Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore

Eph 1:15-23:15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Someone was telling me about the great benefit of praying in tongues. “Brother,” he said, “I used to labor in prayer, but now I can pray for hours.” I asked him, “But what do you pray?” He replied, “I don’t know what I’m praying, but I am praying for one hour in tongues.” I told him to read the marvelous praise of Paul in Ephesians 1. Paul prays, filled with the Holy Spirit, but also with full understanding, knowing what he is praying. His head is so clear and active while his heart is burning. You can decide what kind of prayer will be pleasing to God. I don’t want to learn to pray for hours in tongues and waste my time, not knowing what I am praying. I want to learn from Paul to pray so not only my heart burns with emotions, but my mind burns with enlightenment, because it is by the renewing of our mind that we are transformed and live for God’s glory.

At last, we have come to the end of the praise section of Ephesians. What a glorious, thrilling passage, and I never saw this treasure all my life! My personal praise and worship have been so transformed by this passage. With whatever sadness, I go to prayer and start seeing on the left side: election, predestined to sonship, redemption in time, administration now, and eternal inheritance for the future. To assure that I have all this experientially, I have the sealing of the Holy Spirit inside me. Oh, that lifts my soul immediately in praise and worship, and we experience a foretaste of the bliss of heaven. I sincerely feel sad Paul had to end his glorious praise in just 14 verses, but comforted myself saying it is this praise that will expand infinitely and go on forever and ever endlessly. I think Paul was caught up in the spirit to the heavens in verses 3-14, that is why he wrote that long sentence without any comma or full stop. He ended this section realizing he is still in the world with several burdens and needs. He not only has to praise, but he has to pray for needs.

So far, we have learned to praise God; now let us learn from Paul to pray for our needs. We all need help in prayer. When we praise God like Paul, we are kind of caught up to taste eternal blessings, but when we come back to the world, what do we face? We face only discouragement and disappointment on every side: discouragement at home, at work, in the world, and even in the church.

Discouragements at home: we try to evangelize our unbelieving family members and children. Discouragements of parenting: from childhood, we teach God’s word, but they continue in unbelief and are careless about their souls. As our children grow older, we discover over and over again how little control we have over them. We can compel their outward obedience, but we cannot compel their hearts. We argue, plead, cajole, threaten, and quote Scripture, sometimes even yell, all to no avail. Or you may be struggling with an unbelieving wife, husband, or parents. What is their main problem?

Discouragements at church: you can never imagine the discouragements of a pastor who does spiritual parenting. Childishness not only at home, but even in church after years and years of feeding, but no progress or growth. I still wonder whether some members are truly saved; I cannot see any fruits or signs of saving faith. Will our labors go in vain? Most people think church is like going to a cricket stadium, sitting in the last row, watching the match, and then going home when it’s over. That is all their Christianity—a little religious inconvenience on Sunday. They still don’t realize God has called them to be players, not last-row watchers or Sunday Christians.

There is so much false teaching; the true gospel has to spread, but no one is preaching the true gospel. God has taught us so much. Is this one man’s work? Most of my weeks are continuously busy; I don’t get a few hours or minutes to relax. I have a daily groaning: “Why can I not do more?” I wanted to share the gospel with two people last week, but I couldn’t get the time. I don’t know when I will burn out and fall sick, and I don’t know what will happen after that. With such a burden, sometimes I get so frustrated, “Lord, how long!” When will our church become a vibrant, gospel-participating church, with every member in the body doing their work and using their talents to build the kingdom? Why do we do so little for the gospel and the growth of the church? Why are most of you last-row watchers? I teach, I exhort, I rebuke, but nothing moves… nothing changes. Even leaving a comment “thank you” on YouTube so our truths can reach more people is so difficult. Why? You just hear, grow in knowledge, and go. The days are going by. What is our great problem as a church? What is the great problem in our families, with our unsaved children?

The problem is spiritual blindness. The god of this world has blinded them. The devil is a great beggar’s mafia; his great work is to blind us and make us keep begging in the world. This is a picture from Pilgrim’s Progress: all our eyes are on the sweeping broom, and we never lift up our head to see the great crown and glory God gives. So we stumble blindly through life, making one dumb choice after another, wasting our lifespan without the realization of eternal consequences.

So what do we do? Will it continue like this? Will there not be a revival? If we feel that way, can you imagine how much Paul must have been discouraged? It is like going to high heavens and when you come down, what a discouragement to see the state of family, community, and church. Do you know what Paul does? He prays for the most important need of the people. Because he knows all this can change if this prayer is answered, and when we learn his prayer, get into the spirit of his prayer, and pray like him, there will be a great revival in GRBC church.

The central petition of his prayer comes in verse 18, to state simply, “God may open the eyes of their heart.” All this state is because of their blindness. Everything will change if eyes are opened. Oh, this is a great need for each one of us in this place.

He doesn’t ask, “Lord, give us new blessings,” but “Help us to realize the blessings we already have.” Not “Give us new truth,” but “Help us experience the truth we already know.” Most of us have more knowledge; even our children know more Bible than most Old Testament saints. But the eyes of the heart are closed to the truth of God. And until those eyes are opened, all the yelling in the world won’t make much difference. Just knowledge doesn’t transform anyone. But the thing we need is for the Holy Spirit to do what only the Spirit can do—open our eyes, to make the truth come alive in our hearts.

This is the great need of our families, community, and church. Opening blind eyes is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. He and he alone can do it. This is our only hope in the sea of discouragement. But when the Spirit of God comes and opens eyes, and the light floods in, they will never be the same again; there will be a radical change. They will get into the stadium and play for the Lord. We will have an army in the church saying, “Lord, I’m ready to do whatever you say.” But how does the Holy Spirit open eyes? Where does he open eyes?

Though the Holy Spirit works sovereignly, he always works in the context and atmosphere of earnest, acceptable prayer. So if we want to see eyes opened in our families, churches, and communities, we have to get into the spirit of Paul’s prayer and pray like Paul. We need to deeply grasp and personalize this prayer, praying and praying, keep on praying. Pray for each other: husbands for wives, wives for husbands, parents for children, Sunday school teachers for students, pastors for members, new visitors.

Yes, we have seen glorious truths from 3-14, but we have to realize it is not learning these truths that will change people, but after teaching, you’ve got to pray that God will make it alive and energize these truths. That’s why, in Acts 6, the apostles said, “We will give ourselves continually to the ministry of the Word and prayer.” Why? Because the ministry of the Word must be energized by the Spirit of God, and that is sought in intercessory prayer on behalf of the people. So this great prayer of Paul will be the focus of our study for the next few weeks. It is a marvelous, unceasing, earnest prayer.

As an introduction to this prayer, we will study verse 15 today. The second major paragraph in the letter, which begins in verse 15, continues down through to the end of the chapter, 23. Like the first paragraph, this is also one long, complex sentence with the most lofty, most profound, mind-stretching concepts to be found anywhere in the Word of God on petition prayer. So we will go at a pace to not only grasp this, but also allow the Holy Spirit to see the depth of this prayer and fill us with the spirit of prayer.

Verse 15 tells us the news that motivated Paul’s prayer. 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. This new section starts with the connector word in verse 15: Therefore. This word tells how Paul knew for sure these Ephesians were truly the recipients of these blessings in 3-14. The glorious blessings listed 3-14 are not for everyone. All of you should not deceive yourself into thinking these blessings are all mine. On what basis did Paul know these were loved and elected by God before the foundation of the world, predestined for their adoption? How did he know Christ redeemed them by his blood, forgave all their sins, they had eternal inheritance, and were sealed by the Holy Spirit? Verse 15 starts with the word “therefore” and tells us two signs by which, without a doubt, he knew that they are elect, adopted, sealed, and had received all the blessings from 1-14. How can you know for sure that you are truly saved and not deceived about your salvation like millions today? Here are two indispensable evidences of every elect of God: faith and love.

15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. Notice he says, “I heard of your faith and love.” This church was formed by Paul’s tremendous efforts and tears for three years, publicly as a church and privately house to house, as he says in Acts 20 with tears and humility. If a man built a church with his sweat and blood, he can never forget those people wherever he goes in the world. Leaving them, he will always bear them in his heart and want to know how they are doing spiritually. After many years, he left them, and now though Paul is in prison, he is trying to know how they are doing. He gets a report that the church is growing and they are all continuing in faith. He must have heard many things about them, but interestingly, he specifically points out two important things about them. These two things give Paul assurance they are elect of God and will receive all these blessings.

There are many other signs of salvation, but the supremely indispensable signs are faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love to all the saints. For Paul, if these two are not there, you do not have a basis to say you are a believer. If there is a true work of God in a person’s heart, it always reveals itself in faith and love.

As a church, it is so important to learn and examine ourselves because anyone who comes to us can say 101 things about us. No church is perfect. If they cannot see these two signs of faith and love dominantly in our church, we can never be a true church of Christ. There is no work of God happening in our midst. To make it personal and individual, if you profess to be a Christian, growing in grace, these are the two characteristics that should dominate above all others: faith and love. These are the acid tests of true conversion. Let us look at each of them.

First, Faith. Young people are wonderfully sharing the importance of sola fide, faith alone. You not only have to share, but you have to really believe and exercise faith. Many are not truly saved because they don’t understand this concept of faith. Lots of people say, “Well, I have faith in Christ. I believe in Christ.” They really don’t know what they are saying. Demons also believe and tremble, but they will go to hell. The Bible says many people will be surprised on the day of judgment because they thought they believed, but their faith was false faith. How do we know we have true faith and not false faith? What, then, are the characteristics of true saving faith?

This passage gives us four characteristics of true saving faith. Saving faith is Tangible, Accurate, Exclusive, and Continuing faith. T-A-E-C.

The first thing we see about the faith that these Ephesians had is that it was a tangible faith. If something is tangible, it is visible or observable, the opposite of something that cannot be seen. Now, notice what Paul says about the Ephesians’ faith. He says here, “therefore, I also after I heard of your faith.” How can someone hear another’s faith? Does it make a sound? Someone came to Paul in jail and told him about the Ephesians’ faith. How could they tell him about their faith? Because it was something which they had observed. It had outward manifestations that were reportable and describable by a third party. They could tell him about it because there was something to tell, something they observed.

Can I ask you, do you have a faith that people can observe? What tangible evidence do you have? Do you speak of Christ as a real person who is precious to you? Do people see you happily take personal risks and suffer inconvenience for Jesus and his church selflessly, for no human reason, but only because of your faith? Can others report your faith to someone? Hebrews 11 again and again tells us the faith of people by what they did. Their faith was able to be reported by the tangible actions that they did with personal cost and risk, like Abraham, Moses, and even Rahab. It was the visible manifestations that proved the reality of their faith. You can see their faith in their obedience, faithfulness, and commitment. They took risks to obey the commandments of God because they believed the promises of God.

Now let me ask you this question. What could someone report about you as the result of your faith? What could they say was an act of faith that they had observed in your life? If someone were writing Hebrews 11 today, could they mention your name because there was something in your life that could be seen as an act of faith? A time when you took some risk for the sake of obedience to Christ, a time when you took some risk for the sake of ministry to others, a time when you suffered inconvenience to help promote the work of God, or endured some weariness for the advancement, or suffered loss for his name’s sake? Could these things be reported about you? You see, these are the things that make up tangible faith. The people in Hebrews 11 gave their reputations, possessions, family security, and even lives for their faith. And we can’t suffer the inconvenience of coming to church twice on a Sunday. Who can write about our faith? James says faith without works is dead; it is not saving but deceiving faith. If people can’t see our faith in our works, risks, and sacrifices, please don’t deceive yourself. So the first trait of Ephesians’ saving faith, which proves they are elect, is that their faith was a visible, tangible, reportable faith, something that can be talked about to other people.

Secondly, it was accurate faith. Notice in verse 15, Paul says, “I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus.” Many have faith—in what? Faith in faith; that is all. No, saving faith will be accurate faith, with an accurate object. The object of saving faith is the Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus is not just a name. The two terms are packed full of theological truth and significance. It points to the uniqueness of his person and the sufficiency of his work. This is where people go wrong.

We live in a time where people view doctrinal precision and theological accuracy with either indifference or outright hostility. No one cares about what we believe; if you just believe, that is more than enough. Someone was telling me, “Oh, I go to all denominations, and we don’t discuss doctrines; we just discuss Christ.” Listen, a Christ who is stripped of doctrinal truth and doctrinal distinctives is no Christ at all. He is merely reduced to a vague, content-less ethical influence and a name used for bringing fighting people together. You cannot talk about the Christ of the Bible for two minutes without talking about doctrinal truths, because John 14 says Jesus Christ is the truth. You can have all kinds of loose faiths in 101 Jesuses in the world; it is not saving faith. There is one true faith of God’s elect. If you ask me, “Is doctrinal accuracy important when it comes to legitimate, true saving faith?” It is indispensable. If your Christ is not the accurate Christ of the Bible, then he is an idol of your own imagination and an idol useless to save your soul. The sooner you throw away that Christ, the sooner you will be closer to the kingdom of God.

Notice the object of the Ephesians’ faith was accurate. Paul says their faith was “in the Lord Jesus.” These two titles, Lord and Jesus, comprehend the two aspects of his unique person and work. Though he is the glorious eternal Son of God, he manifested amongst men in the flesh as Jesus to be a Savior from sin. To save us from our two great problems: I am born in sin, I have a sinful nature. Because I have a sinful heart, I commit sinful acts. Those are the two great problems of every human being: our person with a sinful nature and our sinful acts. This sinful condition separates us from God. Not only have I done bad things, I do them because I am a bad person. I am unfit for heaven not only because of my conduct but because of who I am by nature.

Jesus as Savior not only takes all my guilt and punishment and dies a sinner’s death, solving my problem of actual sins, but also lives a perfect, sinless life, solving my second problem of a depraved nature. Jesus not only died a substitutionary death, he also lived a substitutionary life upon this earth. The word Jesus shows this Savior lived a perfect life and died the sinner’s death. The word Lord covers that he also was raised from the dead, ascended, exalted to the highest glory, and now reigns with all authority in heaven and on earth. You can never have saving faith unless you believe all this about him which is covered in the title “Lord Jesus.” The Ephesians believed in his work as Savior on earth. They believed he is Lord, the sovereign master of their lives. They didn’t just call him “Lord, Lord,” but submitted to his commands.

You see, many people want Jesus, but they don’t want the Lord Jesus. According to their own desires, each one has their own Jesus: a baby Jesus, a superhero Jesus, a friend Jesus, a peace-giver Jesus, a healer Jesus, a prosperity Jesus. Some want him as Lord to solve their political problems separated from his cross, and they never preach his cross. Some want only the cross without his sovereignty. All these are the wrong object of faith. The accurate object of faith is fusing together Lord and Jesus—his sovereignty and his work on the cross.

If you do not have the Lord Jesus of the Bible, your Jesus is an idol. Do you have this saving faith? Ask yourself, “Am I recognizing the rule of Jesus Christ in every area of my life and seeking to submit to that rule?” In every area of your life, the question is, “Lord, what should I do?”

The Ephesians had not only tangible but also this accurate faith. Thirdly, it was exclusive faith.

It was faith in who? In the Lord Jesus, period, full stop. You see, these people believed in the Lord Jesus Christ plus nothing. No plan B. Faith alone in Christ alone. A saved person does not trust in Christ plus something else. He has no faith in himself, in his works, in his church, in his baptism, in his own faithfulness, no faith in anything other than Jesus Christ, in him alone. The essence of saving faith is a wholehearted reliance upon the Lord Jesus as their only ground of acceptance before God. I found an acronym for faith. Forsaking All I Trust Him. Remember, forsaking all, I trust him.

We are continually in danger of moving away from this one exclusive object. God has ordained man to be saved only through faith because faith is an emptying grace. Faith alone gives God all the glory. Faith in Christ alone can give us full assurance of salvation. If we add our works, we destroy our assurance because we will never know if we have done enough; our works are always defective. But when you realize that salvation is grounded entirely and exclusively upon the work of Jesus Christ, he purchased and gives a perfect, finished, and complete salvation. We don’t have to add anything to that. Then you can have the assurance that the work has been done right, the work has been done perfectly, and the salvation is finished and complete.

If I ask on what grounds you believe you are accepted by God, and if those grounds are anything other than the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, I am sorry to say you are not a Christian. Because a Christian is one who has an exclusive faith. It is not enough to believe in Jesus; you have to believe in Jesus alone.

So saving faith is Tangible, Accurate, Exclusive, and Continuing faith.

Paul started the Ephesians church several years ago. Now after many years, he says, “I still heard about your continuing faith.” This faith that these Ephesians had was not a temporary, rocky-ground or thorny-ground faith—faith so eager for a few years and then becoming lukewarm. With the same tangible, visible evidences, accuracy, and exclusivity, they continued even after several years. It was an ongoing faith in spite of the difficulty, trials, and satanic opposition in the midst of the evil city of Diana temple worship and the grossest form of idolatry and witchcraft practices. These people persevered in the faith.

You are not like many who start in faith in the Lord Jesus and move on to other things. This was the problem with the Galatians. They began by “forsaking all, I trust Him.” Then they listened to some Judaizers, started trusting in circumcision and ceremonial law, and became Pharisees; their Christianity became dead. He rebukes them, “Foolish Galatians, you have moved away from faith.” When you move away from faith, you move away from grace. Grace and faith are joined together inseparably. Then all kinds of Arminian works come in, with no grace, and life becomes dead.

But Paul is rejoicing that the Ephesians were continuing to have as the object of their faith the Lord Jesus. Some claim they are saved by some experience years ago; they don’t continue with any tangible evidence or accuracy and stop following Christ, yet they believe they are saved. If your faith is not continuing and persevering, it is not saving faith.

Can I ask you why you believe you are saved? If it is because of some experience in the past and you don’t have an active faith now, you may not have saving faith. Conversion without continuance leads to condemnation. We see years after, the Ephesians are still growing in faith.

So the first sign of salvation is faith. Saving faith is Tangible, Accurate, Exclusive, and Continuing faith. Now let’s see the second indispensable evidence of salvation.

Notice in verse 15, “your love for all the saints.” Love is the second sign. If there is a word more perverted, more prostituted, more misunderstood in our day, it is the word love. The world mixes infatuation, lust, and family bonds with love. We need to understand that Bible love is different. Just like true faith has some traits, true love also has three traits: Selfless, Tangible, and Impartial. S-T-I.

First: It is selfless love. The word for love is agape; it is selfless love. A good definition of love is that principled divine affection which seeks the good of its object even at personal cost. This agape love doesn’t rise up out of fallen Adam; it comes down from Christ. It is not sentimental, emotional gushes and oozes; it is principled. It acts intelligently and volitionally. Its outstanding characteristic is that it’s selfless. It seeks the good of its objects even at personal cost. It’s 1 Corinthians 13: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud…it does not seek its own.” Love shows itself by its passiveness sometimes, its ability to take hurt and insult. With its passive graces, it “bears all things.” By its active graces, it “hopes all things,” and “believes all things.” When he says “your love for all saints,” the Ephesians were seeking one another’s well-being volitionally and intelligently, even at personal cost, and practicing the traits of 1 Corinthians 13.

Second, it is always a fruit of saving faith. Notice the order: he first says “faith” and then “love.” This is a beautiful balance in the order. When talking about faith alone, we can go to the extreme of easy, cheap belief: “Yes, pastor, faith alone, nothing in my hands I bring.” That is why anyone who says, “I believe,” we should immediately take them into membership. “Why are you adding anything? You are legalists, adding to Christ.” That is an extreme reaction against “faith plus.” We should not add. No, no, you don’t correct one error by spawning another. You just end up with two errors. On one side, you need to hold tenaciously with a death grip to this fundamental principle: faith alone in the Lord Jesus, don’t add anything. But on the other side, this faith should not be an easy, dead faith; it has to be saving faith that always reveals itself in good works of love. A man cannot have faith in the Lord Jesus without loving those for whom Jesus died and to whom he is joined by the Spirit of Christ.

Scripture is very clear that an inseparable and distinguishing mark of true conversion is love for the brethren. Scripture categorically declares that we are unconverted if we do not have it. 1 John 3:14: “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him… We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” So this agape love is always a fruit of saving faith.

Thirdly, it is also tangible. Just as we saw faith was reported, here someone can say the Ephesians had love because they saw acts of love. If the Ephesians’ love was all gushy feeling, sentimental words, “Oh, how I love,” and nice greetings and words, they cannot be reported. As 1 John says, “Let us not love in word only, but also in deeds.” The Ephesians displayed their love in deeds that could be seen and reported.

Fourth, it is impartial and universal.

Though we will love everyone, the priority of the objective of love will be for saints, meaning believers in the church. Notice the impartiality of this love. The love which they showed was toward “all the saints.” They loved all members in the church. Like our church, the Ephesians’ church would have had a different set of people. There will be lovable ones, some not so lovable, the mature and the immature, the extroverts and the introverts, some shy, some patient, some short-tempered, some thoughtless, some thoughtful, some irritating, some comforting. They will have all kinds of people in every church. But this agape love loved everyone in the church. You see, Paul not only loved Timothy, but he also loved the Corinthians. One was a great blessing to him, and the other a great irritation to him. And you see, it is the nature of biblical love to love with impartiality everyone in the church.

The four traits of biblical love are Selfless, Tangible, Fruit, and Impartial. S-T-F-I.

Two traits of salvation: Faith and Love.

Application Imagine if some new visitor comes to our church. They have never heard anything about us and don’t know reformed truth, but they are just an impartial observer. They simply sit in the service, and after that, observe all the members for three or four weeks, and then someone asks him, “How is the GRBC church?” As he thinks of words to describe it, he may mention this and that, some weaknesses, but two things stand out above all else. “It is obvious they believe only in the Lord Jesus revealed in Scripture; you can see their faith in acts. Secondly, it is obvious that as a fruit of their faith, they have genuine love for one another.” Oh, my church GRBC, this is what we need to strive to achieve every week. Otherwise, we can call ourselves a church, but we are not. Our Lord himself said, “By this men shall know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The Bible commands us to make our election and calling sure. We all rejoiced when we studied those blessings in 3-14. But this verse calls us to make our election and calling sure. How do we know if we are partakers of all the blessings in 3 through 14? Two great acid tests: Faith and Love. Oh, eternal souls; may God save you from your blood guiltiness. If you don’t display these signs, let me clearly say you will not go to heaven, and don’t dream of any of the Ephesians 1 blessings.

So the great business of our life is to make sure if we have these signs. “Have I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ?” “Ah yes, I am coming to church…” No, no.

Is my faith tangible? Is there something more than just a religion of convenience of coming to church on Sunday? Do my pastor and others see that faith? Can they go somewhere else and report my faith to a third party? Is my faith in the Lord Jesus visible in the way I worship, in the way I hear his word when preached, in the way I meditate on those words and make sure I obey and follow his commandments? Is it visible to people in the way I live my life? Do they see me obey and serve my Lord, whatever the risks, even at personal cost? The only explanation for my service and taking those risks is my faith.

Is it accurate? Is it not satisfied with some old, sentimental, vague Jesus that I dream up in our own minds, but my faith is daily renewed by reading about the Jesus of the scripture, and it is becoming stronger and accurate by a growing knowledge of God’s word?

Is it exclusive and continuing—one that perseveres in good times and in bad, through trials and difficulties? One that no matter how it is beaten upon, continues to rise up and remain faithful to Jesus Christ?

Persevering faith in the Lord Jesus is the offense of the gospel. It is foolishness to the world. Today everyone says “faith in Christ,” that’s just sort of the starting point. Even some of you say, “Oh, it is the same thing, I know. Now we go on to something else.” No, you don’t. You go on in that, not from it. No matter how spiritual it may appear, that was the deceptiveness of the Galatian heresy; it seems spiritual to say, “Look, Christ was enough to get in. Faith was enough to get in. But now if you are to go on, you need Christ plus.” And Paul says the minute you start putting your plus signs, you have gone the wrong way; you’re in the realm of the flesh.  You’ve moved from the principle of grace. 

One preacher very profoundly says your salvation depends upon grasping two principles. The first is that as a sinner, I am accepted by God entirely on the basis of the doings and sufferings of Christ. That’s the first leading doctrine of the Gospel. The second is this: as a saved sinner, I can enjoy and partake of the benefits of the doings and sufferings of Christ entirely on the basis of continuing in that same faith.

Do you see how these two principles are crucial for our salvation and growth in Christian life? We are not only saved entirely by faith but also enjoy the benefits of Christ’s work entirely by continuing in that same faith. These two principles should be engraved in our consciences. The moment you move away from that faith, you become a self-righteous Pharisee and stop enjoying the benefits of Christ’s work. I should not mix my works, my obedience, or my virtue with my faith. As the hymn says, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.” This is so very important because most of us fail here. We think we start right, with all Christ, and then we add our own works and become like the Pharisees and the Galatian church.

Many people can start right, seeing nothing good in themselves and placing their faith in Christ, but then they go wrong and start living a Pharisee’s life. Once the spirit of the Pharisee and self-righteousness takes hold, it creates indifference, satiety, a feeling of being used to it, and a distaste for the doings and sufferings of Christ. A Pharisee never runs to Christ; he’ll flee to his own resolutions, his own resolves, and his own determination to make himself better, trusting in an outwardly decent life. Then faith goes away, and we become dead Christians. When faith goes, all graces go away, for faith is the mother of all other graces. You and I must be very careful of anything that will change the object of faith.

But when Paul sees people who started right and continue in the same faith, it is great evidence of the supernatural work of the Spirit being done in their hearts. This is because the Holy Spirit doesn’t just remove all self-righteousness and trust in ourselves and put our faith entirely in Christ once; He continuously works in our hearts to show us how helpless we are and takes away every self-refuge and self-trust, so we continually put our faith only in the doings and sufferings of Jesus Christ. Our own pride, with remaining sin, the world, and the devil, constantly tries to move us from this pivotal resting point of Christ to something else, but the Spirit will continually bring us back to this point, forsaking all and trusting in Him and Him alone. Oh, may God help us to have this trait of saving faith.

Think about the four traits of biblical love. Do you love the saints?

• Selfless: It’s not about what they did to me. Agape is selfless love that seeks the highest good of the other person, regardless of the cost to oneself. This is how Jesus loved us, and this is the standard He holds up for us to follow. He says in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another.” How? “As I have loved you, that you love one another.”
• Tangible: Does your love go beyond saying hello and shaking hands? Do people see that you love the saints? If you run away as soon as church is over, it actually shows you don’t love the saints at all. When we love the people of God, it shows itself, and then we have an attachment. You love to be with them. You are drawn to them. You see, love is never content to have its object at a distance. If you love your wife or husband, you want to be with them. The more love, the greater your effort to always be with them. If you love the saints, every time the doors are open, every time you have a free evening, you have to be with the people of God.
• A Fruit of Faith: This is a test for some of you to seriously examine: Do you love to be with church people, or do you prefer the company of the world and its entertainments and the ease of Pharaoh’s house rather than to suffer affliction? Do you see meeting as a duty or a delight to be enjoyed? If you don’t enjoy it now, how will you enjoy it for all eternity with the people of God when one or two hours a week is all you want now? Listen, if the seed of the matter is not in you now, the fruit of it will not be born in eternity. David said in Psalm 84:10, “A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I’d rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.”
• Impartial: “Oh yes, I love, I have two friends who are alike.” Both of them every week discuss what wrong things the pastor did or what wrong clothes others are wearing. Is that love? No. Love is for all the saints. Do people see you love everyone in the church? When you love the people of God, you long for their good growth. You labor for it in ministry. You cry out for it in prayer. You take thoughtful initiative in seeking to help them grow and labor. You are not content to merely be fed yourself. You seek to feed and build up your Christian brothers around you. You say, “But it’s hard to minister to the people of God.” Well, then, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. We weren’t called to a life of ease when we became Christians.

We were called to carry a cross. “If any man will come after me,” Jesus says, “let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” To deny yourself means to get your body off the bed or the sofa in the evening, to switch off the TV, and to come to church on Sunday evening. Don’t keep missing services and say you have faith and love the church. Hebrews says not to make it a habit but to meet as often as you can, lest you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. May God stir you to obedience in these areas.

If you have these two signs of faith and love, even if not perfectly but faintly, blessed be God! You can have all the confidence that you are elect and partakers of all the blessings of Ephesians 3-14. Otherwise, can I plead with you to work on expressing this faith and love visibly?