Sermon Questions | February 14th
What advice do you give to those who struggle with doubt of their salvation?
If you struggle with doubting your salvation I would suggest reading 1 John. It is a small but powerful letter that discusses in many ways how you can know if you are saved. Simply putting your confidence (faith) in the finished work of Christ is how you receive the gift of salvation. It is your responsive obedience that confirms that you have done this. However, your obedience will never be perfect, but it will mature and grow. Lastly, if your sin bothers you that is a good sign. Just don’t let it overburden you. Let it cause you to be thankful that Jesus paid for it and that He paid for your ability to overcome it!
This text kinda sounds like it’s saved by grace, but confirmed and sanctified by my own hard work. Won’t true saving faith always be followed by obedience, not perfectly, but increasingly?
I would say that we are saved by grace and that we also obey by grace not only our hard work. We are responsible to confirm our faith by our obedience, however it is God who enables us to obey (Philippians 2:12-13). In other words we cooperate with the Holy Spirit by submitting to Him. Our responsibility is to yield the Holy Spirit, His “role” is to enable us to obey (Galatians 5:16-26). It is not perfect obedience because we still wrestle with sin, but your right it will increase and mature as you do.
Is it possible for someone who is dead in their sins to “respond” to their faith without being truly saved and their heart regenerated?
It is possible for someone to respond to the Gospel incorrectly. What I mean is that it is possible to be deceived into thinking that our works or our profession of faith are what make us acceptable to God. A good example of this is Jesus words about the many who will think they are saved by their own effort on the day of judgment, but really have never trusted in Jesus as their Savior (Matthew 7:21-23). Our faith must be in Jesus alone and not “our faith.” He alone can save because He is the One who paid for our sins in full on the cross (Isaiah 53:11-12; 1 Corinthians 15:3). The only way receive salvation is by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
We know that we are not saved by works, but by faith (Eph 2) and that our works demonstrate our faith (James 2). We believe this, but many times we live and act like our works is what saves us. How do we put this faith in practical use when we are tempted to live by a false faith while professing true faith?
My advice is to constantly look to the cross so that you remember that Jesus alone saves. This will help remind you that it is not your obedience that makes you acceptable or even more lovable to God. He has already loved you to the fullest by giving you His Son as your Lord and Savior. This is one of the reasons why we remember Him in our weekly services through communion. Doing so constantly reminds of the cross and that we have been saved by grace!
In context of this passage, what about the thief on the cross next to Christ who only professed faith in Christ?
The thief on the cross was saved because he placed his faith in Jesus as the Messiah. In other words, his confidence was in Jesus and he was therefore saved since Jesus said that he would be with Him in paradise (Luke 23:43). Jesus, who is able to know if someone has genuine faith because He is God (Luke 18:42), was able to discern that he had true saving faith. I have no doubt that if the thief lived longer he would have continually confirmed his faith with obedience. I can say that with confidence because even Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him take up his cross daily and follow me” [this is obedience] (Luke 9:23). Remember our works do not save us, they confirm that we are saved.
In our culture today and even in some churches, people believe without obedience. What do we do about that?
Those who “believe” without obeying have a false faith as James instructs (James 2:14-26). They must be warned out of love and concern for their souls that they do not have saving faith. We must pray that God would compel these church leaders to repent and preach the Gospel according to the Scriptures. Furthermore, if you attend a church that teaches this I would recommend joining a church that does not “cheapen” the Gospel this way. I don’t say this lightly, but it is the Gospel we are talking about and souls are at stake.
If it’s not enough to just pray for the needy, and with so many parachurch organizations asking for help, or local needs in our community, is it disobedience to not give to those causes and only support our local church?=
I would never say that it is not enough to pray. Prayer is the best thing we can do for we are asking God to intervene. However, if we have the means to meet a need and ignore it because we are selfish, then it would be disobedience. We might be the ones whom God intends to use to meet the need. When it comes to para-church ministries, we should give to the local church first. It is the church that is the house of the living God, which has been given the stewardship of the truth (1 Timothy 3:14-15; Acts 5:34-35; 1 Timothy 5:17-18). If you are able to also give to para-church ministries I would recommend that you give to ministries who support or work with the local church. Other worthy options would be those ministries who help support human life (pro-life, human trafficking, etc).