In a world filled with comforts and the absence of constant opposition, even those who profess to be Christians can be lax in regards to the nature of their confession of faith. Save for a precious few, most would care little about it. Why would they? The culture has served them well. They grew up faithfully in a Christian society. It’s all they really ever knew and all they ever came to know. Why should they doubt? And why would they prefer anything else?

But begin to put such people to the test; put such people through the fires of suffering and before the scrutiny of the Holy Scriptures and we will see what sort of Christians they really are. Whether they really are true or not. This concerns more than the surety of the profession of individuals, as if we are only concerned about the genuineness of the labels people hold. Rather, eternity is at stake!

Do you see this to be a vital issue, dear reader?

I pray so you do!

There is nothing more important for you to find out than the sure or false nature of the faith you profess. Whether you really are saved, brought from death to life! For what are riches, success, family, relationships and fame? All these will pass away! All these will be swept away in the wind as your body rots in the ground! Oh, I pray you, be concerned desperately more about your soul!

God’s Wrath is Coming. Are you Ready?

If you find out that you are not saved, then, repent and believe the gospel, that you may be brought from death to life. The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ is a perfect Savior. No matter how vile and wicked you may be, He can save even such a one as you!

Saving faith is always evidenced by a humble heart.

Faith lays the soul low, for it discovers its own vileness, emptiness, impotency.

It realizes its former sinfulness and present unworthiness.

It is conscious of its weaknesses and wants, its carnality and corruptions.

Nothing more exalts Christ than faith, and nothing more debases a man. In order to magnify the riches of His grace, God has selected faith as the fittest instrument, and this because it is that which causes us to go entirely out from ourselves unto Him.

Faith, realizing we are nothing but sin and wretchedness, comes unto Christ as an empty-handed beggar to receive all from Him.

Faith empties a man of self-conceit, self-confidence, and self-righteousness, and makes him seem nothing, that Christ may be all in all.

The strongest faith is always accompanied by the greatest humility, accounting self the greatest of sinners and unworthy of the least favour (see Matt. 8:8-10).

Saving faith is always found in a tender heart.

“A new heart also will I give you,
and a new spirit will I put within you:
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you an heart of flesh”
(Ezekiel 36:26).

An unregenerate heart is hard as stone, full of pride and presumption. It is quite unmoved by the sufferings of Christ, in the sense that they act as no deterrent against self-will and self-pleasing. But the real Christian is moved by the love of Christ, and says, How can I sin against His dying love for me. When overtaken by a fault, there is passionate relenting and bitter mourning.

Oh, my reader, do you know what it is to be melted before God, for you to be heart-broken with anguish over sinning against and grieving such a Saviour? Ah, it is not the absence of sin but the grieving over it which distinguishes the child of God from empty professors.

Another characteristic of saving faith is that it “worketh by love” (Gal. 5:6).

It is not inactive, but energetic. That faith which is “of the operation of God” (Col. 2:12) is a mighty principle of power, diffusing spiritual energy to all the faculties of the soul and enlisting them in the service of God.

Faith is a principle of life, by which the Christian lives unto God;

a principle of motion, by which he walks to heaven along the highway of holiness;

a principle of strength, by which he opposes the flesh, the world, and the Devil.

“Faith in the heart of a Christian is like the salt that was thrown into the corrupt fountain, that made the naughty waters good and the barren land fruitful. Hence it is that there followeth an alteration of life and conversation, and so bringeth forth fruit accordingly: ‘A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good fruit’; which treasure is faith.”

—John Bunyan in Christian Behaviour

Where a saving faith is rooted in the heart it grows up and spreads itself in all the branches of obedience, and is filled with the fruits of righteousness. It makes its possessor act for God, and thereby evidences that it is a living thing and not merely a lifeless theory.

Even a newborn infant, though it cannot walk and work as a grown man, breathes and cries, moves and sucks, and thereby shows it is alive.

So with the one who has been born again;

there is a breathing unto God,

a crying after Him, a moving toward Him,

a clinging to Him.

But the infant does not long remain a babe; there is growth, increasing strength, enlarged activity. Nor does the Christian remain stationary: he goes “from strength to strength” (Psalm 84:7).

But observe carefully, faith not only “worketh” but it “worketh by love.”

It is at this point that the “works” of the Christian differ from those of the mere religionist. “The papist works that he may merit heaven. The Pharisee works that he may be applauded, that he may be seen of men, that he may have a good esteem with them. The slave works lest he should be beaten, lest he should be damned. The formalist works that he may stop the mouth of conscience, that will be accusing him, if he does nothing. The ordinary professor works because it is a shame to do nothing where so much is professed.

But the true believer works because he loves. This is the principal, if not the only, motive that sets him a-work. If there were no other motive within or without him, yet would he be working for God, acting for Christ, because he loves Him; it is like fire in his bones” (David Clarkson).

Saving faith is ever accompanied by an obedient walk.

“Hereby we do know that we know Him,
if we keep His commandments.
He that saith, I know Him,
and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar,
and the truth is not in him”
(1 John 2:3, 4).

Make no mistake upon this point: infinite as are the merits of Christ’s sacrifice, mighty as is the potency of His priestly intercession, yet they avail not for any who continue in the path of disobedience. He acknowledges none to be His disciples save them who do homage to Him as their Lord.

“Too many professors pacify themselves with the idea that they possess imputed righteousness, while they are indifferent to the sanctifying work of the Spirit. They refuse to put on the garment of obedience, they reject the white linen which is the righteousness of the saints. They thus reveal their self-will, their enmity to God, and their non-submission to His Son.

Such men may talk what they will about justification by faith, and salvation by grace, but they are rebels at heart; they have not on the wedding-dress any more than the self-righteous, whom they so eagerly condemn. The fact is, if we wish for the blessings of grace, we must in our hearts submit to the rules of grace without picking and choosing.”

—C. H. Spurgeon on “The Wedding Garment”

Once more: saving faith is precious, for, like gold, it will endure trial (1 Peter 1:7).

A genuine Christian fears no test; he is willing, yea, wishes, to be tried by God Himself. He cries, “Examine me, 0 Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart” (Psalm 26:2). Therefore he is willing for his faith to be tried by others, for he shuns not the touchstone of Holy Writ.

He frequently tries for himself, for where so much is at stake he must be sure.

He is anxious to know the worst as well as the best.

That preaching pleases him best which is most searching and discriminating.

He is loath to be deluded with vain hopes.

He would not be flattered into a high conceit of his spiritual state without grounds.

When challenged, he complies with the apostle’s advice in 2 Corinthians 13:5.

Herein does the real Christian differ from the formalist. The presumptuous professor is filled with pride, and, having a high opinion of himself, is quite sure that he has been saved by Christ. He disdains any searching tests, and considers self-examination to be highly injurious and destructive of faith.

That preaching pleases him best which keeps at a respectable distance, which comes not near his conscience, which makes no scrutiny of his heart. To preach to him of the finished work of Christ and the eternal security of all who believe in Him strengthens his false peace and feeds his carnal confidence. Should a real servant of God seek to convince him that his hope is a delusion, and his confidence presumptuous, he would regard him as an enemy, as Satan seeking to fill him with doubts. There is more hope of a murderer being saved than of his being disillusioned.

—A. W. Pink, Studies on Saving Faith: It’s Evidencesⁱ

Read more of “Studies on Saving Faith” here.

Footnotes

1. Pink, A. W. (19). The doctrines of election and justification. “… materials found herein were first published in 1932, 1933 and 1937 …”; Includes indexes. Swengel, Pa.: Reiner.” [↩]