Faith

Three Practical Questions

 

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."       (Hebrews 11:6)

 

How can I obtain faith?

 

There are many who vainly imagine that faith is a hereditary gift, that if one’s parents were believers, or if he was raised in a believing home, then he is automatically a believer. Others imagine that faith comes to the children of believing parents by means of the parents’ faith, the ceremony of sprinkling (or pouring) water on the baby, catechizing the child, and raising it to be a believer. Many who reject both these heretical teachings imagine that faith can be communicated to children by the will of others, suggesting that if we pray earnestly enough for someone to be saved they will be saved. Still others have the idea that faith can be secured by religious education.

 

      John 1:11-13 specifically repudiates all such teaching about faith in Christ and God’s great gift of grace in salvation. — “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

 

      Faith in Christ cannot be obtained or communicated to anyone by heredity, education, human reason, or religious ceremony. Faith in Christ is the free gift of God’s sovereign grace.

 

      Any sinner who obtains faith in Christ gets it by God’s appointed means, through the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 10:13-17). Faith comes by divine revelation, by Christ being revealed in us (Matt. 16:16; Gal. 1:15). Faith is the gift of God the Holy Spirit, the result of the operation of his grace in regeneration (John 6:63; Eph. 1:18-20).

 

Do I have true, saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

 

Is it possible for men and women to know whether or not they have faith in Christ? Indeed, it is. —  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”  (1 John 5:13).

 

      If  a  person  is  born  of  God,  if  God  has  given  the  gift   of  faith   in the Lord Jesus  Christ  to  a  person,  he  renounces  all personal  righteousness, acknowledging that Christ alone is his righteousness before God (Jer. 23:6; 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:3-11). It is impossible to look to Christ alone for righteousness while going about to establish your own righteousness (Rom. 9:31-10:4). The believer looks to Christ alone for his acceptance with God. We trust his blood alone for atonement and satisfaction. We look to his obedience alone for righteousness (Rom. 5:18-19).

 

      Trusting Christ alone as our solitary Redeemer and Savior, all who are born of God, all to whom God the Holy Spirit has given the gift of faith, bow to Christ as their Lord. Faith, in its essence, involves surrender to Christ as Lord (Luke 14:25-33). Christ’s lordship is not a theological point about which believers argue. All who are taught of God know that he is Lord over all. The believer wants him to be Lord over all. He rejoices in the fact that he is. And he voluntarily surrenders the rule of his life to his Lord. Faith is the giving up of my life to Christ, willingly.

 

      This surrender to Christ is not a once for all thing. It is not something done at the time of conversion, never to be experienced again. Oh, no. As we must daily say no to all confidence in the flesh, daily look to Christ for grace, so we must daily take up our cross and follow him, daily surrendering our will to his will, our way to his way, and our lives to his dominion.

 

            All who have faith in Christ love him and love one another. — “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him” (1 John 5:1).  We do not and cannot love Christ or one another as we ought, any more than we can trust our Savior as we ought; but all who are granted faith in Christ love him and his people.

 

Where is the assurance of faith to be found?

 

Without question, faith is accompanied by the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). All believers renounce all personal righteousness before God, bow to Christ as their Lord, and walk in love. Yet, our assurance is not found in the degree to which we renounce our own righteousness, the degree of our sureender, or the degree of our love for him and one another. The assurance of faith is found in the Word of God alone.

 

      It is written, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). — “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:10-13).

 

“Feelings come and feelings go, And feelings are deceiving.

I trust the Word of God alone. — Naught else is worth believing.”