Saving Faith, Do You Have It?

“I believe; it’s silly; but I believe.” These well-known words spoken by Susane Walker in the movie, Mircle on 34th Street. (1947) They provide a good example of how faith is commonly portrayed in our culture as a “Blind Leap” in the dark – believing for no reason at all. Faith according to the Bible is not irrational or “silly.” It is not a blind commitment nor is it a feeling of being close to God. This is not Saving Faith.

What is Saving Faith?

The answer to the above question from genuine historical Christianity is that saving faith has three main elements, 1. Knowledge 2. Assent and 3. Trust, without all three you might faith, but it isn’t saving faith.

1. Knowledge, is the first element of saving faith, for our faith isn’t blind, it is based on believing in something. One good example of this is found in Romans 10:9, “If you…believe… that God raised Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved.” Here the apostle Paul states that one must believe in God raising Jesus from the dead in order to be saved. Another example is found in John 20:3, “These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God and that believing you may have life in His name.” As people we must believe in what Paul and John wrote, but this isn’t enough to be called saving faith.
2. Assent, saving faith means that you have an intellectual conviction that this knowledge of Christ is true and a personal benefit. A good example of this is found in John 11, at the tomb of Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary. Martha said to Jesus, “If you had been here my brother would not have died.” Jesus said, “I AM the resurrection and the life and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” Then Jesus looked at Martha and said, “Do you believe this?” Martha replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world.” At this point Martha not only believed in the information about Jesus she was convinced that He is the Christ, the Son of God! This is assent, she was convinced and sincerely believed that Jesus was the Christ. Thousands of people stop at this point, they are convinced that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world, but they are not saved. Without this last and finial point a person will never see the gates of heaven.
3. Trust, a person must hear and be convinced that Jesus was crucified, dead and buried, that God raised Jesus from the grave and then Trust Jesus to become Master of your life. Here is where most people fall short. Thousands upon thousands go forward every year in evangelistic crusades, but only a small percentage are still following Christ a year later. This is because they wanted to escape hell, but they didn’t count the cost of discipleship, and didn’t see the benefit. Jesus told His followers to count the cost, to spend time thinking, do I really want to make this kind of commitment? After the emotions of the event and when the excitement wears off many lose interest and drift away from Christ. Without absolutely trusting Jesus, this kind of faith is merely an intellectual exercise much like the faith that demons have. in James 2:19, “Even demons believe and tremble.” The demons correctly believe everything about Christ, but they don’t trust Him, they hate Him. Jesus describes the kind of trust that saves in Matthew 11: 28, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart (approachable) and you will find rest for your souls. Only a person who trusts Jesus will, come to Him, leaving sin and self to become His disciple and take His yoke, connecting himself with Christ, you become a part of His body, because “you have been bought with a price” and learn from Him, Jesus said, “If you continue in my Word, you prove to be my disciple.”

When a person hears the Gospel and is convinced that Jesus is alive and it’s all true, then when that person completely trusts Christ by giving Him his life, that is saving faith!

We are saved by faith alone, which means that our good works do not play a part in our glorious salvation, except that good works will follow our faith. In other words, Jesus said, “You cannot get good fruit from a bad tree…” If good works (good fruit) do not follow us, then we haven’t been born-again, and we do not possess saving faith. No statement in Scripture is more terrifying that Matthew 7: 21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of Heaven. On that day many will say to Me, Lord, Lord…didn’t we do many mighty works in your Name? Then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” If our lives are not full of a sincere love for God, a genuine love for our neighbors and a self-sacrificing love for other Christians, then we need to ask the Lord, Am I Saved? If we don’t love to worship God with other people, if we don’t love to spend time in prayer and the study of the scriptures, how can we say we look forward to heaven? Jesus spoke to the apostle John in his vision of heaven and said, Revelation 22:11-12, ” Let the evildoer still do evil, and let the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy. Behold, I AM coming quickly, and bringing my recompence with Me, to repay everyone for what he has done.”

Please make sure your faith is the kind that saves, for it is written, “Behold I come quickly!”

A Slave of Christ, John