The Unconverted “Believer” (4): Saving Faith and Spurious Faith

Uses, and he doesn't need the temple or the promised land to do it. And so he recites all kinds of Old Testament situations where God manifested himself very graciously to people while they were outside the land and before there was any temple and before there was any established city of Jerusalem.

And so basically he was saying that it's Jesus Christ and him alone as a way to know God, and they wouldn't put up with that. So, Pastor Jason, Acts chapter 7, please.

Stephen’s Defense Before the Sanhedrin

Acts chapter 7. And the high priest said, Are these things so? And Stephen said, Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.

And he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after this, his father died. God removed him from there into his land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.

And God spoke to this effect that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others who would enslave them and afflict them for 400 years. But I will judge the nation that they serve, said God.

And after that, they shall come out and worship me in this place. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob of the 12 patriarchs.

And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.

Now, there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit.

And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, 75 persons in all.

And Jacob went down to Egypt and he died, he and our fathers. And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until they arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph.

He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive. At this time, Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God's sight, and he was brought up for three months in his father's house.

And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. When he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel, and seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.

He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. And on the following day, he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, Man, you are brothers.

Why do you wrong each other? But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? At this retort, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

Now when 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. And as he drew near to look, there came a voice of the Lord.

I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt. This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge, this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.

This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside.

And in their hearts, they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets. Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your God, Rephim, the images that you made to worship, and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen.

Our fathers in turn brought it with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the most high does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says. Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord?

Or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things? You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one, whom you have now betrayed and murdered. You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. Now when they heard these things, they were enraged and they ground their teeth at him.

But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Prayer and Introduction to James 2

Let's pray. Our gracious Father, you have done tremendous work and you continue to do tremendous work in the lives of your people. And we thank you, Lord, that you are a God who is near. You are a God who is known.

And Lord, we pray that we are known by you and we thank you that we are known by you. And Lord, we rejoice that we can be here together. We rejoice that we can lift up our voices and sing praise to you, that we can pray to you, that we can hear your word read and proclaimed and taught.

We pray, Lord, that as we continue our worship through the sermon, that we would be attentive to what your word states. We pray that the spirit would guide us, the spirit would teach us, that the spirit would convict us.

We pray that we would leave here with a better understanding of you, a better understanding of our sin, and a better understanding of what we need to do in order to please you. So Lord, help us. Thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, let's turn in our Bibles to James chapter two, please. This is the fourth Lord's Day in which we're addressing the subject of the unconverted believer. And as I indicated when we began, I hope what we're saying and going through, there's nothing.

New to you.

You've heard this all before. Trust this is so. When we began to address this subject, we first showed from the scriptures that it's a common spiritual malady for people to believe that they already have salvation, when in truth they are still in their sins.

They're unconverted. And Proverbs 30 verse 12 states the matter forthrightly. There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet is unwashed, not washed from its filthiness. We next demonstrated that the gospel popularly proclaimed and believed by many evangelicals does not address what the scriptures declare to be our full need for salvation.

It's a truncated gospel, a truncated message of salvation. So because there is a deficient understanding of salvation, a deficient gospel of salvation is all too often taught and trusted. Salvation is widely and popularly presented to only be God's forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ.

But the holy scriptures, of course, teach that when God bestows his salvation, he saves a true believer from sin itself and from all its effects. Yes, we're in need of being saved from the penalty of sin through God's forgiveness, so that we will stand righteous before him at the final judgment of mankind.

He accomplishes this through his saving grace of justification, which we underscored last Lord's Day or last time. But our need of salvation is much more than just receiving God's forgiveness of sins.

God saves his people from all the effects of sin that have alienated his people from himself. And so he accomplishes this through his saving grace of reconciliation and adoption. We're made members of the family of God.

But further, God must save us, of course, from the power of sin, not just the penalty of sin, but the power of sin, to live holy lives before him. For we read that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.

And of course, the Lord accomplishes this through his saving grace of sanctification. And then, of course, God must save his people entirely from the presence of sin. We don't just need forgiveness, we need deliverance.

And this will occur through his saving grace of glorification upon our death and resurrection. In short, not only does salvation involve God's gracious regard toward us in forgiving us, but it includes God's great power working in and through us to achieve all of these.

Ends.

Nominal Christianity and Saving Faith in James

But sadly, much of evangelicalism proclaims salvation that has been a form of godliness but denying the power of it. And the result is much nominal Christianity, Christians in name only. Eighty percent of Americans claim to be Christian.

These believers think that God has forgiven them of their sins, but they remain under the terrible weight of God, of his condemnation of their sins. They remain under his eternal wrath, but sadly, they now think themselves to be saved.

And it's our desire, our desire to assure that none of us fall into the delusion of false Christianity. If that happens to you, it's not going to be the fault of me or this church. We're going to be faithful to you.

We want everyone here to have a sound assurance of true salvation that will inherit everlasting.

Life.

And so we desire and pray that not one of us comes short of true saving faith. So that's our motivation, not to unsettle you, but to settle you completely and fully in Jesus Christ. Now this problem of nominal Christianity is pervasive in the evangelical culture, in churches that claim to be Bible-believing congregations.

And of course, this was true even back in the first century, as we pointed out. This was the case in Asia Minor, in the church located in the city of Sardis. The Lord wrote to that church, Sue John, I know your works, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead.

They were nominal Christians in that church. Here was an evangelical church, a Bible-believing church. It was not an apostate church, but a true church of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus regarded this church to be one of his candlesticks, as a high priest walking about, trimming and assuring that his candlesticks would brightly shine forth his glory.

But he declared that only a few names of those within the church of Sardis were promised salvation. But all the others thought themselves to be true Christians. They had a name that they were living, but they were not living souls, but dead in their sins.

Yet they had faith. They believed on Jesus, but their faith was not evident in the manner that they lived. And this presents you and me with this great task. You must address honestly and biblically this question, do you have true, saving faith?

Not a spurious faith, a phony faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that does not save. Because the vast majority of professing Christians, I fear, fall into that camp. The epistle of James, of course, addresses this problem directly.

The Holy Spirit set forth through his pen the contrast between saving faith and spurious faith, faith that does not save the soul from his sin. And so here is James 2, 14 through 26. I trust a familiar passage to us.

What does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?

Thus also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Someone will say, you have faith, I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. That's critically important, not what you claim to believe, but what your life shows forth that you believe.

That will be the basis on the day of judgment. He wrote, you believe there is one God, you do well. Even demons believe, he goes farther, and tremble. He said, you haven't even arrived to the place of demons.

They believe just like you believe, but they tremble. You don't, apparently, is what he's saying. But do you want to know, oh foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac, his son, on the altar?

Last week we talked about Abraham being justified by grace, two weeks ago, by grace through faith alone. That was back in Genesis 12. Twenty-five years later, he offered his son, Isaac, or was willing to, on the altar, and that demonstrated, that vindicated, that justified Abraham's faith as genuine.

And so his work of offering his son confirmed that his faith, that justified him alone, was legitimate. And so James argues, you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect.

The scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God. It was accounted to him for righteousness. That's Genesis 12, or 15. And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, not by faith only.

And likewise was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way, here in Jericho. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

And so James wrote about two kinds of faith. He wrote of saving faith, but he also wrote of what we may call spurious faith, phony.

Faith.

There is a faith that saves, but there's also a faith that does not save. But this second kind of faith, the faith that does not save, results in people wrongly thinking they are saved. Hence the problem of nominal Christianity.

The life of the true Christian is directed and governed by his faith. His faith is saving faith. The life of the false Christian is not directed and governed by his faith. His faith is spurious faith.

Saving faith directs and governs the life of the true Christian. Spurious faith does not direct his life. Now there are some that are quite troubled by what James wrote, and that they wrongly think that what James taught here conflicts with what Paul wrote in his epistles.

Even Martin Luther was wrong, was mistaken in believing this. Paul was advocating that faith is the only instrument by which God justifies the ungodly. That is, through faith alone, God forgives the believer of all his sins and imputes the gift of Christ's righteousness to him.

Again, we advocated that two weeks ago. But James was setting forth the nature of true faith that alone justifies the sinner. James argued that true saving faith, that is, justified faith, is evident in the manner in which the believer lives before God.

And so where Paul taught that faith alone justifies the sinner, James taught that true justified faith is itself justified, or vindicated, would be a better word, demonstrated to be true by the manner one lives.

And so saving faith is a living faith. And three times in the New Testament, quotes Habakkuk 2 .4, the just shall live by faith. Those who are righteous will live by faith. If you're not living by faith, you're not just, you're not righteous.

And Luther actually voiced this truth rightly, declaring Christians are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. And that's the whole point. And yet a faith that is not in accordance with what James taught is often declared to be saving faith.

People are told that if you but believe who Jesus is, that he is God incarnate, that he died on his cross to save sinners, and that if you believe that he died for you, then you have saving faith. But saving faith involves believing upon Jesus as the Lord and Savior of sinners.

Saving faith in Christ is coming to believe and surrender one's heart and life to Jesus Christ as Lord. And so in our effort to distinguish saving faith from spurious faith, we'll attempt to set forth the counterfeits of saving faith.

And then we'll examine the nature of saving faith. The difficulty in coming to saving faith is not an easy thing. And then we'll, well, really throughout, consider the effects of faith that saves from sin.

And so let's first of all consider the counterfeits of saving faith. It's not always an easy matter to distinguish between one who has saving faith from the one who has faith that does not save. For many, the two seem to be indistinguishable.

There's a tendency for most professing Christians to assume that any and all faith in Christ is saving faith. But when the Word of God is consulted and its tests applied, it becomes apparent that there is a true faith and there is a phony faith.

Simon Magus would be an example of how an unconverted believer, and I've got believer in quotation marks, not a true believer, Simon Magus, an unconverted believer thought himself to have saving faith and his church also had thought that he had saving faith.

But the church had baptized him and he had become one of them, a member of the church in Samaria. And so we read of this in Acts 8, and we'll be reading this chapter next week in church. Therefore those who are scattered went everywhere preaching the Word, then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.

And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed, and there was great joy in that city.

But there was a certain man called Simon who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the great power of God.

And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. That's pretty common in the world. People are deceived by men such as this. But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

And then we read of Simon, Simon himself also believed. And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and was amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were done. And so Simon responded to the preaching of the gospel as did many others in Samaria.

He had no doubt confessed his sins and was baptized, confessing his faith in Christ as Lord and Savior publicly before the church. Everybody no doubt regarded him and treated him as a saved man, one who had exercised saving faith.

But his true unconverted state became apparent to the Apostle Peter when Simon betrayed the true condition of his heart. He was an unconverted believer. And we read of what occurred in verses 14 through 24.

Now, when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

For as yet he had not had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Jesus. And then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles hands, the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, give me this power also that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.

But Peter said to him, your money perish with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money. This whole attitude and desire of Simon revealed he was unconverted. Christians don't think like this.

You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.

Oh, he was a believer.

He was baptized. He was a member of the church. And Peter said, no, you don't have any part with us. Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you, for I see you're poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.

Then Simon answered and said, pray to the Lord for me that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me. Church tradition outside of the scriptures, you know, speak a lot about this Simon who became one of the leading heretics of the first century that began a cult, really, and promoted this false religion.

But it was clear to Peter that this man, though he had believed and been baptized, was still in his sin. Simon's expressed desire revealed the condition of his heart. Peter knew that this man was unconverted.

Well, the conclusion that may be drawn is that a person's life may confirm the reality or betray the absence of true saving faith. It matters how you live. And of course, this is in accordance with other scripture as 1 John 2 .29, if you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him.

Or we can cite 1 John 2 .15, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. The love of the father was not in Simon. Paul wrote about the possibility of one having much knowledge of spiritual truth.

One who teaches others and yet may be unsaved. One can even have great spiritual gifts, employ them in the church, and yet still be in his sins. Paul wrote of this possibility in 1 Corinthians 13. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, I can foretell the future, as some claim. Understand all mysteries and all knowledge. They can cite the Bible, recite the Bible, teach the Bible. And though even I have all faith that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing, counts for nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. And so the scriptures declare, of course, that love for God and love for other Christians is indicative of the one who is born again.

If you don't have love for God, if you don't have love for other Christians, you don't have God. You are not, you don't have salvation. As John wrote, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves him who begot also loves him that is another Christian who has begotten of him.

And then, beloved, let us love one another for love is of God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. When you and I were converted, God put within us a love for the brethren. Paul was seeking to persecute Christians and arrest them and murder them, drag them back to Jerusalem.

And he's converted. The next thing you read, he's meeting and praying and preaching with the Christians. He loved them. He hated them. He loved them. You have to, you know, look to the grace of God for that alone.

And this is true of every Christian. Some can even have faith that is the product of the illumination of the Holy Spirit. But it may not be saving faith. Illumination of the Holy Spirit does not assure that somebody is a Christian.

It can precede becoming, it does precede becoming a Christian, but it doesn't assure that you.

Are a Christian.

Hebrews 6, 4 through 6 illustrate this. It's impossible for those who are once enlightened, and that's a passive tense verb. It means that they didn't enlighten themselves. They were enlightened. God had enlightened them, and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit.

Doesn't mean that he had regenerated them and dwelt them, but clearly the Holy Spirit was working upon them and with them, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers to the age to come. If they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put them to an open shame.

That can be said of Judas Iscariot. These people had been temporary believers. The writer was saying, no point going back and trying to reach them. They're not going to be saved because of their apostasy.

How do we know that they were not saved? They were temporary believers. Well, we know this from what the writer included in his word to the readers, that he was confident of their salvation. And so he wrote, but beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, things that accompany salvation.

Whatever they had in verses four through six, they did not have salvation. For the faith that brings salvation is an enduring and persevering faith. Later the writer included himself as possessing this kind of faith, Hebrews 10 39, but we are not of those who draw back to perdition.

That is, we're not like those who abandoned Jesus Christ and then go on into damnation, eternal damnation. But those who believe onto the saving of the soul, we believe throughout life, saving faith is persevering faith.

And so by drawing back, the writer is referring to those who apostatized from Christ, ceased to believe on him as Lord and Savior. God does not promise salvation to someone with temporary faith. Arthur Pink rightly wrote about the difficulty in distinguishing saving faith from faith that does not save the soul.

It is impossible to say how far a non-saving faith may go and how very closely it may resemble that faith which is saving. Saving faith has Christ for its object, so has a non-saving faith, referred to John 2.

Saving faith is wrought by the Holy Spirit, so is a non-saving faith. He cites the same passage, Hebrews 6. Saving faith is produced by the word of God, so also is a non-saving faith. And that's referenced to the seed sown in stony soil that he believed and grew up, but it was only temporary.

Saving faith will make a man prepare for the coming of the Lord, so also will a non-saving.

Faith.

Both the foolish and wise virgins, it's written, then all those virgins arose and trimmed their.

Lamps.

They were all anticipating the return of the bridegroom. Saving faith is accompanied with joy, so also is non-saving faith, again a reference to the stony ground hearer. Perhaps some readers are ready to say all this is very unsettling, and if really heeded, most distressing.

May God in his mercy grant that this article may have just these very effects on many who.

Read it.

So if you value your soul, dismiss it not lightly. If there be such a thing, and there is, of faith in Christ which does not save, then how easy it is to be deceived about my faith. It's not without reason that the Holy Spirit has so plainly cautioned us at this very point, a deceived heart hath turned him aside.

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee. Take heed that ye be not deceived. For if a man think himself to be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. At no point does Satan use his cunning and power more tenaciously, more successfully than in getting people to believe that they have a saving faith when they have not.

And I think that's a truism. That's nominal Christianity. It's scary. Well, what then is the nature of saving faith? Well, there's a common understanding among evangelicals, but a mistaken understanding about the nature of faith that saves the sinner.

Many assume that saving faith is simply the recognition and acknowledgement of certain essential truths regarding Jesus Christ. It's commonly thought that if one believes these facts and confesses them, who believes in Jesus, that this is what constitutes saving faith.