Faith That Saves

Introduction

There are one of two events we can guaranteed will occur sometime in the future:

1. You will experience a physical death.

2. You will be alive and remain until the second coming of Jesus Christ.

If we're honest, none of us are exactly looking forward to either of these events happening anytime soon.

If you're a Christian and believe the Bible you may have a sense of security about this future; but you're probably not making any plans anytime soon!

If you're a spiritual seeker, you may less assurance of what the future holds for you. You may experience anxiety and fear just thinking about it.

We Can't Ignore This!

Either way, the worst thing anyone can do is to dismiss these thoughts from their mind and refuse to consider what lies beyond this life.

We can't ignore this!

Review

5 Truths We Must Believe

In order to lay the foundation that we will build upon in this series, we must begin with 5 truths that we must believe.

God Exists

God Creates

God Determines

God Decides

God is Good!

Why we need to be saved?

We are accountable to God.

We are guilty.

We cannot save ourselves.

Confession and Belief

Confession-Jesus is Lord

Belief-God raised him from the dead.

We will be saved!

Last Week

We looked at how we were without strength, still sinners, and enemies of God, Christ died for us!

By Faith

Romans 5:1–2 (NLT)

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

The apostle states clearly we have been made right in God’s sight “by faith”.

Made right means “justified”.

We’ve spend a lot of time in this series reminding ourselves that we can’t make things right with God on own own.

We were without strength.

We were still sinners.

We were enemies of God.

The only way to be “saved” is faith in Christ.

What Kind Of Faith?

This faith is more than simply believing something to be true.

This faith is a reliance, an unwavering trust in and on what we believe.

This is sometimes referred to as “saving faith”.

Types of Faith

The church’s historic understanding of saving faith has three elements:

1. The facts (notitia),

2. Comprehension of the facts (assensus),

3. Trust in the facts (fiducia).

Facts–In order for someone to believe in and trust in the saving work of Jesus, a person must first know the facts. She must know that Jesus existed as a real, live, historical person. Jesus is not a myth or fairy tale. But a bare knowledge of the facts does not constitute saving faith.

Comprehension–A person must know the basic facts and comprehend them. In other words, knowing that Jesus lived is not enough; one must understand what Jesus did in his life. He claimed to be God in the flesh (John 8:58), God’s son and equal to him (John 5:18), and the only way to be saved: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Trust–But it is not enough to believe that Jesus exists and that he made these claims. The sinner must place her trust in Christ’s claims—she must believe that Jesus is the incarnate son of God and that he came to save sinners through his life, death, and resurrection (Rom. 1:16–17; 10:9–10).

Illustration: Air Travel

1. There is an airplane in front of me.

2. I can acknowledge the fact that the airplane and its pilot can hurtle down the runway and leap into the air for sustained flight.

3.But I must trust the airplane and its pilot, board the aircraft, take my seat, and ride the airplane in order to demonstrate my faith in it.

A bare knowledge of Christ and his claims is insufficient for salvation.

We must trust that he is the only way to be saved from our sin and the only one who can give eternal life.

(Reference_https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/doctrine-saving-faith/)

Faith’s Result

The results of this faith:

Peace with God

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

No more hostility between us and God.

Undeserved Privilege

Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand…,

Access into God’s grace.

Sharing God’s Glory

.and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.The future eternal hope of eternity in God’s presence.

Final Thoughts

Justified by Faith

We can only be made right with God by faith in Christ.

This is “saving faith”, which involves knowing the facts, comprehending these facts, and trusting in this truth to save us.

What if we have doubts? How can we increase this faith?

Romans 10:17 NKJV

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We need to immerse ourselves in God’s word.

This is where this “saving faith” grows to take us from uncertainty to certainty.

We’re exposing ourselves to the facts, the Holy Spirit helping us to fully comprehend the truth, and finally to bring us the assurance of salvation.

The more we are in the scripture, the greater reliance we will have on what God has revealed and promised.

A simple prayer: Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.”