by Jacob Ninan
There are different kinds of faith, and all of them do not save. Isn't it important for us to know if the faith we have is what will give us salvation? Can you think of getting the shock of your life if you thought you had faith in Jesus and that you were therefore saved, and find yourself denied entrance to heaven on the day of the final judgment? Some of you may say that if someone has faith in Jesus that assures him of salvation, and that is enough. You may think I am trying to split hairs and creating unnecessary problems, and planting doubts into people's minds and making things complicated. You may quote from 1Jn.5:13 to say that all who believe in the name of Jesus have eternal life. Of course, my aim is definitely not to cause confusion or to plant doubts into sincere Christians, but to save others who wrongly imagine that they are saved. It is possible for us to deceive ourselves on this point. Here is a clear example of people who were very active in ministry, even doing miracles, whom Jesus could not accept (Matt.7:21-23). Obviously, they thought that they had faith and that they were saved, and others who watched or experienced their miracles also thought so. But the kind of faith they had was not the kind of faith that could save.
The problem that Jesus had with these people who had faith and who did miracles with their faith was that they were habitually sinning. Such people have a so-called faith that does not lead them to stop sinning. We know that the primary reason why Jesus came to this earth was to save us from sinning (Matt.1:21). That is obviously not benefiting these people, and by that they show that they have not been really born again and become children of God (1Jn.3:8). Of course, a good translation of this verse makes it clear that it is talking about sin as their habit. They sin and continue to sin without any attempt to stop sinning, and that is different from someone who falls in sin accidentally. God's plan for us is to lead us to become increasingly free from sinning, while providing for failure if that happens (1Jn.2:1). That is a fruit of faith that saves.
Certainly, fruit takes time to grow. A man who has just been born again is an infant in terms of his spiritual development, and sometimes victory over sin's power may take some time to show in different areas of life. But that is different from saying that a man in whose life there is no fighting against sin and for whom sinful behaviour is normal, can be considered as a real Christian. No, he claims to have faith, but his faith certainly seems to be lacking something, and it looks like a mistaken faith!
At this point it becomes obvious that a large number of people who consider themselves as saved by faith are mistaken. Some of you who are reading or hearing this may be getting convicted now. So, this is such an important subject to be addressed, and each of us needs to be clear that the kind of faith we have is what God wants. This goes far beyond being a theological concept, because our future depends on our faith.
Let us look at another example. Once when a large crowd of people were following Jesus, He knew that many of them had some kind of faith in Him (Jn.8:31). But we see a little later, that even though these people had some kind of faith, they were not born again but still children of the devil (Jn.8:44)! Just think of this a little more. Here were people who had seen the miracles that Jesus had done, developed faith in Him and were following Him! Yet they remained as children of the devil and had no relationship with God.
Think of the present day. There are many people even now who have seen or experienced miracles from Jesus, believed in Him and are following Him. Many of them have got baptised, joined a church and are now taking part in church activities like Bible studies and prayer meetings. Some of them have even become church leaders! Do you think it will be preposterous if we said that many of them may be still children of the devil? God has not given us the responsibility to sit as judges and decide who are born again or not. Even then, this possibility should stir us up from sleep and help us realise what a dangerous situation many people are in. Assuming that we ourselves have experienced the true grace of God, it troubles us to consider the matter concerning many of the people we know.
One explanation for this situation is that preachers have not made faith and salvation clear for people. Think of a preacher who has invited people to come to Jesus to receive wealth and prosperity, or another preacher who has described Jesus as One who can do miracles to deal with their problems. That is the only 'gospel' they have heard, and they are not even thinking of anything else beyond that. Some others who have been truly forgiven and become children of God have been taught only about God's grace and mercy that are always available to deal with their sins, and they know nothing more. All such people must hear that Jesus has come to save us from our sins, not only salvation from the guilt and punishment for sins but also deliverance from the power of sin. They must be shown how they can receive victory over their sins, even sins that have ruled over them (Rom.6:14). They must also be taught how they need to respond to this offer of grace in order to experience victory (Rom.6:12,13).
Different kinds of faith
After Jesus had miraculously fed five thousand men and many others, great crowds started following Him. But Jesus was not excited about this, because He knew they were not really interested in following Him, but only in what they could get from Him (Jn.6:26). Another time, when many were coming to Him for healing, Jesus replied that He needed to go to other places also to preach, because He had come not basically to heal but to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God (Lk.4:42,43). Even now, why are crowds coming to public meetings? For healing and other needs. We should not be impressed by such crowds. They are not really coming to hear about Jesus dying on the cross for them, but to get something from Him. Sad to say, some preachers do not even mention about Jesus dying on the cross for sinners. They do not even address the issue of sin. As far as they are concerned, that kind of preaching will not draw crowds. Some of them justify themselves saying that after they draw people with the hope of healing or solving their problems, then they will present the gospel. But we can notice that their concern is really not to save people from their sins at all.When people come to such meetings, and they hear about great healings that took place somewhere else, or even see some miracles happening, the faith they develop in Jesus is also about that. Jesus is a faith healer and miracle worker for them, not the One who will save them from their sins. Do they have faith in Jesus? Yes, but that faith does not save them for eternity. But if they are taught that if you have faith in Jesus, you will be saved, can you blame them for choosing this kind of faith? For some other people, their faith is not even this much. They believe that Jesus was a good teacher who is supposed to have done many miracles, or that He is the founder of Christianity, or many similar things. Many people attend church only for the major festivals and consider themselves faithful Christians, because they do not follow other religions. Others believe they are Christians because they were born in a Christian family or because they have a Christian name. Don't they have faith in Jesus? To that extent, yes! But are they saved? Do they even have a recognition that they are sinners?
Yet, by the preaching that all who believe in Jesus are saved, large numbers of people are getting deceived. They can quote different verses from the Bible to 'prove' that they believe in Jesus and it is sufficient for salvation. Yet it does not occur to them, and nobody even bothers to ask them, why if they have faith, they are not being saved. Only one kind of faith can save.
True faith in Jesus
To have faith in Jesus, we must first of all, understand who He is. If we follow our own concept about Jesus, we may end up believing in a Jesus of our imagination and not the real One. Paul warns us about believing 'another Jesus' and not the One he preached (2Cor.11:4). The second thing we need to know is why He died and how He rose from the dead. This separates Jesus from all miracle workers, teachers, leaders, philosophers, etc., who have ever lived. It is when we hear that the sinless Son of God left heaven and came to this earth as a Man and finally died to pay the price for our sins, that we begin to understand what our sins mean to God. We also understand the love of God for us even though we had sinned against Him and become His enemies, which prompted Him to make the sacrifice of His only Son to save us. Then it is that we repent from our sins and place our trust in Jesus as our Saviour. It is then that God forgives our sins, gives us a new heart that wants to stop sinning, and accepts us as His children.This is the bare minimum knowledge people must have about Jesus because of which they can now believe in Him (place their trust and confidence in Him and submit to His authority). It is when they see how they have sinned before Him, that they see the horror of how their sins appear to the holy God, and then they repent. This repentance is a desire and determination in the heart to turn away from their old life of sin, and to avoid sinning again, and does not mean that they completely stop sinning. It is the new direction they choose in response to understanding their position before God, and see His holiness and love at the same time.
Many people think as if faith and repentance can be separated. They are separate only as concepts, but unless they occur together in experience, there cannot be any salvation. This is a place where many people make a huge mistake. When preachers seek, in their mind, to reach out to more people with the gospel, they end up sometimes in making the gospel 'seeker-friendly', by avoiding the mention of the holiness and justice of God, downplaying the horror of sin, and highlighting the love and grace of God, people end up not getting saved, but thinking that they have been saved.
When we see Jesus
Jesus is not a peace-loving, weak person who had great ideas but who got killed in the end. He is not a lovey-dovey God who is always loving, forgiving, patient, and running to our help whenever we need Him. He is our Creator, He has become our Saviour, and He will one day be our Judge. We cannot take Him for granted, expect Him to do whatever we ask, and always overlook whatever we do wrong. What should be our attitude, and what must we do when we stand before Him? Yes, He can be our Best Friend, but at the same time He must be One who causes us to fall down and tremble before Him. We must love Him, but we must also stand in fear of Him.If we have been born again and been adopted as children of God, is there a place for us to debate whether we should submit to Him or make Him as Lord over every part of our life? Do we think we have a choice? If we think we can treat Him like our buddy and send Him around to do chores for us, we are thinking of 'another Jesus', and by implication we are not saved. If someone accepts Jesus as Saviour and it does not follow that he begins to submit to Him more and more as he grows, it certainly makes one suspect that he is not really born again.
Conclusion
I hope it is clear that it is of great importance to us to check and verify if we have seen Jesus as our Saviour who had to die to be able to forgive our sins, and if we have truly turned from the way of sin. If we are preachers, evangelists or writers, mustn't we avoid getting the blood of people that will come upon our hands if we do not share the full gospel with people (Ezek.3:18). If we truly love people and desire that they should get saved from their sins, do we have the right to hold back any part of truth that might help them (Acts.20:20)?