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

First Baptist Church Leominster

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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.

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And so basically he was saying that it's Jesus Christ and him alone as a way to know

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God, and they wouldn't put up with that. And so, Pastor Jason, Acts chapter 7, please.

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Acts chapter 7, And the high priest said, Are these things so?

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And Stephen said, Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father

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Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him,

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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But I will judge the nation that they serve, said God. And after that, they shall come out and worship me in this place.

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And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day.

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And Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

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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.

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Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food.

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But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit.

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And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh.

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And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, 75 persons in all.

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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.

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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

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Joseph. He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive.

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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.

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And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.

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And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

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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

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Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.

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And on the following day, he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying,

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Man, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other? But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying,

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Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?

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At this retort, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

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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.

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When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came a voice of the

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Lord. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.

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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.

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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.

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And now come, I will send you to Egypt. This Moses, whom they rejected, saying,

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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.

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This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years.

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This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.

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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.

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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.

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As for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.

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And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

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But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets.

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Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness,

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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.

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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.

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Our fathers in turn brought it with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers.

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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

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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.

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Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the

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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

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Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

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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.

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Now when they heard these things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the

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Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

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And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

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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.

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And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning

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Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice,

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Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep."

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Let's pray. Our gracious Father, you have done tremendous work, and you continue to do tremendous work in the lives of your people.

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And we thank you, Lord, that you are a God who is near. You are a God who is known.

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And Lord, we pray that we are known by you, and we thank you that we are known by you.

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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.

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

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We pray that the Spirit would guide us, that the Spirit would teach us, that the Spirit would convict us.

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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.

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So Lord, help us. Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's turn in our

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Bibles to James chapter 2, please. This is the fourth Lord's Day in which we're addressing the subject of the unconverted believer.

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And as I indicated when we began, I hope what we're saying and going through, there's nothing new to you.

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You've heard this all before. Trust this is so. When we began to address this subject, we first showed from the

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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.

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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.

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We next demonstrated that the gospel popularly proclaimed and believed by many evangelicals does not address what the

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Scriptures declare to be our full need for salvation. It's a truncated gospel, a truncated message of salvation.

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So because there is a deficient understanding of salvation, a deficient gospel of salvation is all too often taught and trusted.

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Salvation is widely and popularly presented to only be

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God's forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ. But the Holy Scriptures, of course, teach that when

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God bestows his salvation, he saves a true believer from sin itself and from all its effects.

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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.

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He accomplishes this through his saving grace of justification, which we underscored last

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Lord's Day or last time. But our need of salvation is much more than just receiving

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God's forgiveness of sins. God saves his people from all the effects of sin that have alienated his people from himself.

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And so he accomplishes this through his saving grace of reconciliation and adoption.

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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.

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For we read that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. And of course, the

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Lord accomplishes this through his saving grace of sanctification. And then, of course,

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God must save his people entirely from the presence of sin. We don't just need forgiveness, we need deliverance.

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And this will occur through his saving grace of glorification upon our death and resurrection.

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In short, not only does salvation involve God's gracious regard toward us and forgiving us, but it includes

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God's great power working in and through us to achieve all of these ends. But sadly, much of evangelicalism proclaims salvation that has been a form of godliness, but denying the power of it.

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And the result is much nominal Christianity, Christians in name only. 80 % of Americans claim to be

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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.

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They remain under his eternal wrath. But sadly, they now think themselves to be saved.

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And it's our desire designed to assure that none of us fall into the delusion of false

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Christianity. If that happens to you, it's not going to be the fault of me or this church.

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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.

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And so we desire and pray that not one of us come short of true saving faith. So that's our motivation, not to unsettle you, but to settle you completely and fully in Jesus Christ.

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Now, this problem of nominal Christianity is pervasive in the evangelical culture. In churches that claim to be

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Bible believing congregations. And of course, this was true even back in the first century.

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As we pointed out, this was the case in Asia Minor in the church located in the city of Sardis.

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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.

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They were nominal Christians in that church. Here was an evangelical church, a

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Bible believing church. It was not an apostate church, but a true church of Jesus Christ.

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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.

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But he declared that only a few names of those within the church of Sardis were promised salvation.

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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.

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Yet they had faith. They believed on Jesus, but their faith was not evident in the manner that they lived.

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And this presents you and me with this great task. You must address honestly and biblically this question.

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Do you have true saving faith, not a spurious faith, a phony faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that does not save?

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Because the vast majority of professing Christians, I fear, fall into that camp.

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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.

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And so here is James 2, 14 through 26. I trust a familiar passage to us.

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What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

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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?

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Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Someone will say, you have faith,

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I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

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And that's critically important. Not what you claim to believe, but what your life shows forth that you believe.

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That'll be the basis on the day of judgment. He wrote, you believe there is one

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God, you do well. Even demons believe, he goes farther, and tremble.

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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.

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But do you want to know, oh foolish man, that faith without works is dead? It was not

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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.

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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

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Abraham's faith as genuine. And so, his work of offering his son confirmed that his faith, that justified him alone, was legitimate.

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And so, James argues, you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works, faith was made perfect.

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The scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God. It was accounted to him for righteousness. That's Genesis 12, or 15.

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And he was called the friend of God. You see, then, that a man is justified by works, not by faith only.

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And likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?

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Here in Jericho. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

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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.

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Phony faith. There's a faith that saves, but there's also a faith that does not save.

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But this second kind of faith, the faith that does not save, results in people wrongly thinking they are saved.

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Hence, the problem of nominal Christianity. The life of the true Christian is directed and governed by his faith.

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

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His faith is spurious faith. Saving faith directs and governs the life of the true

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Christian. Spurious faith does not direct his life. Now, there are some that are quite troubled by what

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James wrote, and that they wrongly think that what James taught here conflicts with what

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Paul wrote in his epistles. And even Martin Luther was wrong, was mistaken in believing this.

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Paul was advocating that faith is the only instrument by which God justifies the ungodly.

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That is, through faith alone, God forgives the believer of all his sins and imputes the gift of Christ's righteousness to him.

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Again, we advocated that two weeks ago. But James was setting forth the nature of true faith that alone justifies the sinner.

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James argued that true saving faith, that is, justified faith, is evident in the manner in which the believer lives before God.

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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.

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And so, saving faith is a living faith. And three times in the

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New Testament, quote Sebacchic 2 .4, the just shall live by faith.

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Those who are righteous will live by faith. If you're not living by faith, you're not just, you're not righteous.

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And Luther actually voiced this truth rightly, declaring Christians are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.

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And that's the whole point. And yet a faith that is not in accordance with what

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James taught is often declared to be saving faith. People are told that if you but believe who

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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.

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But saving faith involves believing upon Jesus as the Lord and Savior of sinners.

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Saving faith in Christ is coming to believe and surrender one's heart and life to Jesus Christ as Lord.

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And so, in our effort to distinguish saving faith from spurious faith, we'll attempt to set forth the counterfeits of saving faith.

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And then we'll examine the nature of saving faith. The difficulty in coming to saving faith is not an easy thing.

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And then we'll, well, really throughout consider the effects of faith that saves from sin.

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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.

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For many, the two seem to be indistinguishable. There's a tendency for most professing

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Christians to assume that any and all faith in Christ is saving faith. But when the

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Word of God is consulted and its tests applied, it becomes apparent that there is a true faith and there is a phony faith.

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Simon Magus would be an example of how an unconverted believer, and I've got believer in quotation marks, not a true believer,

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Simon Magus, an unconverted believer thought himself to have saving faith and his church also had thought that he had saving faith.

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For the church had baptized him and he had become one of them, a member of the church in Samaria.

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And so we read of this in Acts 8 and we'll be reading this chapter next week in church.

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Therefore, those who are scattered went everywhere preaching the Word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached

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Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the thing spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

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For unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.

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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.

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To whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest say, this man is the great power of God.

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And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time.

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That's pretty common in the world. People are deceived by men such as this.

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But when they believe Philip as he preached the thing concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

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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.

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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.

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Everybody, no doubt, regarded him and treated him as a saved man, one who had exercised saving faith.

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But his true unconverted state became apparent to the apostle Peter when Simon betrayed the true condition of his heart.

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He was an unconverted believer. And we read of what occurred in verses 14 through 24.

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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

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Holy Spirit. For as yet he had not had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Jesus.

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And then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. And when

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Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles hands, the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money.

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Saying, give me this power also that that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the

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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.

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This whole attitude and desire of Simon revealed he was unconverted.

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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.

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He was a believer. He was baptized. He was a member of the church. Peter said, no, you don't have any part with us.

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Repent, therefore, of this, your wickedness, and pray, God, if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

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For I see you're poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity. And then

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Simon answered and said, pray to the Lord for me that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.

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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.

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

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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.

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It matters how you live. And, of course, this is in accordance with other scripture as 1

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John 2, 29, if you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him.

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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

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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.

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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.

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Paul wrote of this possibility in 1 Corinthians 13. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love,

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I am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy,

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I can foretell the future, as some claim, understand all mysteries and all knowledge.

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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,

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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.

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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.

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If you don't have love for God, if you don't have love for other Christians, you don't have

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God. You are not, you don't have salvation. As John wrote, whoever believes that Jesus is the

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Christ is born of God and everyone who loves him who begot also loves him that is another

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Christian who has begotten of him. And then, beloved, let us love one another for love is of God.

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Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. When you and I were converted,

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God put within us a love for the brethren. Paul was seeking to persecute

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Christians and arrest them and murder them, drag them back to Jerusalem. And he's converted.

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The next thing you read, he's meeting and praying and preaching with the Christians. He loved them.

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He hated them. He loved them. You have to, you know, look to the grace of God for that alone.

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And this is true of every Christian. Some can even have faith that is the product of the illumination of the

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Holy Spirit. But it may not be saving faith. Illumination of the Holy Spirit does not assure that somebody is a

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Christian. It can precede becoming, it does precede becoming a

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Christian, but it doesn't assure that you are a Christian. Hebrews 6, 4 through 6 illustrate this.

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It's impossible for those who are once enlightened. And that's a passive tense verb. It means that they didn't enlighten themselves.

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They were enlightened. God had enlightened them and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the

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Holy Spirit. Doesn't mean that he had regenerated them and dwelt them, but clearly the

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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.

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If they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the

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Son of God and put them to an open shame. That can be said of Judas Iscariot. These people had been temporary believers.

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The writer was saying no point going back and trying to reach them. They're not going to be saved because of their apostasy.

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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.

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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.

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Later, the writer included himself as possessing this kind of faith, Hebrews 1039, but we are not of those who draw back to perdition.

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That is, we're not like those who abandoned Jesus Christ and then go on into damnation, eternal damnation.

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But those who believe onto the saving of the soul, we believe throughout life, saving faith is persevering faith.

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And so by drawing back, the writer is referring to those who apostatized from Christ, ceased to believe on him as Lord and Savior.

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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.

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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.

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Saving faith has Christ for its object, so has a non -saving faith, referred to John 2.

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Saving faith is wrought by the Holy Spirit, so is a non -saving faith. He cites the same passage,

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Hebrews 6. Saving faith is produced by the word of God, so also is a non -saving faith.

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And that's a reference to the seed sown in stony soil that he believed and grew up, but it was only temporary.

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

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

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They were all anticipating the return of the bridegroom. Saving faith is accompanied with joy, so also is non -saving faith.

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Again, a reference to the stony ground here. Perhaps some readers are ready to say all this is very unsettling, and if really heated, most distressing.

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

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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.

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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.

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The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee. Take heed that ye be not deceived.

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For if a man think himself to be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. At no point does

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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.

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And I think that's a truism. That's nominal Christianity. It's scary. Well, what then is the nature of saving faith?

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Well, there's a common understanding among evangelicals, but a mistaken understanding about the nature of faith that saves the sinner.

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Many assume that saving faith is simply the recognition and acknowledgement of certain essential truths regarding Jesus Christ.

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It's commonly thought that if one believes these facts and confesses them, who believes in Jesus, that this is what constitutes saving faith.

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If one believes biblical truth regarding the presence and damning effects of sin, believes the true identity of Jesus Christ as God's Son, the only

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Savior of mankind, and believes in his sacrificial and substitutory death on his cross on behalf of sinners and of his resurrection from the dead, that person has been saved.

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It's only what you believe about Jesus. Doesn't have anything to do about yourself as long as you believe the truth about things.

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If you believe these truths regarding your sin in Christ, you're saved. But this does not do justice to what the word of God teaches to be the true nature of saving faith.

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We've already considered what the Holy Spirit declared through James, that true saving faith is shown in how one lives, not simply by what one believes to be true.

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You can be fully biblical in what you believe, even sincerely and vehemently believe, but still lie under the guilt and condemnation of your sin.

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For sin, for saving faith results in a commitment, not only to believe what is true, but to commit to live according to that truth.

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Faith without works is dead being alone. Now, we've already described again two weeks ago, what biblical faith entails when we spoke about justification of the ungodly through faith alone in Christ alone.

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Scriptures teach that saving faith must have three elements or it's not saving faith. First, faith must first be based on an understanding of truth.

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There must be knowledge. Second, there must be an affirmation that knowledge is indeed true, because not everybody who has knowledge of the gospel believe it to be true.

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And then thirdly, and here it is, here's the sticker. There must be a trust and commitment to that truth.

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One must believe and act upon that truth. Faith is like a three -legged stool, remove one of these three and it is not faith.

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And it's this third element of saving faith that is not commonly understood or affirmed. Saving faith involves a commitment to think and live according to what one believes.

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This is why saving faith can be said to be present only in those whose lives are characterized by repentance from sin and resolve to submit and follow

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Jesus Christ, the Lord. Saving faith cannot be validated only by what one believes, but how one lives.

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That's what James declared. The presence of saving faith will be demonstrated by the fruit that faith produces.

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Again, James wrote, show me your faith without your works. I will show you my faith by my works.

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It's all important. We're not saying that saving faith is obedience. Some have verged into that, that's errant.

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Faith is not obedience, but rather saving faith is evident in the fruit of obedience that a true believer exhibits in life.

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Saving faith is a living faith. The just shall live by faith. Saving faith is seen in turning away from one's former life of self -willed existence unto a life characterized by following Jesus.

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And this is not a selectivity of what commands the word of God are to be obeyed and what is chosen to be set aside.

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And there are some that do that. Pastor Jason and I have talked about this.

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There's one person that we have great concern for who's not here, by the way. And because I cannot point to any single decision or action taken that was done because the word of God declared, but only those things that this person wants to do.

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And yet, you know, there's faith or it's claimed.

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And if you just pick and choose what you're going to do and set aside what you're not going to do that the word of God sets forth.

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And that's not to say that we're all fully obedient. We're not. But we lament when we're not.

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Then really, you're saying that you're still the Lord of your life. You're the one that is governing and directing your life, not

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Jesus Christ. Saving faith is shown forth in the desire and delight to do the will of God in all aspects of life.

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This is not to say that any one of us does this fully or consistently through life.

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But it is the genuine heart's desire of everyone who has saving faith. We struggle with sin continuously, and sometimes we sin unwittingly.

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Sometimes we sin with our eyes wide open. In fact, all too frequently we do.

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But we inwardly lament our defections and our rebellions because God has written his law upon our hearts.

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He has imparted to us the desire to submit to him and to live before him.

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Not just when people are looking at us, but when we're alone. It's in our heart.

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Again, the words of Arthur Pink. Saving faith then is the opposite of damning unbelief.

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Both issue from the heart. Unbelief from a heart that's alienated from God, which is in a state of rebellion against him.

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Saving faith from a heart which is reconciled to him. And so it ceased to fight against him.

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Thus, an essential element or ingredient in saving faith is a yielding to the authority of God.

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A submitting of myself to his rule. It is very much more than my understanding ascending and my will consenting to the fact that Christ is a savior for sinners and that he stands ready to receive all who trust him to be received by Christ.

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I must not only come to him, renouncing my own righteousness as an empty handed beggar, but I also must forsake myself, will and rebellion against him.

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Should an insurrectionist and seditionist come to an earthly king seeking a sovereign favor and pardon, then obviously the very law of his coming to him for forgiveness requires that he should come on his own knees, laying aside his hostility.

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So it is with the sinner who really comes savingly to Christ for pardon. It is against the law of faith to do otherwise.

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So the evidence is of faith. He's the Lord. I'm no longer the

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Lord. That's what baptism signifies. That's my life when I was my Lord. This is my new life.

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Jesus is my Lord. And as it enables me, you know, that's my intention and purpose.

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It's faith that moves a person to that action. Of course, the

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Holy Scriptures testify throughout its pages that faith alone is the way. Faith alone is the instrument through which

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God saves his people from their sin. Most everybody can quote Ephesians 2, 8 and 9.

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For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast.

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Faith is essential. It is that which pleases God when a sinner believes the gospel that God has revealed and declared to the world.

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And the writer of the Hebrews declared the necessity of faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please him.

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For he who comes to God must believe that God is God, that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

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Faith is the instrument through which God extends to us the forgiveness of sins and the resultant state of peace between him and us and therefore being justified by faith.

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Romans 5, 1. We have peace with God. Then he's not saying there we enjoy or we feel peace with God.

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It says we have peace with God if we have our faith solely in Jesus Christ as our

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Lord and Savior. And we have access by faith into this grace. This faith is also that by which we live as Christians before God.

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We trust him to do for us and in us that which we cannot do for ourselves. As Paul wrote of himself,

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I have been crucified with Christ, yet it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which

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I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. Saving faith is not just justifying faith.

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It's a sanctifying faith. I live by faith in the

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Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. But the Holy Scriptures not only state the necessity of faith by which

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God brings us salvation. The Bible also defines and describes the nature of that saving faith.

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And this is important. For again, it's not just any kind of faith that's saving faith. The Apostle Paul set forth the faith that saves as an aspect of his calling as a bondservant of God, Apostle of Jesus Christ.

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He wrote, Paul, a bondservant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect.

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And the acknowledgement of the truth, which accords with godliness, see, it's in accordance with godly living in hope of eternal life, which

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God who cannot lie promised. And so there is a faith of God's elect. None but the elect of God have this faith.

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And this faith involves acknowledging the truth, but it's in accordance with godliness, you see.

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That is, it goes hand in hand with godliness. Saving faith leads to and accomplishes godliness in the true believer.

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But though the scriptures instruct us on the nature and content of the faith that saves a sinner from sin, many in evangelicalism have reduced their understanding of saving faith to be only an acknowledgement of historic facts of who

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Jesus is and what he did and died on the cross. It's assumed that this kind of faith is saving faith.

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But the scriptures speak of many who have faith. But the faith they have does not rise to what the scriptures set forth as the kind of faith that brings salvation to the sinner.

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The holy scriptures set forth faith as the instrument through which God saves his people by grace.

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Technically, we're not really saved by faith, we're saved by grace. And God uses faith, we're saved by grace through faith.

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It's a product of God's grace. And then God's power sustains the faith of God's elect on the final salvation.

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You can't beat a true Christian off with a stick. I mean, God sustains their faith through his power.

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And so it's critical that we understand what constitutes saving faith. And so what does saving faith look like?

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Well, first of all, saving faith leads a sinner to repent from sin. The initial act of faith on the part of the guilty sinner is the calling of the sinner for free forgiveness and promise of life in Jesus Christ.

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And that initial act of faith also contains, in its very nature, a faith that leads that sinner to turn from his sin.

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Repentance is the fruit of faith. You believe what

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God says about sin, you believe what he says about turning from his sin, so you turn from sin as he enables you by the power of the

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Holy Spirit, by grace. The believing sinner repents of his sin. That is, he turns from love and practice of sin and submits himself to Christ.

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Now, it's not his turning from sin that results in his forgiveness. Nor is it the sinner's resolve to turn from sin.

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There's no salvation without repentance, but repentance itself is not faith. Repentance is a fruit of faith.

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Very important to understand that. The Bible does not teach penance for sin, like Rome, but repentance or turning from sin.

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Saving faith is the act of faith that comes to God solely on the merit of Christ alone due to his life, death, resurrection.

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But the faith that pleads and clings to Christ alone is the same faith that leads that sinner to repudiate sin, turn from serving sin in his life.

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Since this is the case, repentance from sin may be seen as evidence of being the children of God.

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In possession of eternal life. But even more, since the very nature of saving faith leads one to repent of sin, warnings may be given to Christians to repent of sin, else they will encounter the wrath of God.

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And so we can command Christians to repent from sin, for we know that if indeed they have been justified by faith alone, that faith present in them will lead them to repent of sin and turn back to God.

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That's what believers do. And so the command to repent.

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This is contrary to Chuck Swindoll, contrary to Charles Ryrie, contrary to Walvoord, who teaches that repentance is just changing your mind who

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Jesus is. They say to talk about repentance as turning from sin is legalism and is a false gospel.

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They're wrong. They're antinomian. They're teaching another gospel. Faith produces repentance.

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Faith results in repentance from sin, turning from sin, turning on to God through Jesus Christ.

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That's what faith does. It is not faith. It's the fruit of faith. Secondly, saving faith leads a sinner to submit to Jesus Christ as his

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Lord. Saving faith is shown forth in the belief and confession that Jesus Christ is

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Lord over all, which means he is Lord over all of me.

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Paul set forth saving faith as a confession of Jesus as Lord. In Romans 10, he contrasted the righteousness of Christ that's imputed to the believer and the righteousness of the law of those who wrongly think that salvation is attained through law keeping through their works.

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And so he wrote, Moses writes about the righteousness that's based on the law, that the person who does the commandment shall live by them.

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But the righteousness based on faith says, do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring

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Christ down, or who will ascend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. It's not by what you do.

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But what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth, in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is my

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Savior, no, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is

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Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

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For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there's no distinction between Jew and Greek.

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For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the

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Lord will be saved. Notice that God freely bestows his riches of salvation on all, and all that entails upon the one who calls upon Jesus as Lord.

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Saving faith is in Jesus the Lord, and any faith that is not demonstrated to have done so is not saving faith.

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Commonly you'll hear, well, I accepted Jesus as my Savior, but he didn't accept him as my

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Lord until about five years after the fact. No, you weren't saved.

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Until you bowed the heart and knee to Jesus as Lord. Arthur Pink, again, citing him in this office of Lord that Christ maintains

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God's honor, subserves his government, enforces his law, and if the reader will turn to those passages where the two titles occur, he will find it's always

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Lord and Savior, not Savior and Lord. Therefore, those who have not bowed to Christ's scepter and enthroned him in their hearts and lives, and yet imagine that they're trusting in him as their

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Savior, are deceived. And unless God disillusions them, they'll go down to the everlasting burnings with a lie on their right hand.

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Christ is the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. But the attitude of those who submit not to his

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Lordship is, we will not have this mandarin over us. Pause then, my reader, and honestly face the question, are you subject to his will?

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Are you sincerely endeavoring to keep his commandments? And one day on the day of judgment, every tongue of every human being will confess that Jesus is

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Lord, even as they bowed submission to him. And even the tongues of those who are then sentenced to eternal damnation.

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Paul wrote on that day that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the

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Father. But those with saving faith confess that Jesus is Lord now. In this life, saving faith is shown forth in the

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Christian confessing and submitting to Jesus Christ, the Lord. And then thirdly, saving faith perseveres throughout life.

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We mentioned that already. Please don't misunderstand this. The time in which

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God justifies a sinner is upon the first act of faith of the believing sinner.

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It's upon the initial act of faith that God reckons righteousness to the sinner. But that act of faith, that one, that first act of faith,

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God takes into consideration the whole life of faith. It's the beginning of a life of faith, not just a one -time decision, not a one -time sinner's prayer.

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Yes, it was a single act of initial faith, but the nature of that faith, which you exercise was a persevering kind of faith.

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God had in view that initial act of faith, a respect to a persevering kind of faith.

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And since the initial act of faith on the part of the sinner justifies him, contains a persevering, lifelong kind of faith, the scriptures can speak about the necessity and the responsibility of continuing in faith in order to be saved on the day of judgment.

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And we can teach this without being inconsistent with the teaching of justification by faith alone. And then fourth, saving a faith abides in Christ.

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Justifying faith does not merely believe rightly who Christ is, believing rightly that he died on behalf of sinners.

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There are multitudes that have that kind of faith, but who do not have saving faith. Although they may believe their faith justified them, it is not done so.

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For justified faith unites the soul to Christ, and it moves the sinner to continue in Christ.

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Justified faith must be seen to have this quality. It clings to Christ and does not let him go.

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We might put it this way. First, the initial act of faith resulted in you being joined to Christ through faith.

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Secondly, it's necessary for you to continue to be joined to Christ by faith to receive the benefits of his life on your behalf.

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And thirdly, to have saving faith is to have a faith that continues to cling fully to Christ. John 6, 53, the following records,

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Jesus said to them, most assuredly say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

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You're not talking about a one -time act of believing, was he? Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I'll raise him up at the last day.

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For my flesh is food indeed, my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

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And he's not talking about the Lord's Supper here. He's talking about faith in him. We feed upon Christ for our life, throughout life.

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And so, since by his very nature, the faith that saves the sinner is one which clings to Christ, maintaining that union with Christ, then exhortations and commandments about the necessity and responsibility to remain in Christ may be found in scripture relating to our salvation.

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And while these commandments and exhortations are set forth as necessities for salvation in the day of judgment, they're not inconsistent with our understanding of justification by faith alone.

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So, here's what Jonathan Edwards wrote. I'm almost tempted to take one of his sermons and read it word for word before us on a

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Sunday. The sermon entitled, Pressing into the Kingdom. It's incredible.

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And he's talking about pressing, that is, making sure you're converted.

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He wrote these words. As it is needful that the branch should abide in the vine in order to receive the lasting benefits of the root.

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So, it is necessary that the soul should abide in Christ in order to receive those lasting benefits of God's final acceptance and favor.

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John 15, if a man abide not in me, he's cast forth as a branch. If you abide in me, my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, it shall be done unto you.

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Continue in my love, if you keep or abide in my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

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If it, that is union with Christ, should be begun without remaining, the beginning would be in vain.

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In order for the soul to be now in a justified state and free from condemnation, it is necessary that it should now be in Christ and not merely that it should once have been in him.

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That's the superficial decisionism of evangelicalism. Romans 8, 1, there is now no condemnation for them that are in, presently in,

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Christ Jesus. In order for a person to be blessed after death, it's necessary not only that they should once be in him, but that they should die in him.

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Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. And then fifth, saving faith leads a person to order his life in a manner consistent with the law of God.

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We won't go into great detail here, but Romans 8 clearly teaches that, that the man, the one in the flesh, the one unconverted, he can't live according to the law of God.

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It's impossible for him to do so. It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

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But the person who's a Christian is a child of God. And that child, therefore, is enabled by the

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Holy Spirit to live a life of righteousness consistent with or according to the law of God.

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That's what Romans 8 declares. And then down on the bottom of page nine of your notes, six, saving faith will be revealed on the day of judgment through a scrutiny of the life of the true believer.

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It's not what you claim to believe on the day of judgment, but what your life gave evidence that you believed.

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It's all important. And so it's a judgment of works.

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And the scriptures teach this. We're not saved by our works, but our works will confirm that we're true believers or they will reveal that we were just hypocrites saying that we believe what our life said otherwise.

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And so it's critically important that we have a proper understanding of the nature of saving faith.

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Now, let's just look in the last minutes we have about on page 10 of your notes, the difficulty and even the impossibility to have saving faith apart from God's grace.

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This is critically important. One of the great causes of nominal

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Christianity among evangelicals is the false notion that it is an easy matter to have saving faith.

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And we would say it's an impossible matter for any sinner to have a saving faith.

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But evangelicals believe that anybody is capable. It's assumed that every sinner everywhere has the capability to exercise faith in Christ.

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This is the assumption of most of the efforts and methods of popular evangelism. It declares for you to become saved is a simple matter.

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Just believe John 3, 16, and the deal is done for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes on him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

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It is assumed that if anyone anywhere believes on Christ will be saved, then this is the wrong conclusion, then anyone anywhere can believe on Christ of their own will.

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And that's a wrong conclusion. Yes, it's true. If anyone believes on Christ, he can have salvation.

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But apart from the grace of God, no one would. They say all that is needed is that you believe and then you may be assured that you're saved.

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But it is not a true conclusion to be drawn that because any and all may believe that any and all can believe.

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This is to presume on the natural ability of the center, and it precludes the essential need for the grace of God through the power of the

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Holy Spirit to convert a center to Jesus Christ. And so although God freely offers

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Christ to every center, that does not mean every center has the capability to believe on Christ.

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In fact, with the dare offer salvation in Christ, no one would come. No one would believe.

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For God must enable people by his grace to believe or they'll continue in their damning unbelief.

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And there was an occasion when this is clearly taught by the Lord Jesus. We read of a rich man, a young man who came to Jesus.

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He desired to be saved. It was thought that if anybody could be saved, it would be a rich man who for he not only had the resources to do much good, but and to give alms to others on behalf of God.

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But it was clear to him and others, God must have favor toward him already for having blessed him by giving him all this wealth.

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But the man refused to believe, going away sorrowful. Here's the account.

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Now, as Jesus was going on the road, one came running, knelt before him, asked, Good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

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Well, today we just take the four spiritual laws and give him a quickie dose of gospel and lead him in a sinner's prayer and then pronounce him saved and he'll go on his way rejoicing.

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But Jesus says, of course, first of all, why do you call me good? This man couldn't have known that he was truly the son of God.

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There's only one who's good to God. And then he said, you know, the commandments. And he recited some of them.

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And the young man said, teacher, all these things I've kept from my youth. Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, one thing you lack.

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There's always one thing you lack, by the way. Go your way, sell whatever you have, give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven.

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Come, take up your cross and follow me. But he was sad at his word and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

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Then Jesus looked around, said to his disciples, how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God.

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Well, the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered again, said to them, children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God.

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It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

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In other words, he's saying it's impossible. It's impossible. That old story you commonly hear or probably have read about that in one of the gates of Jerusalem, there was a little door there.

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And you could, if you forced a camel to get down on his knees, to get through that gate. And they make that as a, you know, a qualification that, yeah, people can go put a put a camel through the eye of a needle.

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There's no biblical historical foundation for that teaching. Jesus was clearly saying, you can't take a camel and put it through the little eye of a needle.

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It's impossible to do. And it's impossible for a rich man to be saved. The disciples rightly concluded, well, then who can be saved?

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No one can. That was their conclusion. No one can. They were shocked by it.

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They were greatly astonished. Who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said, with men it's impossible, but with God, for with God, all things are possible.

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Only God can save sinners. Sinners can't save sinners. Notice Peter's response.

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Lord, we have left all and followed you. Jesus answered and said to them, assuredly,

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I say to you, there's no one who's left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospels who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, and children land with persecution, then note and in the age to come eternal life.

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Notice what he says. Here is a man who wanted eternal life. He knew

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Jesus could tell him how he could have this eternal life or attain to it. So we asked

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Jesus directly, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And our

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Lord then dealt with his man in a manner that would lead him to subordinate everything in his life, even himself to follow him.

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Now, aside from the teaching of the young man, self -righteousness and his wrong understanding that he could attain eternal life by his works, the

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Lord Jesus challenged him to submit fully to him as his Lord and savior. But the young man would not do so.

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Young man of the young man, we read, he was sad at his word and went away. Sorrowful for we had great possessions.

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But then our Lord turned about to apply the spiritual lesson to his disciples that he had just that they had just witnessed.

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Jesus said to them how hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God. Apparently, they thought that you could attain the kingdom of God, that it wasn't a great difficult task to do.

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And so they expressed amazement, puzzlement. They thought if anyone could get eternal life, it would be a rich man.

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But our Lord declared to them the impossibility for rich men to obtain salvation here described as entering the kingdom of God.

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They were astonished. Who then can be saved? The fact is, it's impossible for a sinner to enter the kingdom of God.

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That's what Jesus told Nicodemus. You got to be born again. Otherwise, it's not going to happen.

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You could as easily force a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. It's a human impossibility.

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Jesus' disciples understood what he was saying to them. They responded, who then can be saved? If this man could not be saved, who then could be saved?

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And then Jesus told them, with men, it's impossible, but not with God. For with God, all things are possible.

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And so here we see that our Lord taught his disciples that only through the power of God's grace can a sinner come to saving faith in him.

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For only the one who in faith forsakes all matters in life in coming to Christ and following him, only he will have everlasting life.

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See, Jesus, we've abandoned all, we've forsaken all and followed you. I guarantee you, you have eternal life, is what

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Jesus told Peter and his disciples. That's what saving faith is. Jesus gave this blessed word of promise, in the age to come, eternal life.

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And so in conclusion, we can perhaps draw a number of conclusions from this episode, but we'll just cite two. First, only those who abandon and subordinate all in order to follow

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Jesus through life have salvation. Only they are promised eternal life.

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The Lord Jesus promised those who have left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, is promised eternal life in the age to come.

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And at some point we'll talk about, you know, how we are supposed to deny ourselves too. Deny your own life also.

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Jesus is Lord. That's the point. And faith, saving faith, recognizes this and bows the heart.

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It's impossible for a rich man or any man or woman to enter the kingdom of God apart from an inward, powerful, life -changing work of God's grace.

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Saving faith is impossible for the sinner to exercise. With men, it is impossible.

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Only God can produce a true believer through his grace. Unsafe people don't have the ability to believe the gospel unto salvation.

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It takes a work of God's grace in their soul. And if this were taken to heart, it would change a great deal of evangelistic effort by evangelicals.

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We would find ourselves going back to what the Bible prescribes for us to do. We're to proclaim the truth with clarity in all its fullness, pray, and watch the

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Lord convert people himself into the kingdom by his work of grace and bringing people to repentance from sin and faith in Christ the

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Lord. And this is why it could be said of Apollos' service. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who would believe through grace.

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If this were understood and believed, there'd be an abandoning of pronouncing people that God has saved them unless and until they gave evidence that they have saving faith that set them on a course of life characterized by repentance of sin, submission and obedience to Jesus Christ through all hardship and difficulty.

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It would bring an end to unbiblical and unwarranted invitation system and the attempt for sinners to put their faith in a so -called sinner's prayer.

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We'll close with the words of Charles Spurgeon, who was as evangelistic as you could come, but he was reacting to really the

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Methodists and their crusade evangelism in the 19th century. But still all hurry to get members into the church is most mischievous, both to the church and to the supposed converts.

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I remember very well several young men who were of good moral character and religiously hopeful.

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They desired to be Christians. But instead of searching their hearts and aiming at their real conversion, the pastor never gave them any rest till he had persuaded them to make a profession, make a decision for Jesus.

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He thought that they would be under more bonds to holy things if they professed religion. Another professed

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Christ, and he felt quite safe in pressing them because they were so hopeful. He imagined that to discourage them by vigilant examination might drive them away.

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And so to secure them, he made them hypocrites. These young men are at the present time much further off from the church of God than they would have been if they had been affronted by being kept in their proper places and warned that they were not yet converted to God.

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It's a serious injury to a person to receive him into the number of the faithful unless there is good reason to believe that he's really regenerate.

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I am sure it is so, for I speak after careful observation. Some of the most glaring sinners known to me were once members of a church and were, as I believe, led to make a profession by undue pressure.

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Well meant, but ill judged. Do not, therefore, consider that soul winning is or can be secured by the multiplication of baptisms and the swelling of the size of your church.

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What mean these dispatches from the battlefield? He's referring to the evangelistic meetings.

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Last night, 14 souls were under conviction, 15 were justified, and eight received full sanctification.

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I am weary of this public bragging, this counting of unhatched chickens, this exhibition of doubtful spoils.

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Lay aside such numberings of the people, such idle pretense of certifying in half a minute that which will need the testing of a lifetime.

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Hope for the best, but in your highest excitements be reasonable. Inquiry rooms are all very well, but if they lead to idle boasting, they will grieve the

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Holy Spirit and work abounding evil. That's evangelicalism, folks, sadly.

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So may our Lord enable each of us to understand the nature of true saving faith, and that it's shown forth in a new life, the way we live, what we enjoy, and maybe we use the means of grace that he set before us to live in being our

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Savior and as our Lord. And I hope with these kinds of notes that it'll equip you better, perhaps, to deal with family and friends that may need to hear this word.

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Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word, and we pray that you would help us not to be deceived about these matters, but to think clearly and biblically, our

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God. We affirm, reaffirm our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, and we lament our

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God when we fail to live in this way. There's so much, our

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God, in the world that draws us away, and sadly, there's so much within us, sin within us, that also our

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God hinders our walk. Help us, our God, to be vital, living

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Christians who go forth believing, relying upon, and living for Jesus Christ, the