text that we've been dealing with on the topic of saving faith. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10, we've been dealing with saving faith, subtitled, The Biblical Nature of Believing in Christ for Salvation and the Role of the Church in Things that Strengthen Our Faith, as Proclaimed in the Westminster Confession of Faith. Ephesians 2, 8-10 states, and I quote, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Shall we look to the Lord our God in prayer? Father, we ask as we come now to examine Thy holy word and the doctrine of Thy church, that You would give us insight and wisdom as to its meaning and as to its application. We ask, Father, that You would give us commitment to Thy Word, for it truly is the object of our faith. And so, Father, we ask that You would give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive what Your Word would teach us by Thy Spirit. In Christ's name we do pray, Amen. Just quickly, by way of review, We looked in the first two weeks of this series on saving faith at the four directives given in section 1 of chapter 14 concerning faith. Now, that section states, and I quote, the grace of faith, grace being the unmerited favor of God and grace coming by God's unmerited favor. It is a gift. whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word, by which also, and by the administration of the sacraments and prayer, it is increased and strengthened. Now, the four declarations that we see in this section are these. First, faith is necessary in order to believe in Christ for salvation. One cannot be saved apart from faith. One must have been renewed by the Spirit of God, and he must have been given faith. That is, the ability to believe what God hath said about Christ in order for one to believe. Secondly, we've seen that faith is a result of the Holy Spirit's work by regeneration. Men do not conjure up faith in themselves. It is not a part of our humanity. It is not something that we can work up in our life. It is not something that we can earn. But it comes as a result of the regenerating work of the Spirit of God. It is a gift. It is unmerited. Thirdly, we see that faith is ordinarily connected to the Word of God as a means to bring an individual to Christ by the Spirit. The divines maintain that it is normally the Word which brings faith. That is to say, it's the means by which the Spirit uses to bring us to believe. It gives you the content of what to believe. When the Spirit renews you, what does He and what is faith directed to? It is directed to the Word of God. And ordinarily, people are not saved apart from the Word, be it through reading the Word, be it through the proclamation of the Word, or sharing that Word with another in the lay witnessing of the church. But the Word is the key which brings the meaning to the person of Jesus Christ, who He is, what He has done for the church, in His death, burial, and resurrection. And so the Word is essential. And we'll see that, especially as it's proclaimed in section 2. Fourth, we noted that faith is increased and strengthened by the use of the Word, by use of the sacraments and prayer. Not that these are the cause of faith, but they strengthen and increase our faith that we have been given by the Spirit. Now, last Lord's Day Sabbath, we turned our attention to the second section of chapter 14, which reads, By this faith, that is, the faith of grace, a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word. for the authority of God Himself speaking therein, and acteth differently upon which each particular passage thereof containeth, yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come. But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace. Now, there were basically five declarations established in this second section of chapter 14. We looked last Lord's Day Sabbath The faith that saves focuses upon the divine Word. That's the proclamation that he's bringing forth. By this faith. This faith directs us to do what? A Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word. Faith sees as its object the Word of God. You see, as our confession says in chapter 1 and in the first section, that even though the light of nature and divine providence do manifest the power and the goodness of God, it cannot reveal that knowledge of God essential and necessary unto redemption. And here they're saying the Word is what conveys the content which is essential to know. Now, I don't know in order that I would believe. I must believe in order that I may understand what is revealed as knowledge from the Word of God. The Scripture is spiritually discerned. And the natural man, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, cannot discern the truth of God's Word. But he who has been born of the Spirit of which the Spirit delivered that Word and had the Word put into writing through godly and holy men who were moved by Him. That Spirit who searches all things, yea, even the deep things of God, He knows the Word and He freely reveals to us that which God has given in His Word. And thereby we see the Word of God as the focus of faith. We are saying we believe what God has said in the Word. That's what faith is. It's not a physical action. It's not something you work for. It's not something you earn. But it's a result of the Spirit renewing us. He gives us faith so that when we come to the Word, we see that the Word yields commands and threatenings and obedience that we are to be involved in, embracing in. And it is, as Dr. Gordon Clark says, an intellectual ascent. Its principal acts are accepting, receiving and resting. Or, if you'd like, its understanding, believing and trusting, meaning the same thing. But all these are acts of the intellect. Believing is not something that you do physically. Believing doesn't come as a result of certain things you do, but it is the transformation of the mind by the Spirit, so that whatever the Word commands, you will believe and be willing to obey it. And that is an act of belief. It is an act of faith. And it is by the work of the Spirit and not the work of man. And so the Word is the object. The person revealed in that Word is the personal object that it's pointed to. That is Jesus Christ. He cannot be discerned apart from the Word. For the name Jesus Christ apart from the Word has no meaning. purpose. But He is only known, only understood, and one can only focus upon Him as truly Redeemer in light of the Word. That's why redemption cannot come by the light of nature, and the divines by that meant through human reason, or by divine providence, or through history, through any other means. One cannot know Christ apart from the Word alone. And so Christ is never expressed apart from the Word. But rather, it is the Christ of the Word upon which we have expressed our belief. We have focused our faith upon. And we've seen, secondly, that he says faith acts in accordance to what the Word teaches. Now, the acting is not the physical outworking. There's another chapter dealing with good works. How do we then implement? He's not talking about implementation. He's still talking about believing and trusting here, in here, internally, as we would say. The inner man is believing. He's trusting. He is yielding himself and he says inwardly, whatever the Scripture commands, that I will believe, that I will do. That's the trusting. And he says that it yields obedience. And we looked at what it means to yield obedience. It says, whatever you command, I will believe. And then, in the Good Works section of the Westminster Confession, it says, I will do as well. It says that we tremble at its threatenings. Meaning that where it stands to condemn us for acts of unrighteousness, we believe that. And as a result, we have a fear of God in our life. that says that it embraces the promises of life. Life of redemption in this life and the redemption eternally and the life to come. That there is a belief that in Christ we are eternally preserved salvifically in Him. And so this faith Whatever the Word teaches, and if I could, just using the language to clarify it for you, for we are believing this, we noted, on the authority of God Himself there in speaking. It's not by the church. It's not by the testimony of a man. But it's because God Himself hath spoken it. He hath commanded these things. differently upon which each particular passage thereof containeth." And that's what he's going to speak about. The yielding of obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatening, and embracing the promises of life of God for this life and that which is to come is the modification. It's telling you that's what it means that it acts differently upon which each passage containeth. But the action is, we by faith believe what God commands, we tremble because we know that what He says He will do if we are sinful and unrighteous, and that if there is life to be given, it must be in the way that He has revealed through His Son, Jesus Christ, and we accept Him as the way of life everlasting. And then we see, thirdly, that the Confession states this, faith as believing the Word is summed up in those principal acts of accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone. There is nothing here that's involved physically. There's nothing here that we have received by something we have done, even in our own intellectual ability. Apart from the Spirit, we could not receive this Word. That's the key. He's saying it is intellectual, but the cause of it is the Spirit, allowing us, breaking us free from the bondage of sin and darkness, opening our eyes anew to believe what the Word has said. And so the intellectual assent is not something I have done apart from the Spirit. Because 1 Corinthians is very clear. Apart from the Spirit, man cannot intellectually assent to the truth. Man cannot accept, receive, and rest upon Christ alone for redemption. It is an impossibility. But rather it is through the work of the Spirit of God. By that regenerating work, I am now freed from the ethical bondage of sin. And though I could read those words, I would not accept them. I would not believe them to the saving of my soul. I would not yield in obedience and tremble at the threatenings. I would not receive Christ as the promise of life in this and in that life to come. But because of the work of the Spirit, Through His regenerating power, He hath made me believe whatsoever the Word teaches. And those are the principal acts of accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone. It is not of works, as Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, lest any man should boast. But it is the work of His Spirit in us that gives us the ability to accept, to receive, and to rest, to understand, to believe, and to trust what every passage of Scripture teaches. Whether obedience unto the commands, whether tremblings at the threatenings, or what is the promise of life in Christ for this life and the life to come? Well, with that, we need to go on then and look at the fourth. This faith is essential for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, says the Confession. Justification by faith means Justification through the Word. Through the work of Christ as He is revealed in the Word. The Westminster Confession of Faith makes that clear in chapter 11 and section 1, which I don't want to take the time to quote because we'll run out of time. But justification is based upon the work of Christ and revealed to us through the Word. Because what I hope you're seeing in all this, and this is the main theme of this chapter, believing is believing the Word about Christ. It's based upon God's reasons, God's propositions, God's revealing to us the essential nature and character of how Christ redeems us. And that upon the basis of how He has revealed Him to us, we say to God, I believe what You have said, what You have testified of Your Son. Galatians 2 and 16 were told, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. And the law here, I believe clearly in Galatians, is not just the moral law. After we've gone through the book of Hebrews, spent a year on that, I would like to go back eventually and pick up the book of Galatians because there are such parallels between Paul's writings. In Galatians, it's not just circumcision that he's dealing with. He's dealing with the whole nature of the law itself. And when he says that justification is not by the works of the law, he doesn't mean those moral aspects alone of the law, but all of its ceremonial components as well. And he says there is no redemption in that law. There could not have been, and that is in a whole agreement with Hebrews, which says, had the law through its ceremonies been able to redeem us, there would have been no need for Christ. But because the first is holy and adequate, the second must come. That is, the second aspect of God's redemption, which was only signified in the first covenant, is now revealed in the second being Jesus Christ. So he says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith, not in the ceremonies of the intermediaries that have done this work as the priest of God on behalf of men, but upon faith in believing what God has said that was really copied and shadowed in the law, that is, in the Redeemer's seed who was promised, the seed spoken of in Adam, the seed spoken of in Abraham, the seed spoken of with David himself, that seed being Christ, therein we have faith in Christ Jesus. What faith? Faith based upon what? What is revealed in the Word. That was the key to the Old Testament. That even in the Old Testament, one needed faith to be redeemed. That's why it says in Romans chapter 4, Abraham believed God, and his faith was accounted as a seal of his righteousness. What was he believing? By the regenerating work of the Spirit, he was believing what was prophesied about the Messiah to come. He was believing the Word as well. It wasn't as the dispensationalists say, well, under that dispensation, you're saved by doing the works of the law. And now Paul's saying, well, yeah, then it was okay. Now it doesn't satisfy. It didn't satisfy then. Hebrews tells us in chapter 4 that even the fathers in the wilderness, they had the law, they had the testimonies, they had the covenants, they had all the religious outworkings of the law. It did not keep them from dying without faith, did it? Because faith comes by the work of the Spirit, and it focuses itself upon the word that we believe what God has said, especially as it points to the person of Jesus Christ. He says, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified. That is, a forensic term, declared righteous by faith. That is, through the instrument of faith, through the work of the Spirit by which He has made us able to believe in Christ. And not by the works of the law. Not through those ceremonies. but through the work that Christ Himself hath done for us. For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified." It couldn't in the past, and it cannot now. No one was ever saved by the shedding of the blood of bulls and goats and calves. It was only copies and shadows and types. But we have always been saved in the promise of the redemption that comes through the true sacrifice, Jesus Christ our Lord. Philippians 3.9 says this, "...and be found in Him not having mine own righteousness, which is from the law." Because I seek to do the law, because I seek to perform the ceremonies of the law, how can righteousness come? It cannot. He says, I am found in Him. Not having mine own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness which is from God by faith. Christ imputing to us His righteousness by His work. through the regeneration of the Spirit. Not something that I come in. Not something that is infused in me. But it is His imputation of that righteousness by which we are made right with God in Christ. But how? What's the means? The means is that instrument of faith. causing me to believe about Christ. The Christ of the Scripture. In Acts 13, verse 38-39, we're also told, Therefore, let it be shown to you, brethren, that though this man is preached to you, the forgiveness of sins, and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not have been justified by the law of Moses. It is through Christ. The justification comes. And the Spirit, through His work of regeneration, gives you faith to believe. And what does God say? You are justified by faith. When you believe what God has said about Christ, you are declared just before God. Just because you are believing the testimony of God about Christ. But just not understanding the testimony. Yes, you have to understand what it says, but you must also believe it. And you must trust it. It yields what? That obedience, those tremblings, and the promises. They are embraced. These are the truths upon which my life must now totally surrender itself thereunto. And so justification rests alone on Christ. But it is through that instrument of faith that I am declared right by God through the work of the Spirit, based upon the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Do you see there's nothing in it for man? That's the emphasis. The emphasis is, you're not saved by faith plus the sacraments, plus prayer, plus this, plus that, plus attending church, plus tithing. You can't say that. He says faith is the focusing upon the Word and believing the Word. in every chapter thereunto as how it pertains to what is written. Whether it's commands, whether it's to tremble and fear God, or whether it's to believe the redemption that is revealed in Christ. But you can't do it apart from the Spirit. And you can't know that redemption apart from the Spirit regenerating you and giving you the faith to believe and embrace these things into your life. Well, He says it's not the basis alone for justification, but He says it's the basis alone for sanctification. Sanctification is by faith. That is, it too comes through the instrument of the Word, in which we are believing by the work of the Spirit, through that great work of the Spirit in our life, whatsoever the Word commands, in yielding obedience of life. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, we're told, "...but we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth." Who must work in us? Not only that we would be just, but that we would also be sanctified. The Spirit. Sanctification is a work of the Spirit. Does it yield an obedience in our life in which we do good works? Absolutely. But the cause is not in the good works. The cause is the work of the Spirit in us. Through the Spirit we are sanctified. How do we know? what we are to do to live a life that is sanctified. It brings us back to this focus that whatsoever the Bible teaches, we believe. So, the word becomes essential there. Belief in the truth means belief in the Word. We are sanctified by the Spirit and through believing the Word. Because apart from the Word, how would you know you're sanctified? How could you? What standard would you have to know of sanctification? How would you know what God commands that is righteous, and what God commands that is unrighteous? You see, there is nothing, nothing apart from the Word, by the work of the Spirit, by which you could know that you are living a sanctified life. And a part of being sanctified is by faith believing what it says that we are to do as a sanctified person. Meaning, set apart unto this way of redemption. Set apart to live this life that is expected by our Lord. And so we have this whole emphasis of accepting, receiving, and resting among Christ alone for justification and for sanctification. That if we are to be sanctified, it must be that the Spirit renews us, gives us faith to believe in life through Christ, and then that we are by faith to believe the Word about how to live that life. Do you see how the Word is tied to the work of the Spirit? It is the instrument of which He uses. That's why the emphasis was, this is the ordinary means that God uses His Word. We've seen in the chapters of the Westminster Confession in dealing with justification that, yes, there are exemptions from that. Infants who die at infancy, of course, have not heard the outward teaching and preaching. And yes, there may be some who cannot hear, who cannot see, who cannot speak. And yet, the Spirit of God, because they cannot physically hear, still they are elect, brings them to redemption. But that's not the ordinary means among men. It is this word through the work of the Spirit. Ephesians 5.26 says it this way, Paul writing, That He might sanctify and cleanse her, that is the body of Christ, with the washing of water by the Word. It's the Word that establishes the standard. The Word that must be the object of our faith even in sanctification. Not believing that I believe. And that if I feel good, or I do religious things, or I give existential expressions, or I have visions and dreams and revelations, or any of the other things that are out there today, that that makes me feel good, and therefore I am sanctified. It's not measured in speaking in tongues. It's not measured in giving of power and healing. It's not measured in all of those things. It's measured by the Word alone. And the Word is the object of our faith. And when the Word says, do this, do that, don't do this, we yield in obedience, we tremble at its threatenings, and we accept those promises that those who do such, with the power of His Spirit, shall receive eternal life through Him. John 17, 17 said, "...sanctify them by your truth." Your Word is truth. How will a person be sanctified but through the Spirit working in the Word? Because sanctification is also based upon a greater understanding of what God reveals to us. on how we live our life. And what does that do in a living faith? Our faith focuses upon how we are to yield outwardly to those obediences required of the Holy Scripture. Well, the third thing it speaks of is eternal life. It speaks of that life of which we are to live. He says that comes by means of the Word. Now, the Confession also has a chapter, chapter 17, sections 1 and 2, that also deals with that. We don't have time to look at it, but each of these things that it's speaking of all have an aspect of this essential element, faith. It all is tied to faith, believing. In 1 Peter 1.5 we're told, "...who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." Peter says we are being kept by the power of God through faith. That is, through the work of the Spirit. We are being kept, believing that what God has promised of eternal redemption is going to come to pass. That's why we believe it. How can we say, on the one hand, we are Christians, and we believe in salvation and believe the promise of God, and then on the other hand say, but men can lose it? Or believe that we can walk from it? How is it that we can say God is faithful to what He has promised, and yet, somehow, we can walk from that? Or how can a man who says that he has faith, say that he believes men cannot maintain that faith? Except that he's saying faith is something of man. And he's denying the essential element of true, salvific redemption. That is, salvation by the work of the Spirit alone. What will a man agree to when he is taught the Word of God concerning having faith concerning eternal life? That it is God who, through His power, through that regenerating work of the Spirit, will keep him, and he will believe that unto the saving of his soul eternally. But a man who will not yield to the Word, how can he say, I have faith, but I believe that God has taught in His Word which really isn't in the Word. He simply says, there are illustrations in some of the narratives of Scripture where it seems as if those who have made a profession have walked from it, and thus they have fallen from grace. But each of those passages clearly saying, these people did not truly trust in God. They did not really believe what God has said. But here, Peter says, we are kept. Not we'll maybe be kept, or possibly will be kept, but he says we are kept by the power of God through faith, through the work of the Spirit, for salvation ready to be revealed in the last times. Hebrews 13, 20 and 21 says, Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. May the God of peace, who has brought you up, who has redeemed you through the Lord Jesus Christ, from the dead, that is, from the deadness of sin, made you alive in Christ, That Great Shepherd, who through the blood of the covenant, that covenant that is everlasting, He says, He will make you complete unto every good work according to His will. That is, to do the will of the Father. That's the promise. That is to the saving of our soul through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Faith is the grounds of justification, sanctification, and glorification. God redeeming us, completing in us the work of redemption by His Spirit once and for all times. And the fifth is this. Faith finds its ground in the covenant of grace. And I will not spend much time here simply because we spent the last year going through Hebrews and I do not think it merits that much time. Acts 15.11 says, But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they. Through God's grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. The covenant of grace is God covenanting in Christ to redeem the elect whom He hath chosen before the foundation of the world. That Christ would stand on their behalf as the federal head of the elect of the church of Jesus Christ. That He would pay the price for their sins. and that the Father hath agreed with the Son that if He fulfills that requirement, that He would both send the Spirit and He would seal those who are the elect to believe what God has said about the way of redemption in Jesus Christ. It is faith by the gift of God. Not of the works of man. That's what he's saying. Acts 16.31 says, So they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, you and your household. Believe. Believe. You cannot ask a person, would you like to become a believer? That news for you, that's like saying, would you like to have the Spirit come into you? Well, just ask God and He'll give you the Spirit. God doesn't give you the Spirit. God sends the Spirit and the reason why you will yield is because you have already been made one who has been renewed and given faith so that you will believe. So He says to us, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Who can believe? Those who have been made anew by the Spirit. and have been given faith to believe what the Word says. And it does not mean believe on Christ apart from the Word, because Christ is only understood in light of that Word. You must believe the Word that God has given about the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is an act of God's free grace, not of man's work. Gordon Clark, in summarizing section 2 of chapter 14 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, states this. To say that God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass, and that He gave us His grace before the world began, does not, of course, preclude the use of ordinary means. God chose to give us faith by means of the ministry of the Word. And while He has determined to what extent the faith of each one will develop and bear fruit, still growth in grace occurs through the administration of the sacraments and prayer. Although God hath even ordained how we will grow and be strengthened, as section 1 says of chapter 14, still it is through the Word, through the sacraments through prayer. That is the means by which we grow. It strengthens our faith, but our faith is the result of the Spirit regenerating us and telling us we are to believe the Word of God alone. That's why in the Reformation you had the great proclamation sola Scriptura. The Scripture alone reveals sola gracia, which means grace alone. God gives grace alone through the Word alone that we can believe in Christ alone for salvation which comes from God alone. My friends, I employ you to realize that true living faith by the Spirit yields itself to say, yea, I believe, I accept, and I trust everything that the Bible says. And that inward work of faith, that inward belief, will result in outward fruits in our lives. And they are called the fruits of the Spirit. Why? Because apart from the Spirit giving us faith and indwelling us, there can be no fruit yielded in the life of a believer. Because one would not believe. One may say they understand, but one could never say that they truly believe. And so there is this essential aspect of life, To say you believe means you acquiesce to the whole of His Word. And when you accept everything in the Word, as each part containeth therein, you will see the yielding of your life into all of the commandments that God has given us to bear forth fruit, that yes, we are of the Spirit. We are of faith. We truly do believe. That's why the works only are a testimony, not the cause, but a testimony of true faith. That's what James meant when he said in the Epistle of James, you show me faith apart from works, and I'll show you faith according to works. Not that the works redeem. But the only way that outwardly we can show that we truly have believed is by yielding unto good works. What does he say in Ephesians 2, and in verse 10? For we are His workmanship. We have been His workmanship. We were not our own workmen. We did not create ourselves anew, but He hath created us anew in Christ Jesus, for good works, which God hath prepared before that we should walk in them. And I say to you, he who has true saving faith, who says, I will yield to whatever the Scripture says, I will fear God in whatever it commands, and in whatever it threatens, and I will live unto Christ for salvation alone, is going to yield out of that. Not just the believing of those things, but then the implementation of those things. And that's what James was speaking of. He who really believes will demonstrate his faith by the outworking of the fruit of the Spirit into his life. But he who does not have faith just has no fruit. It's not there. And a person who can say, I believe, but do not yield my life, is a liar. Cannot be. My friends, I encourage you that we should have true saving faith. But remember, it yields itself ultimately to implement all that is commanded from the Scripture. It will act according to each chapter thereof. And that we embrace that into our life and trust God, and then we will see an outward implementation. and all that we do as those of the household of faith. I implore you by God's grace, do you know Christ? Do you know His Word? Do you live and obey that Word? Do you see the yielding of fruit in your life unto good works by which you may know through the Word and the Spirit bearing witness with you That which is yielded in your life, that fruit which is growing on your vine, is the true fruit of God's Spirit as revealed in the Holy Word. If you do not know that, I implore you to come to Christ and to know Him by knowing His Word, the object of our faith. Shall we look unto the Lord our God unto prayer?