Is "believing" really enough?
CHAPTER 14: Of Saving Faith
(Parts One and Two)
That anyone believes in Christ, savingly, is a gift from God by the grace of God. Why? Because while God commands all men to believe and repent, (because all men are dead in sin), no one has the desire or the ability to do either. How does God grant the gift of saving faith?
The natural means by which people come to the knowledge of the gospel is as the gospel is explained, whether by a preacher or a person just speaking with a friend. That outward call of the gospel becomes effective when the Holy Spirit issues the inward call that causes the person to understand the gospel, and desire Christ. This is part of the Spirit’s work of regeneration. Unless a person is born again by the Holy Spirit, that person will neither believe nor repent. Conversely, when a person is born again by the Holy Spirit, that person definitely will believe and repent.
Saving faith may be either weak or strong at first. No two born again people grow at exactly the same pace; some slower, some faster, but all who have saving faith are commanded to “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18) And the means by which we grow in faith is by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).
So let us rejoice that God grants saving faith to we who were dead in sin, and let us take full advantage of the Word of God that we may grow in our faith.
(Part Two)
Saving faith includes believing the Bible. While a brand new believer does not know everything the Bible teaches, and therefore not necessarily believes all the Bible teaches, when he is made aware of these truths, if he rejects them, saving faith becomes suspect. What truths regarding scripture must believers believe? Regarding the Bible the redeemed believe: (a) that all of the Bible is inspired (the very words of God, 2 Timothy 3:16-17). (b) Since the Bible is inspired, it is inerrant (because God is inerrant). (c) Because the Bible is inspired and inerrant, it is supremely authoritative (because God is supremely authoritative).
This is why Peter writes that we are “born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). Any person who rejects the written Word of God can scarcely claim to be saved by the Incarnate Word of God. How can anyone claim to know Jesus Christ apart from the Word of God, since the Bible is the only inspired, inerrant, and supremely authoritative record about Him?
Believing in the Word of God necessitates obeying the Word of God. Though none of the redeemed this side of Heaven obeys God’s Word perfectly, as we grow in our knowledge and in our faith in the Word, or God our obedience to that Word grows also. Those who have no heart to obey God’s Word, including godly sorrow when they do not obey, ought not be so bold as to assume that they are children of God.
e:\Documents\1-Bible Study\1689\BLOG by Chapters\Chapters 14 & 15.doc