Faith Receives Christ

Charles Spurgeon wrote, "The hand of faith that receives Christ is similar to the children receiving an apple in their hands. You hold the apple out to the child and they must step toward you in order to receive it from you. This is a mixture of faith and receiving on the child's part. It is the same with someone who wants to receive salvation. What the child's hand is to the apple, your faith is to salvation."

"The child's hand does not make the apple, improve the apple, or deserve the apple; he simply takes it. Similarly, faith has been chosen and designed by God to be the hand with which you receive salvation. Your hand neither creates nor helps in salvation, but is content to receive it." 

Faith receives Christ as the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christ is always and only received as the gift of God and never by your works. You receive the finished work of Christ at the cross for sinners, which is confirmed by God through the resurrection of Jesus our Lord (Romans 10:9).

Faith receives Christ through the Spirit of grace. The Holy Spirit convicts us of unbelief toward Christ, as well as the righteousness of Christ (John 16:7-11). The same Holy Spirit regenerates us, giving us new birth, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:12-13).

Christ Revealed to You

Christ is revealed to you in the Bible by the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit opens our eyes of understanding to the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. He guides us into all truth (John 16:13). It is the truth of God in the Bible about Jesus Christ our Lord. He is God incarnate. "The Word became flesh" in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:14).

Christ is revealed in the Bible, that you may know God the Father (John 14:6). Christ is perfect and complete theology. No wonder Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). Christ is the total and full revelation of God. He is the express image of God (Hebrews 1:1-3).

Christ is revealed to you in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, Christ as Messiah is revealed in prophecy and typology. The first prophecy of Christ coming is found in Genesis 3:15. He is the Seed of the woman. In typology Christ is revealed in signs and symbols, such as the Lamb of God. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is revealed as fulfilling the prophecy and typology of the Old Testament.

Christ is revealed to you as the author and finisher of your faith (Hebrews 12:2). He is the sacrifice for all your sins. Jesus is your risen Lord. Faith in Jesus Christ is the assurance of your salvation. He is the focus of your faith, the hope of your future, and the love of your life. Christ is your all and all, now and forever!

The Holy Spirit in You

Charles H. Spurgeon wrote, "We do not know Christ as our Savior until the Holy Spirit is put within us. Our Lord says, 'He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you' (John 16:14). You never personally know the Lord Jesus, until the Holy Spirit makes him known to you."

God says, "I will put my Spirit within you" (Ezekiel 36:27). The Holy Spirit is in all who believe, that you may know the reality of the living Christ. God's Spirit does many things in the lives of believers, but first and foremost, he is in you to know Christ as your Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3).

The Holy Spirit is in you to know Christ as your Savior through the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). The message of the gospel is meaningless to those who believe not (1 Corinthians 2:14). But, to all who are taught by the Holy Spirit, the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16; 1 Thess. 1:5).

The same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead is the same Holy Spirit who quickens you to know new life in Christ (Romans 1:4; Ephesians 2:1). He must convict and convince you to believe in Christ as your Savior (John 16:7-11). 

God's Spirit is in you to know Christ as your Savior through the Scripture. That's the reason Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit, saying, "He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." He renews your heart and mind to know the truth of Christ, according to the Scripture (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

The Gift of God

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Believers are saved by receiving God's gift in Christ. That means we can never earn nor deserve it. Salvation is the gift of God, and not by our works.

You may hear some people saying, "We are all working to go to the same place." They imply that somehow, if we work enough for God, then we may be assured of heaven. Notice that the Bible clearly teaches the opposite. Salvation is God's gift to you, and not by your works. "It is the gift of God, not of works."

The gift of God is salvation received by faith alone in Christ. Faith can never be the meritorious cause of salvation. Faith is the means of receiving the gift of God in Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the fulness of God's grace incarnate (John 1:14). You are saved by grace, through faith in Christ.

The gift of God is salvation received by trusting and relying upon Christ alone. He died for your sins and was raised for your justification (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 3:24). Understand that faith itself is a gift of God's saving grace. Faith is one of the three abiding gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 13:13).

The gift of God is salvation by grace alone and "not of works." God does something in you, that you could never do for yourself. Salvation is God's gift of grace that changes our hearts, enabling us to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ."It is the gift of God, not of works." 

If Your Faith Abides

If your faith abides, God working in you what is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:20-21). God who began the good work in you will complete it (Philippians 1:6). Give the glory to God that He is working in you according to His good pleasure.

If your faith abides, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three (1 Corinthians 13:13). We receive abiding faith from God the Father, through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. It is faith in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and was raised from the dead. The Spirit of grace enables you to believe the gospel of Christ with faith that abides.

If your faith abides, it is not just mental assent nor human effort. The Holy Spirit must bring you to a point of confidence, assurance, and trust in the living Christ. It's abiding faith that the world didn't give you, and the world can't take it away. Faith pleases God, because it is the very gift of faith that He works in you. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).  

If your faith abides, it is one of the three abiding gifts of the Holy Spirit. The grace of God enables you to have faith that abides. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). The Spirit of God, through the word of God, gives you faith that abides (Romans 10:17).

When We Are Saved

Charles Spurgeon wrote, "The work of regeneration and the act of faith which brings justification to the penitent sinner are simultaneous and must, in the nature of the case, always be so." Spurgeon made it clear that regeneration and saving faith cannot be separated. 

Spurgeon maintained that regeneration and saving faith occur simultaneously. That is to say, we cannot be born again without believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, we cannot truly have saving faith in Christ and not be born again (1 John 5:1). Spurgeon used an illustration to show the connection between new birth and believing in Christ. They are like two spokes on a wagon wheel. Both of them move together as the wheel turns.

We are saved, when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31). We are saved when our hearts are changed by the grace of God to believe on Christ (Romans 10:10). Conversion is our response to the Gospel, through repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21).

Therefore, regeneration is new birth for all who believe on Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 10:9). Likewise, regeneration means we are born again believers in Christ (John 1:12-13). We are saved, when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31). New birth and believing the gospel are inseparable.

Bondage of the Will

It may come as a surprise to some that John Wesley recognized the bondage of man's will in sin. He had no doubt about it. He wrote about anyone in the bondage of sin. "Though he strive with all his might, he cannot conquer, sin is mightier than he. He would fain escape; but he is so fast in prison, that he cannot get forth."

Wesley wrote further about the bondage of man's will in sin. "Such is the freedom of his will; free only to evil; free to drink iniquity like water; to wander farther and farther from the living God, and do more despite the Spirit of grace."

Statements like we have read from Wesley shows the influence of Reformation theology. Even more so, he followed the teaching of Scripture on the bondage of man's will in sin (Romans 3:10-18). He realized that man as a sinner is in a hopeless situation without the grace of God in Christ. He knew that the answer was found only through faith in Christ. "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). That is free will in Christ alone.

Wesley wrote from the background of Reformation theology, when he wrote of man's bondage in sin. He proved to be sound according to Scripture on this issue. No wonder that Charles Spurgeon said of Wesley, "if there were wanted two apostles to be added to the number of the twelve, I do not believe that there could be found two men more fit to be so added than George Whitefield and John Wesley."