Tag Archives: Salvation

Mar 9 2009

What is Saving Faith?


The Bible teaches that sinners are saved by faith alone in Christ alone.

The moment I make this statement an array of emotions are invoked and people will line up to make the case that what I said is not true.  The reasons people think this statement is untrue can be narrowed down to two major lines of reasoning.

The first is the difficulty of people to grasp the scope of God’s love and ensuing grace. The idea that God would declare a wicked sinner not guilty, and then righteous, and give him eternal life and an inheritance in heaven just because he believed what God said in the gospel of Christ goes against every instinct of man. Such an idea is a scandal! Only the most naive would embrace such an idea! Surely sinful man must prove something to God before He can be approved.

I suggest the second, and larger problem is the common misunderstanding of what is meant by “faith“, especially “saving faith” in the Bible. A surprising number of people evidently believe that “believe” and “faith” are exactly the same in regard to salvation and have the most elementary meaning of each word in mind. It is common in our fellowship for a candidate for baptism to be asked “Do you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God?”  The problem is that believing that truth is not faith. Giving mental assent to some facts is not what the Bible means when it talks about “belief” or “faith“.

There are many places in the Bible that perfectly illustrates what genuine saving faith is. One of my favorites is found in Hebrews 6.

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
(Hebrews 11:6)

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him…”. Since this is true we need desperately to know what “faith” is. The remainder of the verse explains it clearly.

I suggest that biblical, saving faith has three components, and lacking any one makes what one believes less than what God demands. The second section of the verse says, “for whoever would draw near to God…

  • must believe that he exists”. Unfortunately this is as far as many people ever get. They believe a set of facts about God and about Jesus in much the same way we believe stories about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Believing that Jesus was actually a historical figure, and that he was called “The Son of God” is good but is only part of  what faith is. I can give mental assent to historical facts but I never have to depend upon those facts, or put my trust in one of those historical figures. When Jesus told Nicodemus he should believe on Him he meant to “rely on”, to “lean on”, or to “dependently trust” in Him. This is the most fundamental or basic component of faith, it is intellectual.
  • “and that he rewards” It is not enough to believe God exists, we must also believe he will act on our behalf. This is the emotional aspect of faith. This is the point where what you believe in your head starts to be embraced by your heart. Paul’s description in Romans 10 clearly shows this, v9 “believe with your heart” and v10 “For with the heart one believes and is justified“. When I say I believe something with all my heart it is more meaningful than just a fact I have accepted as true.
  • “those who seek him” This is when faith is complete. Those who are seeking are acting. Until what you know if your head is true and what you embrace in your heart is acted upon it is not saving faith. This is the aspect of faith I have called volitional. It requires an act of the will to do something. Looking once more at the familiar passage in Romans 10 you read in v9 “if you confess with your mouth” and in v10 “with the mouth one confesses and is saved“. A person hears about Jesus and believes he exists, they believe in their heart that he will do something for them, and they then tell someone. It is in this context Paul writes in v13”everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved“.

So then saving faith is intellectual, emotional, and volitional. Now it is easy to see that there is absolutely no tension between what Jesus and Paul taught and what James taught; “Faith without works is dead, being alone” A belief that stops short of surrendered obedience is too short to be biblical, saving faith. There are observable responses to the gospel. Going public with your faith by telling others (confession), reenacting the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus in baptism, and a lifestyle of obedience to what you know to be what God wants of you are all observable and to some degree measurable. But none of these observable acts are worth a plug nickel if first there has not been the first two components of faith. Many, many people are trusting what they do (which are good and noble things) and are not depending on Christ alone. It is the outworking of that solitary dependent trust in him that matters for time and eternity.

Again and again Abraham is put forth as our example of a faithful and faith filled man. He “believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness”. Before he was circumcised, before Issac was conceived, before he took a step toward the place to where God would lead him, God declared him to be righteous. Let us not make the mistake of assigning human limitations to God who is unlimited. Do you not think God knew you, knew exactly what would would do on any given day, how you would sin, when you would hear the good news and respond? It is his foreknowledge that gives him the divine prerogative to justify a sinner in an instant who is yet to do those observable things. Now you will have to show me, and those to whom James wrote would have to show him (James 2:18), but God knows the beginning from the end.

The scriptures are very clear. Those who do not have the walk to match the talk are not Christians. Read 1 John. You will find over and over distinctions, a lifestyle of loving living by those who belong to God and are in Christ. They did not become Christians by doing those things, they do those things because they are in Christ. Because they have trusted him they love as he loved. 1 John 5 makes crystal clear that the division is made between the saved and lost by who believes on Christ and those who do not.

Are we saved by faith alone in Christ alone? Yes we are. But to affirm that statement we must know what is meant by “faith”. I hope this might help someone to understand better. Faith and works are not separated, they are always together in saving faith.

His peace,
Royce

Feb 27 2009

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing


When Jesus gave the great command of the great commission He said “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) Here the Scriptures cannot be clearer. 1. Go make disciples. 2. Baptizing them (disciples) 3. Teaching them  (disciples). The disciples were to make more disciples by preaching the gospel, baptizing those who believed , and then teaching them to obey all that Jesus had commanded. Interestingly, no plan for world evangelism has been devised that beats that plan. It is the only one that is tested and proven and mandated by Jesus Himself. It worked in Acts 2, it worked with the man from Ethiopia, it worked with the house of Cornelius, and it worked for the Apostle Paul. Preach the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) in the power of the Holy Spirit, baptize those who believe, and then teach them to be obedient to all Christ taught. This is not complicated. 

Water baptism in the New Testament is clearly immersion. I can find no other method. Baptism is only for believers. It is only for those who believe the facts of the gospel or “good news” about Christ and put their whole trust in Him. The criteria is not church membership, what one believes ought to be said at baptisms, or even what one believes about baptism.

 

What about “baptism for the remission of sins”?  John the Baptist baptized “unto repentance”, (Matthew 3:11). His water baptism was not actual “repentance” but was “unto” repentance. Those he baptized desired to be identified with the community of faith who had chosen to repent (change their minds) and follow the one who would come, of whom John preached. Being immersed in water was not the cause of repentance; it said to the onlookers “I have repented”. In exactly the same way baptism “for” the remission of sins is not a mechanical action that obligates God to forgive sins in conjunction with immersion. Over 50 times in the New Testament it is made plain that salvation is by faith. Obedience always comes after faith in Christ, not before. The “natural” or unregenerate mind is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can he be. (Romans 8:7) Those who teach that no person can be saved until he or she is immersed also teach that only after baptism will they receive the Holy Spirit. This is inconsistent with Peter’s statement when he defended baptising the house of Cornelius to the church leaders in Jerusalem saying “ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” (Acts 11:17)  In Acts 10 the record is given of Peter’s visit and his message to Cornelius and those of his household. Peter ended his message to them by saying “To him (Jesus) all the prophets bear witness that every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:43). While Peter was still speaking the Holy Spirit was given to those who believed the message of the gospel and Peter asked “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (Acts 10:47) This is consistent with all of the other Bible passages that teach clearly that men are saved by grace through faith.

 

When the believer is immersed in water he is saying to the world and to God, I am dying to myself and my way of doing things, and I am being raised to live my life God’s way. We thus reenact the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and are “marked out” as followers of Jesus and of the household of faith. Water baptism never stands alone and one baptized 100 times will still be lost if he or she did not first have faith in Christ. In baptism we look to Christ and what He accomplished on our behalf when He died for our sins, was buried, and raised from the dead. Water baptism does not join us to the church nor does it join us to God but it does cry out to a watching world “I belong to Christ and I purpose to live only for Him!” So we correctly sometimes say he or she was “baptized into Christ”. Of course we speak figuratively just as we do when we eat the bread and drink the cup. We are not literally eating the body of Christ or drinking His blood. We know that we receive Him by faith, not by physical eating. The symbols are not nearly as important as what they represent. We might eat unleavened bread, a cracker, or some other bread. And, we likely drink Welch’s grape juice, or perhaps even wine, but not literal blood. So the elements of the supper, when we commune with our Lord and His people, only represent His body broken for us and His blood shed for us until He comes. It is not a literal eating and drinking of his body and blood.

 

In my view, water baptism is much the same. We are not literally dying when we go under the water, we are symbolically dying. We are “baptized into His death” in a figurative way, we are not literally dead as He was. We are symbolizing our death to self and sin and our being raised to live the new life He gives. Thus it was necessary for Paul to say right after he talked about being “baptized into His death”, “reckon yourselves to be dead” (Romans 6:11). We are baptized “for the remission of our sins” by submitting to immersion in the watery grave of baptism.

 Just as Adam was our head before we became Christians so now Christ is the “new Adam”, our federal head. As in Adam all die, so in Christ all live (1 Corinthians 15:22). Because Christ is now our representative, when He died we died with Him (2 Timothy 2:11), and when He was raised we were raised with Him. Baptism is a beautiful and holy reenactment of those truths. Thus our eternal salvation was completed before we were born, completely outside of us or our abilities. “This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him,We shall also live with Him.”(2 Timothy 2:11) 

When we come to God’s open book we should come with an open heart. Unless we are willing to be shaped by it, both in what we believe and practice, we will miss many of its truths. We should be careful to not give more weight to a thing than the Bible does. Some Bible truths are more important than others (1 Corinthians 15:3, Hebrews 6:1) and we should assign the same importance to them the Bible does as best we can. (This makes all the fuss about singing in worship pretty silly..)

The mission of the followers of Jesus has not changed since He gave the great command “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you”. If we are faithful to do this we have done well. It is not our job to “convert”, win debates with sinners, but to preach the good news about what Jesus has accomplished for them in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is worthy of noting that the reason we can “go” and “make disciples” is because He has all authority and power in heaven and on earth. We go in his name, his authority, to tell the good news and then baptise and teach those who believe with all their hearts.

Churches that make a big fuss about Jesus and what He has done and is doing are growing. Those who major on anything else are not likely to grow. Our task is not to build churches, church growth is a result of preaching the good news about Jesus. If we will keep the main thing the main thing church growth will happen. Our mandate from heaven is to invite people to Jesus, not to church. There is a difference.

Royce

Feb 26 2009

Hemley Rd Church Puts New Baptistry to Use.


blb_bldgThis past Monday I received an excited phone call from our partner in the gospel, Daphne German from the Hemley Road church of Christ. On last Sunday they had their first baptism of the year, and in the church’s brand new baptistery. A 51 year old widow was baptized by brother Billy Spalding. What joy the church shared as they witnessed this event.

The baptistery is not trimmed out yet, but it held warm water (a very positive thing since the church has no heat, or A/C for that matter) and this was the first of what will be many, many baptisms at HRC. The baptistery was a love gift from a sister church at La Place, Louisiana. When they learned that their brothers and sisters in Bayou La Batre were in need they responded. Many thanks to the church in La Place for their expression of charity.

Since its inception after Hurricane Katrina, the Hemley Rd church has had no less than 10 baptisms each year. For a congregation with only a few mature believers they are doing a wonderful job of getting out the gospel and loving the people of the Bayou. They have an on going food pantry, still repair citizens houses and give tons of clothing, food, and furniture each year, facilitate an on going Grief Share ministry, and put the gospel in shoe leather in their community.

Never have I met any Christians who are more determined, live more sacrificially, and are more filled with faith than Christ’s ambassadors at HRC. Against overwhelming odds and in the face of severe opposition they have continued straight ahead. They live by faith and are bringing hope and deliverance to the folks of the bayou through their Christ centered ministry and message.

I thank God for our friends at Hemley Rd church in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. They have many needs, not the least of which is an air conditioning unit for the church building, the fellowship building, and the house on the property. Last summer when the temperatures were in the high 90’s they fed children, had classes, and worshiped with only a couple of fans to move the air. They have ministered all winter without heat, but have continued because of the warmth of their hearts.

Do you know an HVAC contractor who loves God? Tell him about the needs at HRC. Why not stop fretting about the decline of the DOW index and invest that money in something with an eternal benifit? At a minimum, please put these dear people on your prayer list and lift them to our Father.

I couldn’t be prouder of my forever family at the Hemley Rd church of Christ in Bayou La Batre. Many thanks to them for being examples of what a church should look like. May God continue to bless them and you.

For the very good news about Jesus,
Royce Ogle

Feb 23 2009

The Enemy Is You…


“We have found the enemy, and it is us”, Pogo.

A religion or belief system that does not save me from myself is not worth very much. Each of us came into the world with a built in “ME” complex that is never completely overcome. Some of a baby’s first words are usually “mine” or “me”. We never have to be taught to be selfish, it comes with the package.

The human ego, or the “self” part of each of us, is our greatest obstacle on our journey toward Christian maturity. The reason the gospel is offensive and a scandal to many is because it leaves absolutely no room for the human ego. Those who are dead in their sins and then are made alive have nothing to boast about. (Romans 3:26, 27; Ephesians 2:8-10)

It is clear that as long as I have confidence in my ability to live a life worthy of God’s ideal of sinless perfection, I will not fully embrace God’s provision for sin offered in the gospel. God doesn’t need my help or yours to make us righteous in regard to salvation. The exact opposite is true.(Romans 5:18-20) Only when we come to the end of ourselves and believe God’s record that our best behavior, on our best day, is far short of God’s righteous demands (Romans 3:9-20) are we willing to throw ourselves upon His mercy offered in the gospel of Jesus.

People who think they can enter heaven based even partially upon the basis of their good works on earth are either arrogant or ignorant. They are either so arrogant they think they deserve what God says they don’t, or so ignorant they don’t understand the absolute moral bankruptcy of the unsaved. The Apostle Paul said of himself that nothing good was in him, as to his flesh. (Romans 7:18)

Each of us on earth inhabits a body that is God’s natural enemy. That doesn’t cease to be true once we are born again. There is the constant tension within the Christian of the flesh against the Spirit.(Romans 7; Galatians 5) The two are at war for control of our thoughts and intentions and we must cooperate with what the Spirit desires to the defeat of the ego.(Romans 6:12-14)

Every religion, other than Christianity, appeals to the human ego. Each of them has the adherent doing some act, some ritual, some sacrifice to entice god into looking favorably upon him or her. This appeals to the ego in that one can take credit for what he or she has accomplished, and in most cases what has been done is observable by others. Only in Christianity is a believer received wholly upon the merit of another, namely Jesus Christ. Christians understand that while they were in fact God’s enemies He loved them, died for their sins, and rose from the dead to allow them to share in His eternal life. Becoming a Christian is in contrast to what the ego demands because the believer has absolutely nothing of worth to offer God, and even more scandalous, nothing more needs to be done. The penalty of transgressions against God has been paid in full and the believer is fully acquitted of all charges (Colossians 2:14) against him and becomes a child of God.

The loving, faith response to this lavish love is to say no to an unrighteous lifestyle (Titus 2:11, 12) and to do the good works God designed each believer to do (Ephesians 2:10). The idea that a sinner can obtain eternal life, or keep it, based upon putting in a good enough performance flies in the face of the weight of Scripture which teaches the opposite.

In the letter to the Romans Paul made it very, very clear by saying about the righteousness of God which is by faith,

“21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

 27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:21-28)

To the struggling Christian, forsake your ego and its desires and trust Christ alone for your security. God’s truth will set you free if you will only believe His record. I hope you will.

For Him,
Royce