Saved by Faith
A pleasant good morning to each one in our listening audience.
Last Sunday we began a series of lessons concerning GOD'S SCHEME OF
REDEMPTION." I spoke on the subject of "Salvation by Grace," pointing
out that, if man is saved, it will be by the grace of God. It will
not be according to various rites or ceremonies that we may do, nor
will it be by our own meritorious works. Jehovah does not bestow
salvation based upon His obligations toward what we might do. We
simply cannot work our way into heaven. But, this does not rule out
our obedience to every command issued by our Lord. With that lesson
as a background, we study this morning a second lesson on the general
theme, "The Scheme of Human Redemption." The subject for this morning
is "Faith." Next Sunday: "Repentance." Please stay with us through
this vital series of studies, each Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m.
In every age and dispensation faith has been a condition of
pardon. God has never saved a sinner without faith and He could not
do so, for, in the very nature of conversion, the sinner must believe
and trust God in order to receive forgiveness.
The Bible everywhere emphasized the necessity of faith. In John
3:16, Jesus says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life," and in verse 18, he says, "He that believeth
on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God,: and in verse 36, Jesus says, "He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him." In John
8:24, Jesus further says, "For if ye believe not that I am he, ye
shall die in your sins." In John 11:25, Jesus states, "I am the
resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me
shall never die." When Jesus gave the great commission, he said, "He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth
not shall be damned" (Mark 16:16).
When the gospel began to be proclaimed, beginning at Pentecost,
(Acts 2), faith was laid down as a condition of salvation, and the
apostles and other preachers of the first century refused to baptize
sinners unless they believed in Christ. When the Ethiopian nobleman,
who had heard the gospel, desired to be baptized, Philip, the
evangelist, said, "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou
mayest." The eunuch replied, "I believe that Jesus is the Son of
God," and upon this confession of his faith, Philip baptized him.
When preaching the gospel to the house of Cornelius, Peter declared,
"To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43), and
upon that faith he commanded them to be baptized (verse 48). When the
gospel was preached at Antioch in Syria for the first time, it is
said that "a great number believed and turned unto the Lord" (Acts
11:21). When Paul preached the gospel in Antioch of Pisidia, he said,
"Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this
man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that
believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be
justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38-39). When Paul preached
the gospel in the synagogue at Iconium he "so spake that a great
multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed" (Acts
14:1). When the Philippian jailer asked, "What must I do to be
saved?" Paul immediately replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:31). When Paul
preached the gospel in Thessalonica, a great multitude believed (Acts
17:4). When he went on to Berea and preached the record says,
"therefore many of them believed" (Acts 17:12). When he preached in
Athens, though many mocked and refused to believe, yet it is said
that "certain men clave unto him, and believed" (Acts 17:34). From
Athens, Paul went to Corinth preaching Jesus Christ and him crucified
and in Acts 18:8, Luke says, "and many of the Corinthians hearing
believed, and were baptized." When Paul came to Ephesus from Corinth,
he preached Christ there also and in Acts 19:18, it is said that many
believed. From all of these examples, it is abundantly clear that
faith in Jesus Christ was a prominent part of ancient gospel
preaching and it was always required of sinners as a condition of
pardon or forgiveness.
Several serious doctrinal controversies arose in those early
churches. One of the most prominent controversies, was on the subject
of circumcision. We mentioned this briefly last week. Jewish
Christians were not satisfied with the doctrine of justification by
faith; they wanted to bind some of the rites and ceremonies of
Judaism upon these early Christians. When this controversy was
brought to the apostles for settlement, they affirmed the doctrine of
justification by faith, and denied the doctrine of justification by
circumcision. Peter said, "God made choice among us, that the
Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
And God....put no difference between us and them, purifying their
hearts by faith" (Acts 15:7-9). Later Paul encountered this same
error among the Galatian churches, and, when disputing with them, he
boldly declared that sinners were justified by faith in Christ and
not by the works of the Law. He affirmed that "The just shall live by
faith" (Galatians 3:11), and that "Ye are all the children of God by
faith in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26); and he showed that
circumcision completely nullified the doctrine of salvation by faith.
It is not circumcision or uncircumcision that counts, "but faith
which worketh by love" (Galatians 5:6).
In the Roman letter, Paul affirms the doctrine of justification
by faith as against justification by works. He says that the gospel
is God's power to save those who believe (Romans 1:16) and that the
righteousness of God is by faith in Christ (Romans 3:22). He states
that salvation is appropriated "through faith in his blood" (Rom
5:25). In Romans 5:1-2, Paul reaches the climax of this matchless
argument by saying, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have
access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God." Continuing this argument in the ninth, tenth,
and eleventh chapters of Romans, Paul says that the Gentiles attained
to righteousness but the Jews did not attain to it. And why? Because
the Jews sought justification by works while the Gentiles sought it
by faith (Romans 9:30-32). The Jews set aside God's righteousness
(which was by faith) and established their own righteousness (which
was by the works of the law) (Romans 10:1-3), and because of this
they were lost. They had refused to obey the gospel because they did
not believe, for in Romans 10:16-17, Paul says, "But they have not
all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our
report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God." In Romans 11:20, he shows that the Jews were lost because of
their unbelief while the Gentiles were saved because of their faith;
and he goes on to show that the Jews can be saved when they give up
their unbelief and trust in Christ crucified for salvation.
Thus we see, dear friends, that the necessity and importance of
faith are emphasized over and over again in the Bible. Hebrews 11:6
states, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." Jesus said
that we shall die in our sins without faith, and he further said, "He
that believeth not shall be damned." Faith is absolutely essential to
salvation. We are "justified by faith" (Romans 5:1); we are saved by
grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8); our hearts are purified by faith
(Acts 15:9)' we live by faith (Romans 1:17); we walk by faith (2 Cor.
5:7); and John states in 1 John 5:4, "This is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith." Hebrews 6:12 states, it is
through "faith and patience" that we inherit the promises.
But a very important question comes to our attention just here.
How and when does faith save? That it does save, we all admit; but
how and when faith saves is a question for which an answer is needed
and that answer is found in God's Book, the New Testament.
Salvation is not be faith only. James makes this very clear in
James 2:24, when he states, "Ye see then how that by works a man is
justified, and not be faith only." That should settle the matter. It
takes more that faith to save the sinner, it takes obedience as well.
Saving faith is always an obedient faith, and true obedience is
always the result, or fruit, of faith. The works referred to by James
are deeds of obedience to the commands of the Lord. As Abraham obeyed
the Lord when he showed his willingness of offer up Isaac as a
sacrifice. It was not his own works, but the works of God. In
Galatians 5:6, Paul says the thing that avails is faith that works by
love. In Romans 1:5, he teaches that salvation is by the "obedience
to the faith," and in Romans 16:26, he further affirms that salvation
is "made known to all nations for the obedience of faith." The faith
that saves, therefore, is the faith that works---the faith that obeys
all the commands of the Lord. Saving faith leads a sinner to obey the
gospel commands to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins,
so stated in Acts 2:38. A refusal to obey God's commands simply
demonstrates the fact that the sinner's faith is dead and therefore,
a vain faith! In Hebrews 11:7, Paul says, "By faith Noah....prepared
an ark." Noah believed God, and, because he trusted Him, his faith
led him to do what God had commanded him, that is, prepare an ark.
Had Noah refused to obey God, his faith would never have saved him.
In the next verse, we are told, "By faith Abraham... obeyed." God
told Abraham to leave his native land. He believed God and, because
he trusted Him (that's faith in action); he arose and obeyed the
command of the Lord.
The sinner today must hear the gospel. He must believe, for
"faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom.
10:17). He must repent of his sins for God "commands all men
everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30) and faith obeys God's commands. He
must, upon a confession of his faith, be baptized for in Acts 10:48,
we read, "And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the
Lord." In the great commission, Jesus said, "He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved." Repentance is faith turning from sin;
confession is faith acknowledging a Savior, and baptism is faith
coming to the blood of the Savior for we are "baptized into his
death," so states Paul in Romans 6:3.
After conversion we are to live by faith; all that we do must be
done in faith; we are to walk by faith, not by sight: we are kept
secure in Christ by the power of God through faith; and it is our
duty to be faithful to Christ all of the time, yea even unto death,
if we would receive the crown of life. Revelation 2:10, reads, "Be
thou failthful unto death, and I will give unto thee a crown of
life."
May we all have the courage to so live, and believe, and trust,
that we can truthfully say:
"My faith looks up to Thee
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
Savior divine!
Now hear me while I pray,
Take all my guilt away,
O, let me from this day
Be wholly Thine!"
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