The Keeping Power of Biblical Faith
Steve Hanchett, pastor
Berry Road Baptist Church
It was a mild October afternoon in 1982 and Badger Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin was packed. Over 60,000 die-hard University of Wisconsin fans were watching their beloved football team take a beating by Michigan State. What seemed odd was that as the score became more and more lopsided bursts of cheers and applause kept being heard in the stands. It was only natural that some people began to wonder who these strange people were who were cheering while their team was being pummeled.
As it turns out seventy miles away from Badger stadium the Milwaukee Brewers were beating the St. Louis Cardinals in game three of the World Series. Many of the Badger fans in the stands were listening to portable radios and responding to something else besides what was happening right in front of their eyes.
In many ways that is a fairly accurate description of what the Christian life is like. We might be in the midst of horrible circumstances in this world and yet we have something to cheer about. We are see by faith the victory that is ours in Christ. This victory is not seen by most people because they are blinded by sin and unable see beyond the world which lies in front of them. The Christian is responding to something beyond what is seen by human eyes. As we continue to see what the Scriptures say about the security of the believer we are looking beyond what we see with human eyes into the very heart of spiritual life.
We began our series dealing with the question, “Can the Saved be Lost Again,” by establishing some basic principles. We have learned that the person who knows Jesus Christ as Savior and has entered into a personal relationship with Him, can never loose that relationship. We saw last week that main reason we can say that is because of the trinitarian work of God. He keeps us by His power, he seals us by the presence of the Holy Spirit and He secures us through the prayers of Jesus Christ.
I want to build on those foundational principles today and I hope to show the Christian is also secure because of the nature of saving faith. I would like to concede something to those who believe that a person can be saved and then lost again. I would agree with them if they could demonstrate one thing. If they could show me that becoming a Christian only entails believing certain facts about Jesus Christ I might agree with them. In other words, if a person only has to intellectually agree with the fact that Jesus is the Savior, or that He rose from the dead, or that He died on the cross and in agreeing with those facts he is saved then I will concede that salvation can be lost.
If nothing happens to a person other than a change of mind then without question the mind can be changed back. So if that is all that is involved in becoming a Christian then I suppose it doesn’t take a great imagination to figure out that a Christian can become a non-Christian. But saving faith involves more than just our intellect, it involves our heart, or our will as it is directed by what we love. Becoming a Christian is a miraculous work of the Spirit of God.
My point is that saving faith, while it unquestionably includes belief in the facts about Jesus, it also involves the commitment of our whole person to Him as Lord and Savior as well. It is because of the nature of saving faith that I believe that the person who is truly saved will always be saved and that they will persevere in their walk with God.
What I mean by perseverance that the will never finally, and ultimately abandon the faith either in doctrine or in practice. This doesn’t mean that they will live a perfect life. It doesn’t mean there won’t be dark valleys. It doesn’t mean there won’t be times of sin and unbelief. It does not mean there will never be days of doubting. What it does mean is that the Christian man or woman will not persist on the path of sin and unbelief. It means that they will return to the Lord and be restored.
What I have been endeavoring to demonstrate is why it is that a real Christian perseveres. And what we saw last week was that a real Christian perseveres because the Triune God is keeping them by His power, marking them with His presence, and protecting them by His prayers. Today I hope to encourage your faith by showing how saving faith has a power to help the believer persevere in their in Christ.
Hebrews 11:1,6 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. . .But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
What we see here is that biblical, saving faith involves more than agreement with the known facts. It involves a trust and a confidence and therefore a commitment to the Author and Subject of those facts - Jesus Christ. Verse six makes that clear. Yes, you must believe that God exists (the facts), but you must also believe that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. This second part goes to the question of trust, confidence and reliance upon God for good as we seek Him.
I want to make some key points about saving faith.
1. Saving faith has to do with our greatest hopes and aspirations. It has to do with the things hoped for.
What is it that we hope for? What is the universal human longing? While it is obvious that not everyone will agree on the path to achieving it, I think ultimately everyone wants some sense of inner happiness, contentment, joy, peace and satisfaction. For the most part everyone is doing something to try to achieve that. Most people are idolatrous in the way they seek peace. They worship and serve the creature and not the Creator. Some people are seeking satisfaction through the acquisition of wealth and possessions. Others try to satisfy their souls through sexual gratification. Others hope to find peace through drugs and alcohol. Still Other people hope that religious activity will fill the emptiness of heart they feel. Many believe that the pride of personal achievment will give them what they lack. In the end each of these paths to happiness merge into emptiness and vainity. They are after all not many different roads, but instead the very same thing.
The recent TV show “survivor” involved a group of people who had to live on an island and basically fend for themselves. Each week they would vote someone off of the island until the got down to the last person who would win a million dollars. I have never watched the show, but I think it went something like that. What I found interesting is that two of the contestants who were voted off of the island first were interviewed and both said the reason they went on the show to begin with is was not so much winning the money, but instead it was out of a desire to achieve some sort of fame. They said what they really wanted was to be noticed. It seemed as though they felt like fame would bring them some sense of inner happiness and peace.
So when we are talking about biblical faith the first thing to recognize is that it goes deeper than just believing some facts about Jesus. It goes to the very heart and soul of our being. It has to do with the deepest aspirations and longings of our heart.
Unbelief is more than not having the information correct. It is an evil. It is a forsaking of the true source of satisfaction because we believe that we will find true joy in something other than God. It is a slap in the face of God. It is saying to God that we can substitute a house or a car or a job or a vacation or a boat or a hobby or a girlfriend or a boyfriend or a sexual encounter or a bank account for Him and find true happiness in it instead of Him.
The Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet and said, “My people have committed two evils, they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and dug wells for themselves, broken wells that can hold no water.”
“One of the most important questions we are ever asked is ‘what do you want?’ We are creatures of desire and since we can’t have everything we are constantly required to choose. We may not be used to thinking about faith as a choice between two competing desires, but the Bible presents it in exactly that way. On one side is the ‘world.’ On the other side are the promises of God. Which means more to us?” (Ron Julian, Righteous Sinners, p. 67).
The reason saving faith is so powerful is that it regonizes and sees that Jesus Christ and the salvation He brings is worth more than all that this world can possibly offer. It is a choosing the unseen over the seen, the invisible over the visible and being sure that it is worth it to make that choice.
The reason this has such a power in our life to keep us safe in Christ and to help us to persevere is that you don’t abandon that which you know to be the real answer to the deepest needs of your soul.
The crowds that had been following Jesus were rapidly diminishing in size. At one point it seemed that everyone turned away from Him and Jesus was left with the twelve only. He turned and asked a solemn question: “Will you go away also?” The answer of Peter was, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
What kept these men persevering in their faith in Jesus? What distinguished them from those who only followed for a while? Was it not that they could see with the eyes of faith that Jesus Christ was the only one that could meet the deepest needs and desires of their soul. So again saving faith is keeping faith because saving faith grasps the answer to the deepest needs and aspirations of our soul.
Each and every one of us has a soul that has deep longings and desires. Our problem is we are so blind that we often miss the answer that God has given us for that longing of heart. The answer, my friend, is Jesus Christ. That brings us to the second point this text makes about saving faith.
2. Saving faith involves seeing with the eyes of the spirit that what we really need is Christ and finding lasting satisfaction in Him.
Believing on Christ means we cease trying to fill the emptiness of our heart with the stuff of this world. It means we realize that the stuff of this world only brings a momentary high. Like an addictive drug the next fix is going to have to be stronger than the last if we are going to get the same effect. To believe on Christ is to see with the eyes of faith the folly of our sin, the foolishness of living with Him and forsaking all the empty promises of this world.
Saving faith goes further. It is not just that we give up these things. They must be replaced with something. Otherwise we are like the man Jesus spoke of who from whom was cast out seven demons. When the territory those demons occupied in the soul of that man was not replaced they returned with twice as many and invaded that space again. Henry Scougal said correctly, “The soul of man has within it a raging thirst.” That raging thirst demands to be quenched. We will seek to satisfy it somehow. If we cast out the enemies of our soul and do not replace them with Christ they will return twice as evil as before. Saving faith is not only seeing the wickedness and folly of sin and turning from sin as a source of happiness, it is a turning to Christ as the only one who can truly quench the souls thirst.
So faith is seeing that what the soul really needs is Christ. Faith is the hand of the sinner who is drowning in this world and looking for hope, reaching out and taking hold of the hand of Christ and finding him to be the true deliverance.
Faith is the eye of the soul that looks unto Jesus and His cross and finds forgiveness for all its sins and peace with God within.
Faith is the mouth of the soul that receives Jesus as the bread of life and the water of life and finds fullness and satisfaction within.
Faith is the foot of the soul that is being pursued by death and hell and flees into Jesus and finds Him to be the mighty fortress and refuge of the soul.
Faith looks to Jesus and sees in Him all that is needed. Faith see that Christ is the great source of satisfaction and rests in Him.
This is what it means when it says that faith is believing that God “rewards those who diligently seek Him.” So faith deals with the deepest longings and aspirations of our soul, and saving faith is a turning away from this world and its pleasures and finding life and satisfaction in Christ. But this text teaches us a third thing about faith.
3. The third thing we can see in this text about saving faith is that the things that are not seen are more real to the one who has this faith than the things that are seen.
The writer of Hebrews goes to great pains to demonstrate that point. He talks about the patriarchs and Moses and says that the great motivation of their actions was the confidence that there was an eternal city that was far greater than anything this world could offer them. Of Moses in particular is said that he considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. So he left all the treasure of this world behind to follow Christ.
You see these people became so convinced of the spiritual realities and the rewards of following Christ that they were willing to go anywhere and do anything God called them to do. These men and women saw the unseen and they knew that in Christ there was great reward.
Don’t think that the heroes of faith were heroes because the gave up everything and got nothing in exchange. To the contrary they gave up the things that were temporary for the things that are eternal. They gave up things that have no lasting value for the things that are never corrupted. They gave up things that offered no real deep lasting joy and peace, for the things that brought a deep, lasting, real peace and joy.
I guess the best way to think of it is to say that there faith had done more than settle in their brains. It had captured their soul, ignited a flame of love in their hearts, and seized control of their wills. As a result they gave themselves completely to God. The things of heaven and the kingdom of God became more real to them then the things they could touch and see and hear all around them. And this ability to see with faith had a power over their lives that kept them following Christ to the end.
John Piper told a story that he used to illustrate the difference between saving faith and a spurious faith. It demonstrates how the difference between biblical faith and mere mental agreement is to think of the different ways people could react to the very same news. Lets say you are at home one evening and you turn on the TV and are watching the news and a report comes on about a school building that has collapsed in Turkey. They are doing a live report and there is a father pacing back and forth in the background. The anguish is obvious and even though there are rescue workers frantically digging in the rubble, he keeps shouting, “somebody do something, somebody save my little girl.”
Then the reporter turns around and says I think we have some good news. Let’s watch. And the camera pans around to a spot where a rescue worker has just pulled a little girl from the building. Amazingly enough she is almost completely unharmed. It is the daughter of this father who has been crying out in anguish. He rushes to her and snatches her from the arms of the rescuer and collapses to his knees kissing his little girl one moment and lifting his eyes to heaven and thanking God the next.
Now you are watching that and you probably feel some of the emotion of this father. Still, you can sit there and watch it and it doesn’t really effect you so deeply that your attention could not be pulled away from it. It doesn’t grab your heart in any significant way. You can sit in your recliner and eat a hamburger while you watch. You can talk to your wife or your children while it is going on. If a friend called your attention could easily be diverted from what was happening on the TV.
But let’s change the scene for a moment. Let’s say you have come home for lunch and the phone rings. A panicked voice on the other end says, “Come to the school quickly. The building has collapsed and your daughter is inside.”
There is a sudden rush of adrenaline surging through your body. You don’t call the office and ask if it would be all right if you took the afternoon off. You don’t think maybe you ought to clean up the kitchen before you go down to the school. If the phone rang again and a friend called just to chat, you would be abrupt with them and they would sense the urgency in your voice. Your heart is in one place - at the school with your girl. All of your emotions and affections are drawn to the there. You race out the door and down the street. And now you are the father pleading for someone to save your little girl.
The minutes seem like hours and every thought, every ounce of energy is poured into your thoughts about the safety of your little girl. Suddenly, a rescue worker emerges from the rubble and in his arms he is carrying your daughter. She is unscathed by this disaster. You rush to her and hug her and kiss her. You look into heaven and give thanks to God.
What is the difference between the what we believed about those two events. With the first you believed it happened and you felt some sorrow for those involved. But this belief was remote and detached. If anyone had asked you if you believed that the building in Turkey collapsed you would have said that you certainly believed and felt bad about it. You were happy for the father who got his daughter out. But there would be no real emotional investment. You would feel no sense of commitment.
On the other hand, when it was your own daughter and when it was her school your belief involved much more. It involved a commitment of your whole person. When she was rescued it involved a personal attachment and a joy and an affection that was not and could not be present in the first one.
This, I think, in a some way is the difference between the kind of faith that doesn’t save and doesn’t last and the faith that does save and does endure. Saving faith means that I personally have something at stake in Christ. Saving faith means that my whole being is affected.
The Bible speaks of the Christian as one who is called. When you read the heroes of faith what you find are people who committed themselves to God and followed Him at any cost. But don’t think they did so because they were more noble, or brave than you are. They did so because the were called. They risked everything to follow Christ. Risk doesn’t matter to someone who is called. It only matters if you are not called. The called see the surpassing value of Jesus Christ. They see Him as the Pearl of Great Price and everything else is empty and vain when held up next to Him. Saving faith is having our soul captured by the worth of Jesus Christ and not being willing to abandon Him for anything. That is why I believe saving faith has a keeping power in the life of the believer.
Saving faith sees so clearly that Jesus is the only One who can meet the deepest longings of our heart that it is pointless to go anywhere else or to follow anyone else. We must follow Him. Not because we are unusually brave, nor because we are uniquely noble. But because He has the words of eternal life. We have seen that. What else can we do?
Saving faith is choosing between two competing desires. Saving faith is choosing life over death. It is choosing Christ over the world. It is choosing the cross, the narrow road, and the way of Jesus Christ. Saving faith is being so sure of the deep satisfaction that He brings that we forsake everything to follow Him.
The Christian perseveres first of all because of the work of God. He keeps us by His power, by the presence of the Holy Spirit, by the prayers of Jesus Christ. But we are also kept by the power of saving faith. The one who has seen and knows Christ as the source of eternal life has no choice. That man or woman must follow Jesus where ever he goes. That person will remain true to the end.
Our souls were meant to live in fellowship with God. The emptiness of the human heart can only be truly filled by Christ. Jesus Christ offers Himself as the way of salvation those who embrace Him in saving faith.
