THE RESPONSE OF FAITH

In the parables of the Kingdom (Matthew 13:1-52), Christ likened the Kingdom of heaven to a field in which there were both wheat and tares, and to a net in which were both good and bad fish. He states that no attempt will be made to separate them until the harvest time at the end of the age. False professors and true possessors are in the visible church today and will continue to be until Christ comes again.

The false professor has never genuinely repented, for let us remind ourselves that repentance means a change of mind, a complete reversal of attitude toward God, and, consequently, a change of mind toward all that is opposed to God. There is much in the Christian experience today that is called repentance, which is sheer camouflage. It is not genuine abhorrence and loathing of sin as something hateful and heinous in the sight of God but is selfish and sinful regret in having sin exposed or having to suffer its punishment. It is not a real turnabout face but a pretense at looking Godward while walking sinward. A repentance that makes one a possessor of God’s gift through grace is born of a consciousness of sin that deepens into conviction and compels one to cry out honestly, “What must I do to be saved?”

Such a repentance has its birth at the cross of Christ. Gazing upon the spotless, sinless Son of God crucified upon a criminal’s cross, bearing the sin of the world with all its stain; drinking the cup of suffering even to its bitter dregs; enduring the penalty and punishment of sin even unto death; the sinner realizes the sinfulness of sin. With the light of God’s holiness and the warmth of God’s love streaming into his own soul, the sinner has his first absolute hatred toward sin. Repentance, which is “not only a heart broken for sin but from sin,” follows. To see sin as God sees it in the light of the cross is to have the taste and delight in it taken away.

Neither has the false professor ever truly believed, for let us remember that to believe is to receive a Person into the life to possess and to control it as His own. There is much in the Christian experience today that is called faith, which is not faith at all. Sometimes, one is deceived into thinking that emotional feelings are faith. Sentimental appeals play upon the emotions, and a superficial response is made. But the seed sown has not taken root, so a change of feeling results in a casting away of faith. That is sometimes called faith, which is merely the consent of the mind to the great historical facts regarding Jesus Christ but is wholly divorced from any intention of accepting Him as Savior, yielding to Him as Lord, and appropriating Him as Life. But a faith that makes one a possessor of God’s gift through grace is born of a consciousness of helplessness and hopelessness that compels the sinner to cry out in sincere Longing of heart, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Such a faith has its birth at the cross of Christ. Having brought the sinner to acknowledge his own helpless and hopeless condition, the Holy Spirit fixes his gaze upon the all-sufficient Savior. He points him to the One who bore his sins in His own body on the tree; to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world, which included his sin. He reveals Christ Jesus as the One who tasted death for him and enables him to say, “He loved me and gave Himself for me.” He assures the sinner, now burdened by the guilt and pollution of his sins, that there is forgiveness and cleansing for him in the blood of the slain Lamb. Then He leads him to put his trust in Jesus Christ as his own personal Savior and, by an act of his will, to receive Him into his life as such.

Considering what is involved in a genuine crossing of God’s bridge of salvation, let us now turn to the other question, “What must I do to be saved?” God’s Word gives an abundant answer to this question.

John 20:31

“But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

Acts 16:30-31

“And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

John 1:12

“But as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

God wishes the poor, the unfortunate, the illiterate, the young, and the untalented to come to Him and to have the blessings of salvation, as well as the rich, the favored, the learned, the aged, and the gifted. He has made the way of salvation so simple that all may walk in it, and nobody needs to be excluded because of any lack in himself. Salvation is all wrapped up in a Savior who is a gift of God to be received upon the one condition of faith. “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

Source: “The Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Lord, thank You for making faith possible for us.