Word of Salvation - September 2017

 

Getting in the Wheelbarrow

By Rev. Craig Van Echten

On Lord's Day 7

 

Theme: Lord’s day 7 shows that we must have faith to share in Christ and that genuine faith includes knowledge, conviction and assurance.

Purpose: To show how we come to share in Christ

Proposition: To share in Christ we need true faith which includes knowledge and conviction that Jesus Christ is Saviour and Lord

Songs: BoW 372, Sc. 400, Bow 190, 191

Lord’s Day 7; John 17:3; Hebrews 11:1-3; Heb. 10:19-25

 

Brothers and sisters,

What is true faith? When someone joins the Church, how do you know they have faith? When your child goes out with someone, how do you know they believe in Jesus?

What is true faith?

In general culture, the word for ‘faith’ tends to be used in a whole variety of ways. And this can hide it’s true meaning.

People use the word ‘faith’ to describe opinions that are uncertain. ‘I believe that’

In science there is faith, certain laws are believed even though they can’t be demonstrated.

In the religious sphere people talk about the great faiths.

But what is true faith?

Here the illustration of the tight rope walker is so helpful. You’ve heard it before, so bear with me. Remember Charles Blondin? He was a famous French tightrope walker. Blondin's greatest fame came on September 14, 1860, when he became the first person to cross a tightrope stretched 11,000 feet (400m) across the Niagara Falls. People from both Canada and America came from miles away to see this great feat.

He walked across, 160 feet (50m) above the falls, several times... each time with a different daring feat - once in a sack, on stilts, on a bicycle, in the dark, and blindfolded. One time he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet in the middle of the rope! Another time he pushed a wheelbarrow carrying a sack of potatoes.

It is said that one day, Blondin stopped and addressed his audience: "Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?" The crowd enthusiastically yelled, "Yes! You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. We believe!" "Okay," said Blondin, "Who wants to get into the wheelbarrow." As far as the Blondin story goes, no one did at the time!

I love this illustration because biblical faith is not just about believing in our heads that something is possible. It’s about believing it in our hearts. Faith is about knowledge and conviction. And that conviction means we will get in the wheelbarrow. That conviction means we will trust Christ.

So to share in the redemption of Christ we need true faith which includes knowledge and conviction that Jesus Christ is Saviour and Lord.

Now the first thing we are going to look at is this: only those who put faith in Christ will be saved.

Let me just recap a little from last Lord’s Day. Last time we saw that Christ alone has accomplished redemption. Remember those four words. Christ has made it possible for forgiveness, redemption, propitiation, and reconciliation. No other religion can use those terms. Other religions express the hope of being saved. Christianity delights in the reality of being saved.

But then that raises the question: Are all saved through Christ just as all were lost through Adam? (Q20) In other words, do all people come to share in this salvation?

Some have answered yes to this question. Rob Bell wrote the book ‘Love wins,’ His thesis is that all people will be saved in the end. He says, ‘Heaven is full of forgiven people. Hell is full of forgiven people. Heaven is full of people God loves, whom Jesus died for. Hell is full of forgiven people God loves, whom Jesus died for.’ His view is not new. It might be in new clothing, but there is nothing new under the sun. Throughout history, this view is called universalism. It is the belief that all people will be saved. This view is usually found in churches which deny the authority of God’s Word.

But, Are all saved through Christ just as all were lost through Adam? (Q20). With heavy hearts we must say no.

Only those who have faith in Christ will be saved. The Bible speaks about hell for the unsaved. The Bible also urges us to mission and evangelism. All this would be meaningless if everyone was saved.

The Bible also mentions that Jesus came to save His people (Mt. 1:21), His friends (Jn. 15:13), His sheep (Jn. 10:11,15), His body (Eph. 5:25; Ac. 20:28), the elect (Rom. 8:34), and the “many” of (Mk. 10:45).

But have you ever wondered about passages that mention the word “all?” How does that fit in? Titus 2:11 says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people…” There are many such passages. How are we to understand them? Well, the word “all” is a bit like the word “up.” In English the word up means many things. It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?  At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends. And so I could go on.

Like the word ‘all,’ meaning depends on the context. The word “all” could be a reference to all people, all ages, all ethnic backgrounds, all believers etc. This is where Biblical context is very important. This is the most important rule of interpretation. Look at the context.

In Titus 2 it is a reference to all classes of people as in older men, younger men, older women, younger women, slaves, masters etc.

So, “all” can never mean every individual because only those who possess true faith are saved. John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on Him.”

So then what is true faith?

 

Secondly, faith includes both knowledge and conviction. Notice I mention “includes.” Within the Bible there is so much that can be said about faith. We can talk about faith as an instrument which embraces Christ. We can talk about some of the expressions used for faith such as ‘looking to Christ’ ‘hungering and thirsting after Christ’ ‘receiving Christ.’ There’s much to be said. So I’m not going to be saying all there is about faith. We are going to focus on the essence of faith.

And the catechism takes us straight to the guts of faith. It gets right to the heart of what biblically faith is. I couldn’t say it any better. ‘True faith is not only a knowledge and conviction that everything God reveals in His Word is true; it is also a deep rooted assurance.’ We’ll look at deep rooted assurance shortly.

Let’s take a look at two key facets to Biblical faith: knowledge and conviction.

1. In John 17 we read, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Here faith is to know God and His Son Jesus. Jesus being the supreme revelation of God. So we must know the person we believe in. We don’t have a content less faith. You would never lend your car to someone you don’t know! Likewise, we can’t put our faith in someone that we don’t know.

But please don’t just think of intellectual knowledge here. This knowledge is relational. It’s to know someone in a deep sense. So faith is knowing. There is content to this relationship. But there is more.

1. In Hebrews 11:1 we read, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Here faith is described in terms of certainty and conviction. The knowledge of God’s glory warms our heart. And leads us to action. “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice.” “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark…”

So, can you see how ‘knowledge and conviction’ really get to the core of faith?

 

This is so important to emphasise because faith is often reduced to the intellectual (the head). But it’s never enough just to believe things about Jesus. Remember James 2:19 “You believe God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe– and shudder.” In other words, even satan can do good theology.

Nor can faith be reduced to simply giving your assent or agreement. This is what the Roman Catholic Church used to teach and may still does. But faith is not just agreeing with the Christian faith. For example, agreeing that Christianity is the right way instead of Islam does not save anyone.

True faith must touch our will. To put it differently, true faith must touch the core of our being that drives us. Hebrews 11 describes it as conviction which leads to action. In a word, we often describe faith as Trust. It means we don’t just know about the wheelbarrow. We don’t just agree it can get us across. We get in!

Theologian John Stott describes the experience in which he came to true faith. “in his later teens knelt at his bedside one Sunday night in the dormitory of his school. In a simple, matter-of-fact but definite way he told Christ that he had made rather a mess of life so far; he confessed his sins; he thanked Christ for dying for him; The following day he wrote in his diary:

‘Yesterday really was an eventful day!...Up till now Christ has been on the circumference and I have but asked him to guide me instead of giving him complete control. Behold, he stands at the door and knocks. I have heard him and now he has come into my house. He has cleansed it and now rules in it….’ That’s faith.

So do you have true faith? Do you have this knowledge and conviction? Do have this living trust?

 

Thirdly, faith is a deep rooted assurance.

Unlike every other religion the Christian can have assurance of salvation. As I mentioned last time, we don’t have to wait to see how our lives pan out. Our Salvation has been accomplished in Christ. So Christ’s finished work produces in us assurance of faith.

Hebrews 10:22 says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.”

So when the Holy Spirit produces faith in our hearts, He also grants us assurance of salvation.

Romans 8:15 says, “…you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father! The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.”

To put it differently, with our faith comes a comfort that we belong to God.

But then what about doubt? Don’t we feel like doubting Thomas sometimes? Don’t we feel like Peter sinking in the water?

 

Do these doubts happen to true Christians? Yes they do. It’s important to realize that one’s assurance of faith can be shaken, and diminished. You may even despair whether you really are a child of God. The great theologian John Calvin even made the point that a Christian is never fully cured from the disease of doubt.

 

But while our experience of assurance might change, the reality of it remains. Why? Because He will never let us go. Genuine faith cannot be extinguished. And neither can the assurance that comes with it.

“My sheep hear my voice and, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” God will sustain our faith which includes our assurance to the end.

Nevertheless, we should work hard to use the means God has given to strengthen that assurance. 2Peter 1:10 says, “Therefore, brothers be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election.”

Conclusion

So in conclusion, only by faith in Christ can we receive all the blessings of redemption. That goes without saying.

But what is true faith? True faith include knowledge and conviction. A person who has true faith will not only know Christ, and affirm the truth of Christ, he or she will have the conviction to surrender to Christ. To live for Christ. To get in the wheelbarrow as it were.

And along with knowledge and conviction will also come the assurance of faith.

Christianity is not something you can drift into and drift along with. Christ is someone who grips you, persuades you, drives you, comforts you and assures you.

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Amen (2150 words)