Today is an era filled with well-meaning ministers who profess a great love for Christ, His Gospel and His people. Yet these same ministers, save for the precious few which Christ preserves in faithful ministry, do nothing but trample what they seek to exalt underfoot. They seek to speak of good things, of a wonderful plan for the souls of men, that eternal life is but to believe in Christ, eternity in heaven to gain and nothing to lose, nothing more and nothing less. Woe to such ministers! For their love is nothing less but practical hatred! They speak not of the difficulty of true salvation. They speak not the requirements of Christ, repentance from sin and faith in Him, to take Him not only as Savior but also as Lord! Thus what they give to their hearers is but the “devil’s drug to lull thousands into a false peace”!
Dear reader, is this so too with you? Have you preached a gospel that never held any claims upon a man? Or have you sat under such preaching that never called you to forsake all sin and the world? Oh, if such are you, read on! And if you find yourself in this false peace, deceived and still in the bonds of iniquity, walking idly over the jaws of Hell, take heed! Repent and believe the Gospel!
Some of our readers will probably be surprised to hear about the difficulty of saving faith. On almost every side today it is being taught, even by men styled orthodox and “fundamentalists,” that getting saved is an exceedingly simple affair.
So long as a person believes John 3:16, and “rests on it,” or “accepts Christ as his personal Saviour,” that is all that is needed. It is often said that there is nothing left for the sinner to do but direct his faith toward the right object: just as a man trusts his bank or a wife her husband, let him exercise the same faculty of faith and trust in Christ.
So widely has this idea been received that for anyone now to condemn it is to court being branded as a heretic. Notwithstanding, the writer here unhesitatingly denounces it as a most God-insulting lie of the Devil. A natural faith is sufficient for trusting a human object; but a supernatural faith is required to trust savingly in a Divine object.
While observing the methods employed by present-day “evangelists” and “personal workers,” we are made to wonder what place the Holy Spirit has in their thoughts; certainly they entertain the most degrading conception of that miracle of grace which He performs when He moves a human heart to surrender truly unto the Lord Jesus.
Alas, in these degenerate times few have any idea that saving faith is a miraculous thing. Instead, it is now almost universally supposed that saving faith is nothing more than an act of the human will, which any man is capable of performing: all that is needed is to bring before a sinner a few verses of Scripture which describe his lost condition, one or two which contain the word “believe,” and then a little persuasion, for him to “accept Christ,” and the thing is done. And the awful thing is that so very, very few see anything wrong with this—blind to the fact that such a process is only the Devil’s drug to lull thousands into a false peace.
So many have been argued into believing that they are saved. In reality, their “faith” sprang from nothing better than a superficial process of logic. Some “personal worker” addresses a man who has no concern whatever for the glory of God and no realization of his terrible hostility against Him.
Anxious to “win another soul to Christ,” he pulls out his New Testament and reads to him 1 Timothy 1:15. The worker says, “You are a sinner,” and his man assenting he is at-once informed, “Then that verse includes you.” Next John 3:16, is read, and the question is asked, “Whom does the word ‘whosoever’ include?” The question is repeated until the poor victim answers, “You, me, and everybody.” Then he is asked, “Will you believe it; believe that God loves you, that Christ died for you?” If the answer is “Yes,” he is at once assured that he is now saved.
Ah, my reader, if this is how you were “saved,” then it was with “enticing words of man’s wisdom” and your “faith” stands only “in the wisdom of men” (1 Cor. 2:4, 5), and not in the power of God!
Multitudes seem to think that it is about as easy for a sinner to purify his heart (James 4:8) as it is to wash his hands; to admit the searching and flesh-withering light of Divine truth into the soul as the morning sun into his room by pulling up the blinds; to turn from idols to God, from the world to Christ, from sin to holiness, as to turn a ship right round by the help of her helm.
Oh, my reader, be not deceived on this vital matter; to mortify the lusts of the flesh, to be crucified unto the world, to overcome the Devil, to die daily unto sin and live unto righteousness, to be meek and lowly in heart, trustful and obedient, pious and patient, faithful and uncompromising, loving and gentle; in a word, to be a Christian, to be Christ-like, is a task far, far beyond the poor resources of fallen human nature.
It is because a generation has arisen which is ignorant of the real nature of saving faith that they deem it such a simple thing.
It is because so very few have any scriptural conception of the character of God’s great salvation that the delusions referred to above are so widely received.
It is because so very few realize what they need saving from that the popular “evangel” (?) of the hour is so eagerly accepted.
Once it is seen that saving faith consists of very much more than believing that “Christ died for me,” that it involves and entails the complete surrender of my heart and life to His government, few will imagine that they possess it.
Once it is seen that God’s salvation is not only a legal but also an experimental thing, that it not only justifies but regenerates and sanctifies, fewer will suppose they are its participants.
Once it is seen that Christ came here to save His people not only from hell, but from sin, from self-will and self-pleasing, then fewer will desire His salvation.
The Lord Jesus did not teach that saving faith was a simple matter. Far from it. Instead of declaring that the saving of the soul was an easy thing, which many would participate in, He said: “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:14). The only path which leads to heaven is a hard and laborious one. “We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22): an entrance into that path calls for the utmost endeavours of soul—“Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24).
After the young ruler had departed from Christ, sorrowing, the Lord turned to His disciples and said, “How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:24, 25). What place is given to such a passage as this in the theology (if “theology” it is fit to be called) which is being taught in the “Bible institutes” to those seeking to qualify for evangelistic and personal work? None at all.
According to their views, it is just as easy for a millionaire to be saved as it is for a pauper, since all that either has to do is “rest on the finished work of Christ.” But those who are wallowing in wealth think not of God: “According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart exalted; therefore have they forgotten Me!” (Hosea 13:6).
When the disciples heard these words of Christ’s “they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?” Had our moderns heard them, they had soon set their fears at rest, and assured them that anybody and everybody could be saved if they believed on the Lord Jesus. But not so did Christ reassure them. Instead, He immediately added, “With men it is impossible, but not with God” (Mark 10:27).
Of himself, the fallen sinner can no more repent evangelically, believe in Christ savingly, come to Him effectually, than he can create a world. “With men it is impossible” rules out of court all special pleading for the power of man’s will. Nothing but a miracle of grace can lead to the saving of any sinner.
And why is it impossible for the natural man to exercise saving faith? Let the answer be drawn from the case of this young ruler. He departed from Christ sorrowing, “for he had great possessions.” He was wrapped up in them. They were his idols. His heart was chained to the things of earth. The demands of Christ were too exacting: to part with all and follow Him was more than flesh and blood could endure.
Reader, what are your idols? To him the Lord said, “One thing thou lackest.” What was it? A yielding to the imperative requirements of Christ; a heart surrendered to God. When the soul is stuffed with the dregs of earth, there is no room for the impressions of heaven. When a man is satisfied with carnal riches, he has no desire for spiritual riches.
The same sad truth is brought out again in Christ’s parable of the “great supper.” The feast of Divine grace is spread, and through the Gospel a general call is given for men to come and partake of it. And what is the response? This: “They all with one consent began to make excuse” (Luke 14:18). And why should they? Because they were more interested in other things.
Their hearts were set upon land (Luke 14:18), oxen (Luke 14:19), domestic comforts (Luke 14:20). People are willing to “accept Christ” on their own terms, but not on His. What His terms are is made known in the same chapter: giving Him the supreme place in our affections (Luke 14:26), the crucifixion of self (Luke 14:27), the abandonment of every idol (Luke 14:33). Therefore did He ask, “which of you, intending to build a tower [figure of a hard task of setting the affections on things above], sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost?” (Luke 14:28).
“How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (John 5:44). Do these words picture the exercise of saving faith as the simple matter which so many deem it? The word “honour” here signifies approbation or praise. While those Jews were making it their chief aim to win and hold the good opinion of each other, and were indifferent to the approval of God, it was impossible that they should come to Christ. It is the same now: “Whomsoever therefore will be [desires and is determined to be] a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
To come to Christ effectually, to believe on Him savingly, involves turning our backs upon the world, alienating ourselves from the esteem of our godless (or religious) fellows, and identifying ourselves with the despised and rejected One. It involves bowing to His yoke, surrendering to His lordship, and living henceforth for His glory. And that is no small task.
—A. W. Pink, Studies on Saving Faith: It’s Difficultyi
Read more of “Studies on Saving Faith” here.
Footnotes
- 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. [↩]
