of Romans and in the condemnation of sin, of the sin of men. But when we hear of no man justified by works, Paul makes it clear in Romans that it is by faith that God saves. He also makes that very clear in Ephesians. By grace are you saved through faith. We see this throughout scripture that it is faith. Our confession uses this language. Faith is the alone instrument of justification. The alone instrument of justification. So when we speak about salvation that is in Christ through faith, we might need to ask further questions. Faith becomes this important tenet of the Christian faith. Well, I just used the word and I was gonna say you we can use the word to mean several things right when I just said faith becomes a tenant of the Christian faith, I mean the religion the Christian religion And and as we speak of faith, we're gonna see that we can see faith in several different Contexts and defined in several different ways we need to be careful when we speak about faith because there are a different kinds of faith. Today I would like for us to talk about saving faith or justifying faith. But as we talk about saving faith and justifying faith, sometimes it's helpful for us to see what a thing is not. So we're going to talk about also what saving faith is not. Other kinds of faith that are not saving faith, that are not justifying faith. So This morning, speaking of kinds of faith, types of faith that are not justifying, that are not salvific, a faith that does not save. We're going to look at several examples here. There is a kind of faith that is a blind trust, a blind faith. You might hear it called a blind leap into a dark chasm, this trust that is not based in fact or data or analysis. It's faith that is not based in reason. Now, when I think about this kind of faith, I often think about my granddaughter who is three years old. And when we go to the swimming pool, she goes swimming and she has great faith. great faith that she's going to do wonderfully. You better get that swimming life vest buckled on quickly because she's going to go and dive in. She trusts without thought. She has never read the label on that little swimming vest. She's never seen how much Wait, does this thing hold and will the buoyancy be up? She's never studied, but she has great faith. That's the kind of faith. It's a faith that does not rely on fact or reason. And this kind of faith that is just kind of a blind faith is a kind of faith that is necessary for our society to function. We have this kind of faith that is not based on data, and we have this kind of faith inherently within us. It's part of who we are. We might call it intuitive faith. This is a faith that is natural to man. Babies come here trusting. They come here with great faith and trusting, and little children are very trusting. And this is a kind of faith that says, I believe, I trust, but I haven't seen the receipts. I haven't seen the data to back up the claim, but I trust. I haven't laid my eyes on the proof, but that intuitive faith, that's not a saving faith. There's another kind of faith that we could talk about. It is a faith that is based on facts and figures and data and analysis. It is reasoned faith based on information This faith might say, I believe because I have seen the receipts. I believe because I have analyzed the data. And you think about the things that we put our confidence in. Maybe you put your faith in. You trust your family's safety to the car that you drive or to the to the van that you drive. Maybe you do that. I just bought a minivan, so I'm thinking about minivans and the confidence that we can have. And we look at the data, don't we? We look at the studies and we see and we say, this I can trust in because I've seen the data. I've seen the facts. This kind of faith we might call, we might label this demonstrable faith. This kind of faith is not necessarily natural to man, but it comes from study. It comes from a convincing argument. This is also not a saving faith. It is a faith that can be reasoned to a conclusion. Now some people think that Christian faith, saving faith, is this kind of faith. Some people think we can reason people into the kingdom, but listen to what Thomas said. Whoever tries to prove, here he's speaking specifically about the Christian faith and the Trinity. Whoever tries to prove the Trinity by natural reason detracts from faith. So this is what Thomas says. And Bavinck wrote, scientific theory does not produce martyrs, religion does. So this kind of faith that analyzes the facts and the data and comes to a conclusion and says, now I can trust. This is not saving faith. By the way, we do believe the Christian faith can hold up to the scrutiny of analyzing the data and looking at the facts. But that does not save. It removes excuse, but it doesn't save. Neither of these kinds of faith, this intuitive faith or this demonstrable faith, these are not saving faith. Saving faith is not inherent in natural man, like intuitive faith. And saving faith is not reasoned. Saving faith is a gift from God. And saving, justifying faith, If it came through observation and deduction, if saving faith came through looking at the data, Jesus might never have been crucified. Because those who heard him preach and those who saw him perform miracles would have seen the data. And they could have said, yes, he is certainly who he says he is. And we can see that kind of reason come. Even when Nicodemus came by night, he said, we know, we know. that you are sent from God. We know that you are sent from God. So there is that reasoning faith, but it's not saving faith. If saving faith came through those channels, then maybe they would never have crucified Christ. Or even after the resurrection, anyone who had seen or heard of an empty tomb would have said, well, surely this is the Christ. James speaks about, if you're thinking, well, are you just making up this stuff of a faith that doesn't save? James speaks of a faith that is a non-saving faith. He describes it, and then he asks, can that kind of faith save? And the answer comes, no, that kind of faith cannot save. He speaks of that kind of faith as being a dead faith. He talks about the faith of the demons. And the faith of demons, he says, you believe there is one God, you do well. The demons also believe and tremble. Not only do the demons believe, they know that there is one God. But they have an emotional response to that truth. The demons shudder. They tremble when we say, I know because I just feel it. In that moment, we may not be confessing that we have anything more than the faith of demons. The demons believe and tremble. They have an emotional response. We want our faith to be more than that. James doesn't argue with Paul. Some people try to make James and Paul come into an argument with one another. It might seem as a cursory reading because Paul says, no man is justified by works and James says, therefore man is justified by works. When we look at that and we see what they are saying, they're not arguing with one another. James would agree that faith is the alone instrument of justification. Salvation comes through faith without the addition of any works to improve our condition. But James shows us that when a man has saving faith, when a man has justifying faith, then good works will flow out of that faith. Good works will prove Good works will be the evidence of the veracity of the true nature of that faith. And if it is a saving faith, James teaches us that it will be accompanied by works. So James talks about a faith that doesn't save, and that's how we see that. He says a faith without works is dead, therefore we can conclude saving faith is accompanied by works. But what else can we see about saving faith? I want us to turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Some of you are wondering, is he going to get to the scripture? Hebrews chapter 11, and we're going to see here a kind of faith that does save. Now Hebrews 11, We find examples in Hebrews 11 of true faith, of saving faith, justifying faith. Hebrews 11, you know, is the faith hall of fame, or maybe the hall of faith, you might want to call it. This text speaks of many men of faith, and with a few it gives more detail about their faith. We're not going to read the entire chapter. I do want to read verses 13 through 16, because in verse 13, which will be our focus, we have this great statement which focuses on this saving faith, and it shows us the nature of saving faith. I'm reading from the King James Version, Hebrews 11, 13 through 16. These all died in faith. not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. Verse 16, as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. So we see this description in verse 13. This is describing these saints, these saved people, these people who have a saving faith. They had a justifying. And notice what it says. We have these three in verse 13, three elements of saving faith, or we might call it three acts of saving faith. And we'll talk about each one of these. We're going to spend most of our time on the first one, then we'll we'll hit the next two. This is the heart of the matter, these three elements of saving faith. Now, some of you might be fans of Latin, and you might have heard these Latin terms, fiducia, absentia, and fiducia. To know the facts, to believe the facts as true, and then to rest in the facts or trust in the facts. Well, I'm not going to use those Latin terms. But this is what we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about these three acts of faith, or these three elements. And we see this in verse 13, they all died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them. Having seen them, that's our first one. They were next persuaded of them. And then we see they embraced them. They saw them, they were persuaded of them, and they embraced them. So here we have these three acts, three elements, seeing, being persuaded, and embracing. Seeing, we might call the knowledge of faith. And you can say no, Tisha, if you want to. Seeing, we might call the knowledge of faith, being persuaded or being assured. Let me say here, I might refer to the assurance of saving faith throughout this morning, but I'm not talking about personal assurance of salvation. I'm talking about assurance of the truth, veracity of the gospel and the scriptures and Christ. That assurance. So being persuaded is the assent of faith or the assurance of faith. So assentia. And then embracing the truth. The embracing is the trust or the rest of saving faith. Fiducia. So we need to rightly understand these three elements. And I will be honest with you, when I first was introduced to these elements of saving faith, and I first learned these concepts of notitia and absentia and fiducia, some things escaped me that I'm hoping to bring out more clearly today than was presented to me. These three acts, and we will speak of them individually and separately, but this is a logical division, not a chronological division. What I mean by that is, these do not come in order of, well, first you get Notitia, and then you get Ascensia, and then you... They don't come in chronological. They come simultaneously. These three elements of saving faith come simultaneously and inseparably. If it's saving faith, they come simultaneously and inseparably. We'll look closer here. We can talk about the knowledge of saving faith, but where we might say, well, there's knowledge of saving faith, but there is no assent to the truth and there is no trust. Well, it's not saving faith. That's just a knowledge, but it's not the knowledge of saving faith where there might be a knowledge and an assent. If there's no trust, it's not saving faith. They must come. Simultaneously and together. inseparably. So these elements are not chronological. They do not have priority one over another. But we speak of their logical distinction that we might better understand the essence of saving faith. What is it that we're speaking of when we say saving faith? And I want to begin with this first one that we said in our text, verse 13. having seen there's this seeing and and seeing here in verse 13 is a metaphor for knowing seeing is a metaphor for knowledge and some of you just said oh now i see Because you know. And seeing here is that knowing. And it's important for us to ask, well, they saw from afar off. They had this knowledge. But what is it that they saw? Well, the better question would be who? What is it that they knew? Well, the better question would be who? They were looking at the promises of God. This is what they saw, this is what they held to, this is what they knew. But the text here in Hebrews is very clear. They were not looking for the promise of land here on earth. They were not looking for a city that was built by the Canaanites. They were looking for a heavenly city, a city not made with hands. They were looking for the full consummation of all the promises of God. Ultimately, they were looking for Christ. Seeing afar off, they saw they knew Christ. Christ is the sum total of all that God has promised. They saw Christ from afar off. They looked with eyes of faith and they saw the Christ who was to them yet to come. For us, we look back in history, the Christ who has come. They did not know a whole lot about Christ. If we're being honest. If we're being honest, a person brought up today in a good church, even if that person will die and go to hell, that person probably knows more about Christ than they knew. They didn't know a lot about Christ, but they knew Christ. And we all know this, you can know Most of what there is to know about Christ, but if you don't know Christ, you will die and go to hell. They saw from afar off, they knew Christ. Listen to 1 John 5, 20, and we know, listen to the knowing here, and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, what is that? Knowledge. We know, we know, and he's given us understanding that we may know him who is true. And we are in Him who is true in His Son Jesus Christ. This grace gift of saving faith opens our eyes to see. Opens our minds to know what before we could say, I just don't see it. But then the Word and Spirit And we say, now I see. How could I not have seen? And this is why we all know people who are otherwise intelligent people. And what do we say? Why can't they see it? Why can't they just see? Well, they can't see because they don't have the gift, the grace of saving faith, which allows them to see eyes of faith. They cannot see unless God gives them this gift. And in the knowledge of saving faith, we can see, and what do we see? We see, just like those Old Testament saints, we see Christ. And I want to take just a moment here to speak about the object of our saving faith, the object of our faith. Our faith is not in faith. There's so much talk about faith in our day. It's very popular to talk about faith. And usually that is faith in the hope lies in the faith itself. But when we speak of faith and we speak of saving faith, our hope lies in Christ. Jesus Christ is the object of our faith. And the object of your faith It's very important. There's an illustration about the object of faith and how important it is. There's a man being swept down a mighty rushing river and there's white capping rapids and the man will go over the falls and he will surely drown and he will be killed. But he sees a rope. And in that moment he thinks, this is my salvation. There's a rope and he will reach out to grab that rope. Is the rope going to save him? Not if there's not something on the other end of the rope. Not if there's not someone on the other end of the rope. If he just holds on to the rope, he'll go over with the rope. People who hold on to their faith will die having faith in their faith which is worthless. Christ. Christ is at the other end of our faith. Well, our faith is is a value because of the object of our faith, and it is Christ. At the risk of beating a dead horse, let's let's just take a moment longer to discuss this knowledge of saving faith. This is a special divine knowing. And not an ordinary knowing, we might say, not a flesh and blood knowing. There are two kinds of knowing. There's an ordinary knowing and there's a divine knowing. We remember when Jesus asked, who do you say that I am? Do you remember what Peter said? Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And then Jesus answers back, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but what? My Father. What Jesus is saying here is there's two kinds of knowing. There's flesh and blood knowing, but then there's this divine knowing. My Father has revealed it to you. And when we read in the first chapter of Romans, There's a lot of knowing there. The creation declares the glory of God, and those things of God are evident, even in the things that are made. And the first chapter of Romans even tells us not only can men know that there is a God, but they can know some of his attributes. They can know some things about God. But that's not a salvific knowing. That's not the knowing of saving faith. Our catechism also speaks of this, right? Now, I'll get it wrong. Let's see. All of the earth, I'm going to get this wrong and I don't have it written down here. All of creation declares that there is a God. All of creation declares that there is a God. And then the catechism says, but his word and spirit only do it fully and effectually to the salvation of sinners. It's the word and spirit only and together that declare God effectually unto salvation. The declaration is made to all, but it's not a salvific declaration unless it's done by the word and spirit. So so we know that there is two kinds of knowing. There's a flesh and blood knowing. And then there's this divine knowing, this knowledge of saving faith, this seeing. And it is a gift from God that is yours when Christ is revealed to you by the word and spirit. First Corinthians chapter two. Paul says this, and when I came to you, brethren, I did not come to you with superiority of speech or wisdom. proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you, save Christ Jesus and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom." How many times do I hear people say, we need persuasive words of wisdom? And Paul says, no, I didn't come with that. I came in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. He came with a demonstration of the spirit of power. And then he tells us why he came in that way, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. The knowing of saving faith is through the spirit and the word and the power of God. Saving faith, the alone instrument of justification, does not come from wisdom and learning. It comes from God. Later in 1 Corinthians 2, he says this, now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thought and spiritual words. So the point is made again here in this verse, the knowledge of saving faith comes from God, it is taught by the Spirit. To make the point one more time, John 6, 40, everyone who sees the son and believes in him has eternal life. It's this seeing. Well, it's not everyone who laid eyes on Jesus Christ physically in the flesh who were saved, but everyone who sees, and here again, this seeing is the knowledge of saving faith that comes. This is, and when it speaks of this seeing Christ and believing, This is the effectual call. When we receive this gift from God and we see through the Word and Spirit, this is the effectual call, the revealing that the Holy Spirit does. It's not the kind of seeing that can close its eyes. Maybe some of you have heard of this false idea of prevenient grace, that God gives some kind of grace to wake us up from our deadness and sin so that we can look to Christ and then yawn and turn over and go back to sleep. Well, the problem is we're not asleep in our sin. We're dead in our sin. And there is no prevenient grace. When we receive the effectual call, we don't close our eyes again. We don't drift off back to sleep. The blindness has been removed. Sight is given to blind eyes, just like Isaiah spoke of. And this is the knowledge of saving faith, and it leads us to the second act, which comes simultaneously, but the second act, the second element of saving faith, and that is persuasion, or the assurance of saving faith. What time are we supposed to be done here? Two-ish. Okay, that's good. This persuasion, or assurance of saving faith, as I said, this is not assurance in one's personal salvation. but it's assurance about the things concerning Christ. When the Spirit of God opens a sinner's eyes to see, there is a sure and certain assurance of Christ. That person who has received this gift of saving faith would say, I know most assuredly that men deserve hell, sinners deserve hell. That Jesus Christ is the only Savior. That salvation cannot come through works, but it is by grace through faith. The sinner whose eyes are opened and they see are assured of the truth of the gospel, the truth of scripture, the truth of Christ. There's really no question then in that in that newly saved formerly lost sinner's mind. They may have said in the past, could those things really be true? I mean, did Jesus really do all that stuff? I mean, can you really believe all those stories from the Bible? The person who receives this gift of saving faith no longer has those questions. They're absolutely true. They're absolutely. I remember, and he's not here so I can talk about him, I remember before my son came to Christ, my oldest son, We had arguments, that's our, that's my spiritual gift, but we had arguments over and over again about the things of scripture, and he always had, I mean he was brought up in church, he knew the truth but he denied it, and we'll see that later, that he was fighting against the truth, and he would deny so many things, and when he came to Christ, When he came to Christ, we sat down in my living room and I said, but you said this. And he said, Dad, if that's what the Bible says, that's what I believe. I said, well, son, you told me it was impossible. Six-day creation was impossible. Dad, I may need you to help me and work through with me through the book of Genesis so that I can see six-day creation. But if that's what the Bible says, that's what I believe. I know it has to be true. One point after another, after another, he had this assent, this assurance, what the scripture teaches is true. And that's when I knew this is real. This is the work not of his father arguing him or persuading him with my human persuasion. This was the work of the Spirit and this is exactly what happens to us as believers. We come and we are assured Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. This assurance that the gospel is true, that the Bible is true, that whatever the scripture teaches, that's what I believe. This is the second act of saving faith. So we have the knowledge of saving faith, and it knows Christ. We have the assurance of saving faith which is persuaded and assured of the truth of Christ and the gospel and scripture. And then lastly we have the trust or the resting of saving faith. Where the sinner fully embraces Christ. Trusting Him for the saving of the soul and resting in Him for our justification. Christ is the only source of salvation. The only object of our faith. He is the grounds for our salvation. And those who are in Him. Those who have been given the gift of justifying faith. These say, I know Christ. I believe all that He has said and done. And I rest my soul on his life, death, and resurrection. He is my only hope, my only hope in salvation. This person who has received the gift of saving faith would say, I'm a sinner. I deserve hell, but I am resting on Christ as my only hope. And if someone could get to heaven by doing good works, I'm never going to get in. I mean, really, that's the thing. If salvation were available, well, if salvation were available through works, nobody would be getting in. The only hope we have and we acknowledge, the only hope is that we have trusted in Jesus Christ. We trust in what He has done in His life and in His death particularly. Living the life, earning the righteousness that we needed, that is imputed to our account. Going to the cross of Calvary and paying the price for our sin as our sins are laid on Him on Calvary. We trust in what He has done. And if Jesus doesn't save me, I will not be saved. There is no backup plan. There is no plan B. The person who receives the gift of saving faith has no alternate. We trust Christ and Him alone. So, for a sinner, Embracing Christ, this third act, trusting Christ. I say it this way a lot. It's running to Him. It's running to Him and throwing ourselves upon Him as it were. It's resting in Him, leaning in Him. He said, come to me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So saving faith knows him and believes, is assured of his truth, and then embraces him, falling into his arms, trusting in him. For the Christian, saving faith, the alone instrument of justification. Saving faith is all at one time, knowing, being assured, and trusting. I have several quotes here from Bavi, and if y'all don't ask questions, I'm gonna read them. Questions, comments? Assurance of saving faith, In the text that we read, I think that was the word they saw from afar off, they were assured of, and then they embraced is the word that is used in verse 13 of Hebrews 11. Saving faith cannot come by proofs of reason. The objective truth of the Bible must be met in the sinner with God's testimony of the Spirit. The inner testimony recognizes the truth and makes that truth subjectively believed by the person. It's Word and Spirit. The Word cannot act. savingly without the Spirit, and the Spirit does not act savingly without the Word. It's the Word and Spirit. I think it's important to us to see, if a person comes to Christ through Word and Spirit, and if a person comes to Christ, truly, it is through Word and Spirit, How do we speak to people when they might say, I'm doubting my salvation? I'm questioning my salvation. How do we speak to them? What do we say? Yeah, what are you looking to? Or who are you looking to? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If I repeat something that I'm going to say later, then forgive me. But asking questions like this, have I repented enough? When we ask questions like that, somebody needs to help us and say no. You've never repented enough. You can't repent enough. That's not on you. Repentance and trust in Christ and what he has done. And then, who are you looking to? Has Christ done enough? Did Christ's death accomplish enough? Did Christ's resurrection... I mean, that's where we... And then we should be able to answer those questions easier. Yeah, definitely. Often we want to say to people when they say, I'm questioning my salvation. Jeff, I know you. I know you're a Christian. I hear people say that kind of thing. And you know what? Jeff doesn't need the assurance from Todd. He doesn't need that. He needs assurance that is only going to come through the Word and Spirit. Saving faith is rooted in the heart, but unbelief is also rooted in the human heart. In saving faith, the testimony of the Spirit is not private, but universal. The church, believers of all ages, bear witness to the Bible as God's Word. I do want to say in preparing for today and some of the other sermons that I've preached, I've benefited greatly from Bavinck in my study and also from our brother in East Moline at Sycamore Church, Chuck Rennie. God works our faith. I love that statement from Bavinck. God works our faith, acting in a marvelous way in our heart in order that we may believe. Believing, after all, is always voluntary. No one believes except willingly, to the end that God, by His grace, bends the will and prompts us to believe with the intellect. That sounds like Bavinck believes in freedom of the will. It tickles me to ask people if they believe in freedom of the will. What should come next is, what do you mean by freedom of the will? That should come as a follow-up. I go back to a brother who used to pastor in California who taught that the will is not free. And Dr. Renahan, who taught that the will is free, and they both taught the exact same doctrine. They just were coming at it from different perspectives with different definitions of what is a free will. One was saying, the will is free within its nature. That's what Dr. Renahan was teaching. Within the nature of fallen man, your will is free. And the other was talking about it like most people speak of free will. that the will is free to operate outside of its nature. It's funny to talk to people and see how they feel about that, especially if they profess belief in that man's will is free for anything. And I'm like, God's will is not free. God is not free like you're talking about free. Is God free to act and operate outside of his nature? Absolutely not. Can God lie? He cannot lie. God does not tempt. He doesn't operate outside of His nature. And man can't operate outside of His nature. That's why we need, as Bovink is referring to here, Spirit to come and give us a new nature, a new creation. And then, then we can choose. Then we can choose rightly. Believing is indeed an act of the intellect. But it presupposes a bending of the will by grace. The intellect must be disposed toward faith by the will. The ascent of faith accordingly occurs only by an act of God moving inwardly through grace." Aren't we thankful that God does that work? If he did not do that work, we would never come because no one seeks God and we'll see that later. This last Bavinck quote, still no one can consent to the gospel preaching as he must to obtain salvation without the illumination and inspiration of the spirit. The word without the spirit, no salvation. Word and spirit working together. Thank you all very much for letting me come and share these thoughts with you. We didn't use the Latin terms too often, so maybe we got by okay without that. Notitia, knowledge, knowing the facts. Ascentia, ascent to, or what we call assurance today, assurance of those facts. And then fiducia, resting on those facts. Yes. Bavink, B-A-V-I-N-C-K. Did I get that right? I think so. I think his first name is Herman. And these quotes and the study that I did came from his Reformed Dogmatics. And I think there's, I think that's available in a condensed, I think there's a condensed Reformed Dogmatics. The one I have is like this, but I think there's one like this. Oh yeah, it may be available online. Yeah, when Brother Larry Vincent, retired the first time he gave me his reform dogmatics. I'm happy to have it. All right, let me pray for us. Gracious Heavenly Father, we love you and we thank you for this day. We thank you for the opportunity we've had just over the last few minutes to consider the grace of saving faith. God, we thank you that your salvation is full and free, that it is not of works, because no one would be saved, that what we need, what is required of us to be saved, you give to us. God, we thank you for the great salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. We pray that today, as we lift our voices to sing As we lift our voices in prayer, as we proclaim things to you and about you, that our hearts would be tuned to praise you. And that you would receive our worship as a pleasing aroma to your nostrils. We pray this in Christ's name, amen. you