a theological one. People say that they “have faith” but in what?. Many people say that believe, but in what?
“Faith” in it biblical concept must be distingues from “faith” within a spiritualism context.
Having Faith is all fine and dandy, but i want to know what you have faith in and how your faith manifests.
Scientologists have faith - faith in the mothership.
Muslims have faith - faith in 72 Virgins.
Atheists have faith -0 faith that God does not exists.
So we must separate faith from faith. Pluralistic faith from Saving Faith.
This is important in evangelism. Many people would say that they have faith in Jesus, or that they believe in Jesus - but that is not necessarily mean that they have saving faith in Jesus.
“I believe in Jesus!” they say
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Faith vs Faith
Faith vs Faith
This need to tell one uses from a word (with a different meaning) apart from a different usage of the same word is not a new thing.
During the early days of the Protestant Reformation the Protestant church was busy defining terms from a biblical perspective as apposed to the catholic church who defined them from a traditional perspective.
In fact the understudying of the word faith was so different from a Protestant perspective that Martin Luther actually coined the phrase Saving faith in his writings, as a means of differentiation between true and false faith.
This same issue is once again at work in the church. The progressive Church is not trying to define words based on culture rather than the bible.
lets put a slide up:
Catholic (tradition) Justification = Faith + Works
Protestant (biblical) Faith = Justification + Works
Progressive (cultural) Faith = Justification - works.
Lets see which one fits the biblical Model:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
So that word Faith is referring to Saving Faith - Faith that results in Salvation and a changed life.
So Lets examine Faith and see what characterises Saving faith has over, shall we say, fraudulent faith. Living faith over Dead Faith.
The early reformers said that biblical, saving faith has 3 characterises that must be present for faith to qualify as saving faith.
They called these 3 characterises in the latin: Notitia, Assensus and Fiducia.
They mean: Content, Conviction and trust. and they are present in every scripture than speaks about saving faith.
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
and our scripture of the roman road
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Notitia - The Content of Faith
Notitia - The Content of Faith
This christicterist simpoly refers to the contest of the statment of faith. It simply means that you know a perticular belief.
“Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, he died on calvary Hill to pay the ransom for sin and was raised on the third day and is no ascended.”
Just knowing this does not save you, knowledge is not saving faith.
I know what JW’s believe but i am not a saved JW. I know what Islam teachers, but i’m not a muslim, many atheists know what the bible teaches but they are not christians.
But at the same time, you cannot have faith in something that you do not know.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Assensus - The Conviction of Faith
Assensus - The Conviction of Faith
By conviction we mean that you actually believe that the content of the statement is True.
For example I believe that Joseph Smith said that Jesus is a creature - But I do not believe that what he said it true. I believe he s aid it was true but i don’t believe that what he said is true.
Now to have saving faith in anything you must believe that it is actually true. You must have conviction in the belief.
As a christian our conviction comes from the faith we have in the bible as being the inspired word of God.
So for example:
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
The content of this passage is that Jesus is coming back. You may know that. But do you have conviction that what this passage says is true? Thats what Assensus if referring too.
So, if someone says that they believe in Jesus and say that they are fully convinced that what the bible says in true, do they have faith? yes. Do they have saving faith? No.
There is still one very important characteristic that is missing.
Fiduca - The Trust of Faith.
Fiduca - The Trust of Faith.
faith must be acted upon.
(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
Faith is supposed to be a walk, a step of faith. We know what we believe (content) we actually believe it fully (conviction) now we must step out in faith and trust what it is we say we believe.
That is a big step.
parachute - know, believe - now jump! - jumping is a big step after believing!
How do you know you have Trusted in Jesus? How can we know the geuinuess of our faith?
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
So where do good works fit in? Well, there is another aspect of Fiduca that I have not mentioned. When you trust in something you will grow in affection towards that which you trust.
Parachute - who cuts it off? you love it more because you know that without it - splat!
So to when you trust in Jesus Christ you grow in your love and affection of him more and more.
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
and what happens when you love Jesus more and more? You obey him more and more.
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Thats where the good works come into the equation. Our good works are motivated by our love for the justifier.
May i remind you of the progressive church which says that you can go to heaven and still live like Hell. See the satanic nature of that doctrine.
Saving Faith
Saving Faith
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.