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CHAPTER THREE
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Saving Faith – Its Cause and Effect

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The majority of men have the notion that believing in God is simply believing He exists or in the possibility of His existence. The word believe is commonly used to refer to something as possible but not certain. However, there is no resemblance between this use of the word and the word used in Scripture in reference to saving faith. Was the faith of the Apostles a matter of believing in the existence of Christ or the fact of His death and resurrection? Obviously, the answer is no. After all, they were eyewitnesses of His life, death, and resurrection. They were not asked to exercise faith in that which they saw with their own eyes. That would be contrary to the biblical idea of faith as those who, "…walk by faith not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). They were not required to believe in the fact of His death and resurrection, but rather to trust in His person, to believe in whom He claimed to be, the Christ, the Messiah, the "anointed One" sent from the Father. They were to receive His words as God's truth. Harris’ Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, says of the Hebrew word, ‘aman, believe or believing:

This very important concept in biblical doctrine gives clear evidence of the biblical meaning of ‘faith’ in contradistinction to the many popular concepts of the term. At the heart of the meaning of the root is the idea of certainty. And this is borne out by the New Testament definition of faith found in Heb. 11:1...In the Hiphil (causative), it basically means ‘to cause to be certain, sure’ or ‘to be certain about, ’ ‘to be assured.’ In this sense the word in the Hiphil conjugation is the biblical word for ‘to believe’ and shows that biblical faith is an assurance, a certainty, in contrast with modern concepts of faith as something possible, hopefully true, but not certain(1) (italics mine).

It is written that Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness (Rom. 4:3). The faith that saved Abraham is that same faith which saves all men. Abraham’s faith was not in the existence of God, but rather a faith in the God that exists. God does not simply ask us to believe in the idea that He exists, but to place our complete trust and confidence in Him, the one true God. God condemns the worship of other gods, and yet that is exactly what people do when they conjure up in their own imaginations a god other than the God revealed in Scripture. For many, religion consists of worshipping a god after their own heart. Many are under the delusion that all religions lead to heaven because all believe in god, not realizing that the gods of these other religions bear no resemblance to the God of Holy Scripture. It is as a married woman who after committing adultery defends her actions by saying "what difference does it make which husband I love, as long as I love a husband"? The Scriptures reveal God as a Person and we are called to worship Him as a personal being. In the Day of Judgment the question will not be, were you faithful to a god, but rather were you faithful to the Person of God as He is revealed in Holy Scripture. Therefore God says, ...put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel. It is the Lord God of Israel we must serve. It is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is the God of the Prophets and the Apostles. He is the one true God and there is no other. The worship of the god of one’s own preference will not suffice. Those who would embrace all religions with open arms, reasoning in their own hearts that the worship of god, the god of any religion, is that which is to be commended, is contemptible to God. Although done in the guise of love, Scripture condemns it. Nevertheless, because of His abundant mercy, as it is written in the Book of Acts to those who worship an unknown god ...these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:30-32).

In Romans 4:21 we find the same statement about Abraham as in verse 3 of the same chapter, however in place of the word believed we find the expression being fully convinced. "And being fully convinced that what He (God) had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. In other words, Abraham was fully convinced that God’s word could be trusted and acted upon with complete confidence and assurance. It is not to be partially convinced, not half-heartedly convinced, but it is a faith that is wholly and fully convinced of the promises of God. A faith whereby we cling to them, cherish them, set our minds on them, and purify our hearts in light of them (2 Corinthians 7:1, 1 John 3:3). We are fully convinced of His promises because we are fully convinced of the trustworthiness of the God that promises. It is true that this faith needs to be strengthened and nourished, but it is nonetheless, as Scripture states, a faith that is fully convinced of the promises of God. Luther says of Abraham’s faith:

This must be understood in the sense that Abraham was always ready to believe God. He steadfastly believed God. This fact we learn from Genesis chapter 12 and 13, where we are told that Abraham believed God who called and commanded him to leave his country and go into a strange land. Again he believed God when, according to Gen. 22:1ff., he was commanded to slay his son Isaac, and so forth. Whatever he did, he did by faith, as the Apostle declares in Heb. 11:8-10. So also what is stated in our text (Rom. 4:3) is said of Abraham’s faith in general, and not merely with regard to the one promise recorded in Gen. 15:4-6. To believe God means to trust Him always and everywhere.(2)

Saving faith then, as defined by Scripture, is being fully convinced or fully assured that God is able to perform that which He promises. Subsequently, those who are fully convinced of the promises of God, live accordingly, according to the Spirit, according to the revelation of that which is unseen. As Scripture states it, …everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:3).

Christ says, Why do you call Me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say (Luke 6:46). In other words, why do you say you believe in Me, and accept the authority of My words, yet you do not act upon them? If you truly believed in Me, you would be doing the things that I say. According to this verse, there is no question of the fact that those who believed in Him were to believe in Him as their Lord, and that they were to come under the authority of His word. Obedience to His word then, is not something optional, but becomes the standard by which we conduct our lives. Jesus was obviously not addressing those who had made Him Lord in contradistinction to those who had only received Him as Savior. Are we to believe that Jesus was saying, "Why is it that you who have received Me as Lord are not doing what I say? I would expect this kind of disobedience from those who have received Me as Savior, but you have ‘made’ Me your Lord, therefore you should be doing what I say." As foolish as it sounds this is what many are teaching. The truth is, if we confess Christ as Lord (Rom.10:9), and do not practice His teachings, we deny Him as Lord, and therefore deny our faith. Again, They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him. (Titus 1:16).

Arthur Pink wrote:

There are multitudes who believe in Christ who do not put His precepts into practice. In the same way that there are millions in India who believe in Buddha, millions in China who believe in Confucius, millions in Africa who believe in Mohammed, so vast numbers in Christendom believe in Christ. And because they ‘believe in Christ’ they suppose that all is well with them and that when they die they will go to heaven. Nor are there many now left on earth who are likely to disillusion them. The great majority of the preachers in this apostate age are only adding to the number of the deceived, by telling them that all God requires of them is to believe in the Gospel and receive Christ as their personal Savior. They quote such passages as John 3:16 and Acts 16:31, which contain the word ‘believe, ’ but are guiltily silent on the many verses which insist on repentance, forsaking of sins, denying of self, and which call to obedience. (3)

The NIDNTT states:

The New Testament usage of ‘believing’ connotes the confident trust that an individual places in a divine person, not merely the simple credence he gives to verifiable facts. It involves not only recognition and acceptance of the truth, but also adherence and allegiance to the truth(4) (italics added).

Both the 1689 Baptist and the Westminster Confession of Faith state:

By this faith, a christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the word, for the authority of god himself speaking therein; and acteth differently upon that 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 (italics added).

It is certainly true that we are saved by a simple faith in Christ. However, a simple faith is very powerful in its cause and effect. We must simply believe in order that we might receive eternal life (John 3:16), however, it is only as we examine the various Scriptures that have the promise of salvation and eternal life that we can come to an understanding of what is the sum and substance of saving faith. The only meaning of faith that is authoritative and binding is that meaning which Scripture itself has placed upon it. Whatever conditions Scripture applies to those who would receive eternal life, they must all come under that which is defined by Scripture as "faith," if it is faith alone that secures eternal life. In Matt. 18:3 we read "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, YOU WILL BY NO MEANS ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN." In John 3:3 it says, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, HE CANNOT SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD"(5) and in John 3:5, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, HE CANNOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD. We find in John 6:54 that, Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood HAS ETERNAL LIFE, and I will raise him up at the last day. This is explained in 6:56 as abiding in Him, He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood ABIDES IN ME, and I in him. Romans 10:9 says, IF YOU CONFESS with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, YOU WILL BE SAVED. Then in 1 John 4:15 WHOEVER CONFESSES (every believer) that Jesus is the Son of God, God ABIDES IN HIM AND HE IN GOD. In 1 John 3:24 we read, Now he who keeps His commandments ABIDES IN HIM, AND HE IN HIM (emphasis added).

We find in these verses that whoever confesses is one and the same as he who keeps His commandments. We conclude then, that he who believes is he who confesses; whosoever confesses is also one who abides; the one who abides is one who keeps His commandments.

In Matthew 5:20 Jesus says, For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, YOU WILL BY NO MEANS ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. In Matthew 7:21 we discover that it is only those who do the will of the Father that will enter the kingdom of God. Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’, SHALL ENTER THE KINGDOM of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven and in John 2:17 ...but he who DOES THE WILL OF GOD ABIDES FOREVER. To do the will of the Father is to Hear the word of God and do it. Scofield, in his notes on Matthew 12:50, says that this phrase "do the will of God" is simply to believe in Christ. However, if we compare Scripture with Scripture this is easily proven false. Matthew 12:50 says, "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." The parallel passage in Luke 8:21 says, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it," which clearly lines up with the teaching of Christ in the parable of the two builders which immediately follows this phrase in Matthew 7:21. The phrase "to do the will of God" has the same meaning as "he who hears these sayings of Mine and does them" (Matt. 7:24). Certainly one must first enter into a relationship with Christ by believing in Him before he has any hope of doing the will of God, however to say that this is the force behind the meaning of this passage is to render it powerless as to its true intent. More importantly, it can deceive men into thinking all is well with their souls, when in fact they may abide in death. It says in essence "Peace, Peace" when there is no peace.

Paul says to the Corinthians, Do you not know that THE UNRIGHTEOUS WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9). Romans 2:6, 7 says, Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, ETERNAL LIFE: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath. We read in 1 John 3:15, Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has ETERNAL LIFE abiding in him. In John 8:51 Jesus says, Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death. In John 5:24, Most assuredly, I say to you, HE WHO HEARS My word and believes in Him who sent Me HAS EVERLASTING LIFE....In John 10:27, 28 we find that those who hear His word are His sheep. My sheep HEAR MY VOICE and I know them, AND THEY FOLLOW ME. And I GIVE THEM ETERNAL LIFE. We discover then that the sheep that hear also follow, i.e., disciples. In John 12:25 we read, He who loves his life will lose it, and HE WHO HATES HIS LIFE in this world WILL KEEP IT FOR ETERNAL LIFE. Luke 14:26 says that one must hate his own life to be a disciple. If one must hate his life to keep it for eternal life, and one must hate his life to be a disciple, what conclusion can we come too but that according to the doctrine of Christ one must become a disciple if he is to have eternal life. Luke 14:33 says, ...whoever of you does not forsake all that he has CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE. In John 11:26, And whoever LIVES and believes in Me SHALL NEVER DIE. (emphasis added)

We conclude then;

  • he who is converted and becomes as a little child (Matt. 18:3)

  • is born again (John 3:3)

  • born of the Spirit (John 3:5)

  • believes in Him (John 3:16)

  • confesses Him (Rom. 10:9)

  • lives in Him (John 11:26)

  • hears His word (John 5:24)(John 10:27)

  • is fully convinced of the promises of God (Rom. 4:21, 22)

  • eats of His flesh and drinks of His blood (John 6:54)

  • abides in Him (1 John 4:15)

  • keeps His commandments (1 John 3:24) (1 John 2:3) (1 John 3:9, 10) (1 Cor. 6:9, 10) (Gal. 5:19-21)

  • does the will of the Father (Matt.7:21)

  • whose righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees (Matt. 5:20)

  • who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality (Rom. 2:6, 7)

  • loves the brethren (1 John 3:10; 1 John 3:14, 15)

  • follows Christ as His sheep (John 10:27, 28)

  • forsakes all that he has (Luke 14:33)

  • keeps His Word (John 8:51)

  • and hates his life in this world shall have everlasting life. (John 12:25)

    • These verses reveal to us the sum and substance of saving faith. We do not have a full comprehension of these truths when we believe, however these statements will be true of everyone who believes. It is a faith that is the result of the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in the sinner's heart, by grace, and it is by this faith alone that the soul is justified.

    One of the basic laws of interpretation is that Scripture interprets Scripture. We cannot separate one Scripture that promises eternal life from all other Scripture that have the same promise. The one who confesses in Romans 10:9, is the one that abides in Him and keeps His commandments in 1 John 3:24. The "believe" of John 3:16, is the hating of one’s life in John 12:25. In other words he who believes is he who hates his life in this world. Even as 1 John 2:15 states it...If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. If the love of the Father is not in us, we have never been born again.

    Love for the world is to be in allegiance with Satan, the god of this age, 2 Corinthians 4:4, who has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. Therefore, the unbeliever cannot see the kingdom. For eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9). Many have interpreted this passage as something to be revealed to us in the future, but the following verse tells us that it is speaking of something present; But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit (1 Cor. 2:9, 10). In order that we might believe, we must first have our eyes, our ears, and our hearts opened to the gospel of the glory of Christ and His kingdom. Flesh and blood cannot receive the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness to the natural man (1Cor. 2:14). Flesh cannot see the unseen and therefore remains blind to the kingdom. So then we must be born of the Spirit, and with the eyes of the spirit, we can then see or perceive the reality of the kingdom (John 3:3). Vincent’s Word Studies states, "The things of God’s kingdom are not apparent to the natural vision. A new power of sight is required, which attaches only to the new man."(6) For however dim this sight may be (1 Cor. 13:12), it envisions the kingdom, being fully convinced of its reality (Rom. 4:22).

    Since we are spiritually deaf, we cannot hear the words of the kingdom. For "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). The Spirit then must grant us spiritual hearing in order that we might hear these words that are spirit (John 5:24). Our stony hardened hearts must be taken out and our spirit made alive (Ezekiel 36:26) to the words of the Spirit that we might believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead (Rom.10:9). Christ gave us the evidence of His heavenly authority on earth by the miracles he performed. He made the blind to see, caused the deaf to hear, He raised the dead, healed the sick, and enabled the lame to walk. God through the risen Christ performs these same miracles today through His Spirit. Then it was physical and visible, now it is spiritual and invisible. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:8). We, in our unregenerate state, are blind, deaf, sick, and lame as to our perception of God and spiritual truths. We are dead in our trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:5). Through Christ, God by His grace, raises us from spiritual death, giving sight to our blind eyes that we might see the kingdom; hearing to our deaf ears that we might hear the words of the kingdom; healing the disease of sin by cleansing and forgiveness that we might enter the kingdom; and healing our lame limbs that we might walk in the way of the kingdom, a way which is pleasing to God. In other words we must be born again that we might be fully convinced of the spiritual promises of God. We must be converted and become as little children placing our complete confidence and trust in the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the faith brought about by the Spirit. We find an instance of this truth in Peter’s confession in Matthew 16:17, when Jesus asked, "‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said unto Him, ‘Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." Your own carnal reasoning did not reveal this spiritual truth to you Peter, but it is the direct result of a supernatural revelation to you by My Father, through the Spirit. Therefore it is said by Jesus in John 6:65, ...no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father. No one can come to Christ unless God, by His grace, grants it. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but God who shows mercy (Rom.9:16). Vincent's says, "There is a progress of thought in the three following clauses, describing the proper origin of a believer’s new life. Children of God are begotten, not of {blood}, nor of {the will of the flesh}, nor of {the will of man}" Wescott says, "The new birth is not brought about by {descent}, by {desire}, or by {human power}." So then, even as Satan is allowed to take those in opposition to the truth captive by him to do his will (2 Tim. 2:26), those whom the Son sets free are taken captive by Christ to do God’s will. Therefore, it is said that only those who do the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of God (Matt.7:21). With the new birth comes a new heart, and this new heart is one of obedience. The first evidence of the new heart is manifest in that it obeys the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It reveals itself in that it submits to the words of Christ, which is the first-fruits of a lifelong submission to the lordship of Christ. We do not then pick and choose the words we believe, but we submit to the whole counsel of God. God’s Word then becomes that which sustains and upholds the believer that he might endure to the end. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matt.4:4).

    We find then that Satan rules in the heart of the unregenerate sinner, the old man; Christ rules in the heart of the new man. For sin shall not have dominion (or rule) over you for you are not under law but under grace (Rom. 6:14). ...You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of Christ dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Rom.8:9). Vincent’s states:

    Hence to believe the Lord Jesus Christ is not merely to believe the facts of His historic life or of His saving energy as facts, but to accept Him as Savior, Teacher, Sympathizer, Judge; to rest the soul upon Him for present and future salvation, and to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life. (7)

    D. Martin Lloyd-Jones writes:

    Christianity is never an addition to our lives; it is never something that is added onto that which we previously had: it is central or it is nowhere. If it is not controlling the whole of your life, then you are just not a Christian. (8)

    Philip Schaff writes in his history of the Church:

    Faith, in the biblical and evangelical sense, is a vital force which engages all the powers of man and apprehends and appropriates the very life of Christ and all his benefits. It is the child of grace and the mother of good works. It is the pioneer of all great thoughts and deeds... Protestantism does by no means despise or neglect good works or favor antinomian license; it only subordinates them to faith, and measures their value by quality rather than quantity. They are not the condition, but the necessary evidence of justification; they are not the root, but the fruits of the tree. The same faith which justifies, does also sanctify. It is ever "working through love" (Gal. 5:6). Luther is often charged with indifference to good works, but very unjustly. His occasional unguarded utterances must be understood in connection with his whole teaching and character9 (italics added).

    But does it not say in Romans 10:13 that I am saved by simply calling on his name? It is not by calling on His Name as if to say that an utterance of the lips would save us, but rather we are saved by a faith that calls on His Name. Whosoever calls on Him shall be saved, because whosoever calls on Him believes in Him. For How then can they call on Him in Whom they have not believed (Rom. 10:14). 1 Corinthians 1:2 says that it is the saints that call upon the name of the Lord....to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. In Romans 10:8-15, the context reveals that Paul is not speaking, in verse 13, of the means of salvation, but the universality of salvation as the previous verse (v.12) shows. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is rich to all who call upon Him. Paul is revealing the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy as he quotes Joel 2:32. In the Old Testament, God’s people, the Jews, were those who called upon the name of the Lord. However, salvation is no longer confined to the Jews but is now extended to the Gentiles as well. Paul says in Ephesians 2:11,

    "Therefore remember that you, once gentiles in the flesh — who were called the Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands — that at the time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world…"

    However, in the new covenant, whosoever may worship Him, whosoever calls on His name, Jew or Gentile, shall be saved. Charles Hodge writes of this verse:

    To call upon the name of Jesus as Lord is therefore to worship him. It is to look to him for that help which God only can give. All Christians, therefore, are the worshippers of Christ. And every sincere worshipper of Christ is a true Christian. The phrase expresses not so much an individual act of invocation, as an habitual state of mind and its appropriate expression(10) (italics added).

    It is not by going through the motions of a ritual (come forward and repeat this prayer) that we are saved. The sequence of events leading up to salvation are; the preacher is sent, v.15, the word is preached, the word is heard, the word is believed, those who believe call upon His name, v.14. Prayer does not result in faith, but it is faith that results in prayer. The man who is convicted of sin by the Spirit, being broken over his sin, turning to the Lord for salvation, has no need of any one telling him "repeat this prayer after me." The convicted soul is bound to cry out, Lord be merciful to me a sinner. Jesus said of the publican, in Luke 18:13 that he beat on his chest and cried out to the Lord, and therefore went home justified. What shall we say then? Beat on your chest and you shall be saved? Repeat these words and you shall be saved? No. These outward signs were simply the manifestations of that which the Spirit was working within his heart. Therefore, to coerce a man to perform any kind of outward act in order that he might be saved is to do that of which Scripture is silent.

    The alter call is a good example of this. If the alter call were God’s will in converting the sinner, He would have revealed it in His word. However, the mandate in Scripture is to preach the gospel and the Spirit falls upon whomever He wills (Acts 13:48). We should note that it was not until the latter part of the 1800’s that the altar call was first introduced. It began in the ministry of Charles Finney. However, Finney himself, who to this day is celebrated as the great revivalist of the eighteenth century, confessed that his methods of evangelizing failed miserably. B.B. Warfield speaking of the Finney revivals in his book Perfectionism, writes:

    It must be borne in mind, also, that a very large proportion of those swept into the churches by the excitement of the revival were not really converted, as their subsequent history only to clearly proved. Joseph Ives Foot, writing in 1838, is constrained to say, ‘During ten years, hundreds, and perhaps thousands were annually reported to be converted on all hands; but now it is admitted, that his (Finney’s) real converts are comparatively few. It is declared, even by himself, that the ‘great body of them are a disgrace to religion’; as a consequence of these defections, practical evils, great, terrible, and innumerable, are in various quarters rushing in on the Church. (11)

    Also in the book, Warfield writes:

    No more powerful testimony is borne, however, than that of Asa Mahan (a colleague of Finney’s), who tells us — to put it briefly — that everyone who was concerned in these revivals suffered a sad subsequent lapse: the people were left like a dead coal which could not be reignited; the pastors were shorn of all their spiritual power; and the evangelists — ‘among them all, ’ he says, ‘and I was personally acquainted with nearly everyone of them — I cannot recall a single man, brother Finney and father Nash excepted, who did not after a few years lose his unction, and become equally disqualified for the office of evangelist and that of pastor.’ ...Thus the great ‘Western Revivals’ ran out in disaster. (12)

    Sadly, it seems that many remain ignorant of the facts of the so-called great "Western Revivals," and to this day Finney’s methodology is used to promote revivals in Churches across the country. In John MacArthur’s book, "Ashamed of the Gospel," he writes:

    So Finney’s most enduring and far-reaching influence, unfortunately, is not from multitudes of souls saved or sinners reached with the gospel. Those effects, it seems, were almost wholly superficial, often vanishing as soon as Finney left town. Finney’s real legacy is the disastrous impact he had on American evangelical theology and evangelistic methodology. The church in our generation is still seething with the leaven Finney introduced, and modern evangelical pragmatism is proof of that. (13)

    We see the influence of the methodology of Finney in the great gospel crusades, with their massive alter calls. Billy Graham himself states that only a small percentage of those who came forward at his crusades were truly converted. We come to a false conclusion, because no doubt many have been converted over the years in these crusades, that the method being used must have God’s approval. However, this is faulty reasoning. Warfield writes:

    It is the calm judgment of a man of affairs and of letters, seeking to put on record an observed social and religious phenomenon, which we have in the following statement of facts by the editor of The New York Commercial Advertiser: ‘Look at the present condition of the churches of Western New York, which have become, in truth, ‘a people scattered and peeled.’ The time has not come to write the ecclesiastical history of the last ten years. And yet somebody should chronicle the facts now, lest in after times the truth, however correctly it may be preserved by tradition, should not be believed. ‘...The writer entertains no doubt that many true conversions have occurred under the system to which he is referring to. But as with the ground over which the lighting has gone, scorching and withering every green thing, years may pass away before the arid waste of the church will be grown over by the living herbage’(14) (italics added).

    Unfortunately, the Church has not learned from the past and the scorching and withering continue. We fail to realize that those converted in these meetings would be converted whether or not they came forward, but those who are not truly converted are given a false assurance of their salvation because they came forward. The seal of their salvation then, is in the coming forward, not in the witness of the Spirit. Many assume that they were saved because they said the prayer, yet there is no contrition, no true repentance, no brokenness over their sin, with no real hunger and thirst after righteousness. They are lacking in the primary effects the Spirit produces in the heart of the sinner that causes one to cry out to God for mercy that they might be saved. Since they have no zeal to know the true and living God, the Church, seeking to accommodate them in their lack of zeal, must come up with new ways to entice them into the churches. They will not come simply to hear the preaching of the word and to worship God, so we must have elaborate programs and entertainments of which the Bible never speaks. Rather than conclude that many of these are simply unbelievers, we twist the Scriptures to fit their poor spiritual condition. "They have not yet made Jesus Lord," "They have not received the 'second blessing," "They have not yet received the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit,’" "They are just carnal Christians," "They need revival," "They have not yet entered into sanctification," "They are backslidden," etc. It is rarely considered that they were never converted by the Spirit of God. Again, the Bible clearly defines their true spiritual state, These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and in vain they worship Me (Matt.15:8). They pray with their mouth, but they never believe in their hearts. The converted soul is not hungering and thirsting after social engagements, entertainments, and preaching that is watered down or apologetic for its pointed message. No, the truly converted soul is hungering and thirsting after righteousness, longing to know God. Even as Paul says, Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, that I may gain Christ (Phil. 3:8). Paul here reveals the heart of the Christian in that he is not seeking after temporal blessings for himself, but rather he is seeking the blessed One Himself. "...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Phil. 3:10). There should be no question that any man-made additions to the method of evangelism God has set forth in His word, concerning the saving of the soul, is dangerous. Ray Comfort wrote,

    If we are quite happy to build our church with decisions, the following are ten tried and true points:

    1. Neglect making mention of future punishment.
    2. Preach the love of God and the promise of peace, joy, love, and fulfillment.
    3. Appeal to the emotions rather than the will and the conscience ,address their loneliness,etc...
    4. Glow over the seriousness of sin, with All have sinned.
    5. Neglect using the Law of God to bring conviction.
    6. For your invitation, use, While every eye is closed, except one of yours. — Nobody is watching you; we don’t want to embarrass you — just slip up your hand. Aha! I saw that hand!
    7. Have counselors gently pull hand-raisers to the altar. I know a church where it’s done.
    8. Sing Psalms 119 through three times while you make your last appeal.
    9. Use light dimmers.
    10. Build your church with the floor sloping toward the front.

    You won’t have to spend much time agonizing in prayer because this method works...What’s more the time you save in prayer can be devoted to all the counseling you’ll have to do. Your church will be transformed into a hive of activity because of all those involved in follow-up ministry.

    This is called stony-ground hearer evangelism, which produces spurious, false, conversions. Many of these converts become bitter backsliders, but those who do remain need a souped-up church with plenty of activities or they will slip back into the world.(15)

    In the book "The Forgotten Spurgeon," Ian Murray writes:

    Man has made a connection between coming forward after an appeal and "coming to Christ," but Spurgeon would have strongly repudiated any such connection. Not only does such an evangelistic method not exist in Scripture, it vitiates what Scripture does teach on coming to Christ: ‘It is a motion of the heart towards Him, not a motion of the feet, for many came to Him in body but never came to Him in truth...the coming here meant is performed by desire, prayer, assent, consent, trust, obedience.’ Furthermore, Spurgeon had enough experience of the powerful working of the Spirit to know that these human additions to preaching the gospel were not justified by their supposed helpfulness; the man genuinely convicted of the truth may be the last to desire to comply with the public actions which an ‘appeal’ would force on him: For the most part, a wounded conscience, like a wounded stag, delights to be alone that it may bleed in secret. (16)

    Faith can only be exercised toward the promises of God, as the Holy Spirit reveals the realities of these promises to us. It is not by human manipulation or coercion. It is not by stimulating the emotions with soothing music and song. These tactics are based solely on carnal reasoning. Salvation comes by the powerful working of the Word of God in the human heart, by the Spirit. This faith brought about by the Spirit is the faith of a regenerate heart. A faith that manifests itself in a change in the way one lives, in word, thought, and deed (Titus 3:2-4). Characterized by endurance, perseverance, diligence, holiness, obedience, and love, which is the description the Scriptures give of the Christian life. Luther’s description of faith, as previously expressed bears repeating:

    Faith is not that human notion and dream that some hold for faith. Because they see no betterment of life and no good works follow it, and yet they can hear and say much about faith, they fall into error and say, ‘Faith is not enough; one must do works in order to be righteous and be saved.’ This is the reason that, when they hear the gospel, they fall-to and make for themselves, by their own powers, an idea in their hearts, which says, ‘I believe.’ This they hold for true faith. But it is a human imagination and idea that never reaches the depths of the heart, and so nothing comes of it and no betterment follows it...Faith, however, is a divine work in us. It changes us and makes us to be born anew of God (John 1); it kills the old Adam and makes altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers, and it brings with it the Holy Ghost. Oh, it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith; and so it is impossible for it not to do good works incessantly. It does not ask if there are good works to do, but before the question rises; it has already done them, and is always at the doing of them. He who does not these works is a faithless man. He gropes and looks about after faith and good works, and knows neither what faith is nor what good works are, though he talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works. (17)

    Saving faith is the assurance of things hoped for (Heb 12:1) not the possibility of things hoped for. "Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that a man would stake his life on it a thousand times" (Luther). "Faith is the only condition upon which God does offer peace and pardon unto men; but be assured, faith, if it be true and saving, will not be alone in the soul, but will be attended with true repentance, and a thankful study of conformity to God’s image" (Guthrie)

    We must seek the word for a witness (1 John 3:18, 19). For it is the "Spirit of truth" Who bears witness with our Spirit that we are sons of God (Rom. 8:16). We must look to the words of the King if were to have full assurance of entrance into His kingdom. Salvation comes not by uttering a prayer or confessing with the lips "I believe." It comes by means of a broken and contrite spirit, causing the soul to cry out in desperation, asking that we might receive, seeking that we might find, looking to Him with all our heart. The man who truly believes in the promise of the kingdom will not be satisfied with "maybe" or "possibly." The one who sees the kingdom says in his heart, "I must at all cost enter this blessed kingdom." Therefore it is written, "Strive to enter in at the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able" (Luke 13:24). Calvin says," When he bids them strive, or labor, he conveys the information, that it is impossible to obtain eternal life without great and appalling difficulties. Let believers, therefore, give their earnest attention to this object, instead of indulging in excessive curiosity about the vast number of those who are going astray."

    To have a heart for God is to have a heart for His word. Our perception of God must line up with Scripture. When we stand before God in the Day of Judgment a false Christ will be of no comfort. Arthur W. Pink states:

    "What must I do to be saved?" How cautiously and conscientiously should we examine ourselves, testing the grounds of our hope, determining whether or not there really is in us that which meets God’s terms, whether or not our righteousness exceeds that of the religious formalist (Matt. 5:20). Nor can such a task be discharged hurriedly: ‘Give diligence to make your calling and election sure’ (2 Pet. 1:10) — with what earnestness should we give ourselves to this work!(18)

    Spurgeon said:

    ...but the question now is not whether you believe the truth — but whether you are in the truth? Just to give you an illustration of what I mean. There is the ark; and a number of men around it. "Ah!" says one, I believe that ark will swim." "Oh!" says another, "I believe that ark is made of gopher-wood, and is strong from stem to stern; I am quite sure that ark will float, come what may; I am a firm believer in that ark." Ay, but when the rain descended, and the flood came, it was not believing the ark as a matter of fact — it was being in the ark that saved men, and only those that were in it escaped in that dread day of deluge. So there may be some of you that say of the gospel of Christ, "I believe it to be of a particular character," and you may be quite correct in your judgment; you may say, "I think it to be that which honors God, and casts down the pride of man;" herein too you may think quite right; but mark, it is not having an orthodox faith, but it is being in the faith, being in Christ, taking refuge in Him as in the ark; for he that only has the faith as a thing ab extra, and without being in the faith, shall perish in the day of God’s anger; but he that lives by faith, he who feels that faith operates upon him, and is to him a living principle; he who realizes that faith is his dwelling place, that there he can abide, that it is the very atmosphere he breathes and the very girdle of his loins to strengthen him, — such a man is in the faith. But, we repeat again, all the orthodoxy in the world, apart from its effect upon the heart as a vital principle, will not save a man. "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves (2 Cor. 13:5).(19)

    Footnotes

    1. Harris, Archer, Waltke “Theological Wordbook of the O.T.”:(Chicago:Moody Press, 1980), p.51

    2. Martin Luther: “Commentary on Romans,”J. Theodore Mueller (1954 by Zondervan; Reprinted 1976; Grand Rapids: Kregal, 1976) 82.

    3. Arthur W. Pink, Sermon On the Mount (Grand Rapids: Baker House), p.412

    4. New International Dictionary of N.T. Theology, Edited by Colin Brown ( Zondervan: 1986)

    5. Some would make a distinction between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God, however, a simple study of these phrases in the Gospels show that they are used interchangably.

    6. Scofield, in his notes on Mark 3:35, says that this phrase “do the will of God” is simply to believe in Christ. However, the parallel passage in Luke uses the phrase “those who hear the word of God and do it” which clearly lines up with the teaching of Christ in Matthew 7:24 regarding the parable of the two builders. The phrase “to do the will of God” has the same meaning as “he who hears these sayings of Mine and does them” in Matthew 7:24. Certainly one must first enter into a relationship with Christ before he has any hope of doing the will of God, however to say that this is the force behind the meaning of this passage is to render it powerless as to its true intent.

    7. Marvin R. Vincent, D.D., Word Studies in the N.T. (Albany, N.Y.: Sage Digital Library, 1996)

    8. Marvin R. Vincent, D.D., Word Studies in the N.T. ( )

    9. Source Unknown

    10. Phillip Schaff, “History of the Christian Church” ;Vol VII ( Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids)

    11. Charles Hodge, commentary on Romans 10:13

    12. B.B. Warfield, Perfectionism, (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reform. Publish. Co, 1958) p23

    13. B.B. Warfield, Perfectionism, (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reform. Publish. Co, 1958) p26

    14. John F. MacArthur Jr, Ashamed of the Gospel, (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1993) p.235

    15. B.B. Warfield, Perfectionism, (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reform. Publish. Co, 1958) p26

    16. Ray Comfort, Hells Best Kept Secret (Whitaker House; Springdale, PA. 1989)p.67, 68

    17. Ian Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth)p.103

    18. Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans, J. Theodore Mueller (1954 by Zondervan; Reprinted 1976; Grand Rapids: Kregal, 1976)

    19. Arthur W. Pink, Sermon On the Mount (Grand Rapids: Baker House), p.398

    20. Charles Spurgeon “Self-Examination” Sermon (No. 218) October 10, 1858, at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.


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