Saving Faith
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT)
This verse that almost all children as early as they can remember are taught sums up what the bible calls saving faith. As individuals get older it comes to the mind that we need things that are more complex. The simple things are too straight forward it may seem but they are usually the best.
And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away. But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved. (Hebrews 10:38-39 NLT)
Here the life of the righteous is by faith. They move and have their being in the concept of what the scriptures call faith. This again reflects the thought of “…not depending on your own understanding. …” Our concept of what is right is coloured by the fact that there is a Great Controversy over the character and government of God. Our mental and moral perceptions have been darkened by sin to the point of paralysis. Life for the God’s people is the narrow road marked out by faith.
“ Seek his will in all you do …” This is the bible definition of faith. Once the individual seeks God’s will in God’s proscribed way he cannot fail. God will reveal His secrets to him personally. The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions (Deuteronomy 29:29 NLT). Faith receives what God has revealed as His express will and follows it through God’s way.
Faith understands and knows that this faith or belief is the gift of God totally outside of the power of the individual. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8 NLT). The Christian exercise faith based on the gift of faith. The Apostle Paul said “…I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us” (Romans 12:3 NLT). God has given to all a measure of faith that that individual has received of Christ Jesus His Lord. It is by this and only this that salvation comes to the trusting believing soul.
Saving faith then is the acknowledgement that Jesus Christ has done all for the individual and His security lies not in His own understanding but in the ways of God found in His revealed word. God has by His Son redeemed mankind from an eternal death and now offers that salvation full and free to be received by faith. Walking in obedience to the word of God, that is, trusting the word of God to make the Christian obedient and not their own understanding then God can remake the soul into the image of Christ and wrap up this Great Controversy and come for His people.
Faith accepts the word of God, walks in obedience to that word by the victory Christ has already won for all men and makes the experience of Jesus Christ the individual’s thereby making the victory of Christ that of every trusting and believing soul.
This verse that almost all children as early as they can remember are taught sums up what the bible calls saving faith. As individuals get older it comes to the mind that we need things that are more complex. The simple things are too straight forward it may seem but they are usually the best.
And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away. But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved. (Hebrews 10:38-39 NLT)
Here the life of the righteous is by faith. They move and have their being in the concept of what the scriptures call faith. This again reflects the thought of “…not depending on your own understanding. …” Our concept of what is right is coloured by the fact that there is a Great Controversy over the character and government of God. Our mental and moral perceptions have been darkened by sin to the point of paralysis. Life for the God’s people is the narrow road marked out by faith.
“ Seek his will in all you do …” This is the bible definition of faith. Once the individual seeks God’s will in God’s proscribed way he cannot fail. God will reveal His secrets to him personally. The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions (Deuteronomy 29:29 NLT). Faith receives what God has revealed as His express will and follows it through God’s way.
Faith understands and knows that this faith or belief is the gift of God totally outside of the power of the individual. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8 NLT). The Christian exercise faith based on the gift of faith. The Apostle Paul said “…I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us” (Romans 12:3 NLT). God has given to all a measure of faith that that individual has received of Christ Jesus His Lord. It is by this and only this that salvation comes to the trusting believing soul.
Saving faith then is the acknowledgement that Jesus Christ has done all for the individual and His security lies not in His own understanding but in the ways of God found in His revealed word. God has by His Son redeemed mankind from an eternal death and now offers that salvation full and free to be received by faith. Walking in obedience to the word of God, that is, trusting the word of God to make the Christian obedient and not their own understanding then God can remake the soul into the image of Christ and wrap up this Great Controversy and come for His people.
Faith accepts the word of God, walks in obedience to that word by the victory Christ has already won for all men and makes the experience of Jesus Christ the individual’s thereby making the victory of Christ that of every trusting and believing soul.