John MacArthur excerpt, We Live By Faith, has been used as an introduction to a 30-minute reading of A W Pink’s, Evidences of Saving Faith.
MacArthur emphasized the following verses in his sermon; the 5-minute excerpt also captures part of that discussion:
Mar 9:23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Points from the excerpt:
- This is about faith, about believing, a lesson on the power of faith
- We, per Paul, in 2 Cor 5 walk by faith and not by sight; in Gal 2, we live by the faith of the Son of God; Hebrews 11, without faith it is impossible to please God
- We believe and live by faith; it is the dominating feature of the life of every Christian
- We have to put our trust entirely in what we cannot see:
- We trust in a God, in a Christ, in a Holy Spirit we have not seen
- We embrace in a death and a resurrection we have not seen; we trust in a justification we have not seen; we look for a fulfillment in an eternal heaven we have not seen
- Peter: we love the one we have not seen
- So, we live by faith
- Not blind faith, but faith based on evidence; that evidence is in the scriptures
- It tells us all we need to know
- It is a true, sure, unassailable word
- For two years plus, the disciples had lived by sight, they’d walked with Jesus 24-7
- They had heard everything He taught out of His own mouth, seen His responses…
- They had seen every miracle He had performed…
- They lived by sight, but soon they would have to live by faith
- Their memory of what they had seen would be enriched and enhanced by the Spirit of God to allow them to write down what they’d seen and heard while with Jesus and that would show up in the 4 gospels and that would be further delineated in the epistles
- The power was always in their midst, because Jesus was always there; so there was never a time when they did not have the power
- In this incident, there is a lesson about the power of faith that they would really have to learn
- Jesus was not there – how were they to behave, to access the power?
- They needed to learn, as soon He would ascend
- They knew what was true because they saw it, we know what is true because we have the word of God
- We live by faith, we’re saved by faith, sanctified by faith and hold the hope of glory by faith
- Our faith is not perfect, but it is sufficient, because it is a gift of God, to believe the word, the gospel…because He designed it to be sufficient
- It is not perfect, it is weak, vacillating, wavering, doubting, but sufficient
The above excerpt was obtained at the YouTube site, 5 Minute Christianity.
The following link is to the sermon for those who might like to explore his site: MacArthur sermon excerpts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E633Cw8QBj0&list=LL&index=2
Link to MacArthur sermon from which the above is an excerpt, All Things Possible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XuqJGr33EI
Link to A W Pink’s EVIDENCES of saving faith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAtGvnGMzFE&list=LL&index=1
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS for A W Pink reading: transitional thoughts and most examples have been left out.
Some points have been rephrased by me for brevity.
In some cases, scriptures he used are cited without his explanations because these make the points.
[Bracketed statements, underscoring and emboldening are mine; scripture verses ESV or KJV]:
- What fruit has your faith produced in your life?
- Your fruit must be examined if you would accurately assess your faith
- Have you been saved from a dislike of God’s commandments; of His holiness?
- Have you been saved from pride, covetousness, murmuring?
- Have you been delivered from the love of this world, the fear of man, and the reigning power of every sin?
- The heart of fallen man: Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
- The heart of fallen man is full of corrupt desires and affections which exert themselves in all he does
- The gospel opposes man’s corruption: Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age
- There is no greater duty than mortifying and destroying sin if we are to be made partakers of His promises: Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Col. 3:5-8 he referenced also)
- Hence, the first work of faith is to cleanse the soul from these pollutions
- Galatians 5:24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires
- Many people with unexamined lives believe they have faith
- When God imparts saving faith to one, radical and real effects will follow
- Effects such as yearning for perfection, growing in grace and pressing forward along the narrow way [which will be made clear in a moment]
- A widely propagated error [1952 Pink Died], which is seemingly Christ honoring, is the belief that Christ’s blood alone saves a sinner
- That is true God-wardly but not man-wardly:
- The work of the Holy Spirit in us is equally essential as the work of Christ for us
- Salvation is two-fold, legal and experimental: Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit
- In fact, the triune God is involved in the salvation of any soul:
- God the Father ordained, planned and chose one
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
- Titus 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared…
- Secondly, we owe our salvation to the obedience and sacrifice of God the Son, who performed, as our sponsor, everything which the law required, satisfying all its demands upon us
- Thirdly, we owe our salvation to the regenerating, sanctifying and preserving operations of the Spirit — Luke 15:8-10 and Luke 15:4-7; the Spirit and the Shepherd are equally prominent
- [The persons of the triune God are apparent in the following verses]:
- Titus 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
- Pink referred to Titus 5 to show that the work of salvation is two-fold, legal and experimental, consisting of justification and sanctification
- Titus 3:5 above indicates that the fruit of the Holy Spirit in my heart and life is evidence of my salvation
- Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation
- Acts 15:8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; 9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
- 1Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
- That is, turn from idols with a heart fixed on Christ as its object of worship
- Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
- 1 John 3:3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
- Jude 1:23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
- But love all that is holy and Christ-like
- Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
- Revelation 21:27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
- Purifying the heart by FAITH consists of 1, purifying of the understanding via the shining in of divine light; 2, purifying of the conscience to cleanse it from guilt; 3, purifying of the will to cleanse it of self-will; 4, purifying of the affections from the love of evil
- In scripture, the above 4 things are meant in references to the ‘heart’
- A chief evidence of saving faith: a humble heart
- Saving faith lays the soul low by revealing its own vileness, emptiness and impotence, enabling it to realize its former sinfulness and present unworthiness
- Nothing more exalts Christ than saving faith, enabling its possessor to see his weaknesses and wants, his carnality and corruptions…
- To magnify the riches of His grace, God has selected FAITH as the fittest instrument, as it causes us to go out entirely from ourselves to Him
- Faith, realizing we have nothing but sin and wretchedness [Gen. 6:5], comes unto Christ as an empty handed beggar to receive all from Him
- Faith empties a man of self-conceit, self-confidence, self-righteousness…, making him see that he is nothing that Christ might be all in all
- Therefore, the strongest faith is always accompanied by the greatest humility, accounting self as the greatest sinner, unworthy of the least favor
- Matthew 8:8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed [see also verses 9 and 10]
- Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone [unregenerate heart] from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh [new regenerated heart]
- Unregenerated hearts are always full of pride and presumption, unmoved by Christ’s sufferings, such that His sufferings are not deterrents to sinning, as in the regenerate heart
- [Genesis 39:9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”][Joseph’s words to Potiphar’s wife]
- It is not the absence of sin, but the grieving over it that distinguishes the child of God from the empty professor
- Another characteristic of saving faith: Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
- Via saving faith, spiritual energy is diffused to the faculties of the soul, investing them in service to God
- Colossians 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
- Via faith, one obtains a principle of strength by which he opposes the flesh, the world and the devil
- Pink compared the beginnings of saving faith to an infant: breathing, crying, moving, sucking – showing that it is alive; like the new believer breathes and cries via prayer, and cleaves to God; and the infant does not long remain in that state
- [Proverbs2:1-5 call one to seek God in such a manner]
- Faith works by love: the Pharisee, worked for applause; the slave works to avoid punishment; the formalist works to stop the mouth of conscience; the ordinary professor works to avoid shame of a bad profession; but the genuine believer works because he loves
- Saving faith is always accompanied by an obedient walk: 1 John 2:3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him
- Pink quoted Spurgeon about professors who remain indifferent to sanctification, and thereby reveal their self-will and enmity to God
- Such may say what they will about justification by faith and salvation by grace, but are rebels at heart – they don’t have the wedding garment
- [Matthew 22:12 And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.]
- To have the blessings of grace, one must submit to the rules of grace
- 1 Peter 1:7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
- A Christian fears no test, but wishes to be tried by God: Psalm 26:2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind.
- [See cross references to 1 Peter 1:7 at end of post, about the trying of faith]
- 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
- The true Christian frequently tries himself, as so much is at stake and he wants to be sure he has saving faith
- The real Christian differs from the formalist, who is filled with pride, having a high opinion of self, being quite sure he has been saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, he considers self-examination injurious to his faith
- The formalist likes preaching that does not require him to scrutinize his heart
- Preaching, for example, on eternal security, strengthens his carnal security and confidence [Pink emphasized by examples]
- Another characteristic of saving faith is that it gives heart victory over all the things of the world
- 1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
- John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
- Christ overcame the world for His people; now, He overcomes it in them
- He opens their eyes to see the hollowness, the worthlessness of the best the world has to offer
- He weans their hearts from it by satisfying them with spiritual things
- Professors that live a life devoid of the above fruit of the Spirit, think they can deceive God
- Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap
- Christ is honored by those believers who live holy lives and suffer patiently for Him [remember his call – deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Him]
- If the above words have shattered anyone’s profession, and you desire to obtain a genuine saving faith, then:
- Use the means which God has prescribed: He gifts faith in His way; if we would receive it, we must put ourselves in that way.
- MEANS: 1, prayer: Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
- Ezekiel 36:37 “Thus says the Lord GOD: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock.
- 2, Hearing and reading God’s word:
- John 17:20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
- 1 Corinthians 3:5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
- 2Timothy 3:15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
- Psalm 119:93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.
- Psa 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
***75-page book: Killing Sin Habits by Stuart Scott
***Cross references The Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge [free with E-Swor] for 1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: [KJV as red words below are from that version]
the trial: 1Pe_4:12; Job_23:10; Psa_66:10-12; Pro_17:3; Isa_48:10; Jer_9:7; Zec_13:9; Mal_3:3; Rom_5:3-4; Jas_1:3-4, Jas_1:12; Rev_2:10, Rev_3:10
precious: 1Pe_2:4, 1Pe_2:7; Pro_3:13-15, Pro_8:19, Pro_16:16; 2Pe_1:1, 2Pe_1:4
that: Ecc_5:14; Jer_48:36; Luk_12:20-21, Luk_12:33; Act_8:20; Jas_5:2-3; 2Pe_3:10-12; Rev_18:16-17
tried: 1Pe_4:12; Job_23:10; Psa_66:10; Pro_17:3; Isa_48:10; Zec_13:9; 1Co_3:13; Rev_3:18
might: 1Sa_2:30; Mat_19:28, Mat_25:21, Mat_25:23; Joh_5:44, Joh_12:26; Rom_2:7, Rom_2:29; 1Co_4:5; 2Th_1:7-12; Jud_1:24
at: 1Pe_1:5; Rev_1:7
*** Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Cross references from TSK on Matthew 16:24:
If: Mat_10:38; Mar_8:34, Mar_10:21; Luk_9:23-27, Luk_14:27; Act_14:22; Col_1:24; 1Th_3:3; 2Ti_3:12; Heb_11:24-26
and take: Mat_27:32; Mar_15:21; Luk_23:26; Joh_19:17; 1Pe_4:1-2
The A W Pink video came from the YouTube site, Christian Sermons and Audio Books, the links and narrative below accompanied his video:
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Studies in the Scriptures – A. W. Pink Video Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
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A.W. Pink Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
‘When men regard iniquity in their hearts at the time of their prayers before God. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear me” (Psa 66:18), when there is a secret love to that very thing which thou, with thy dissembling lips, dost ask for strength against. For this is the wickedness of man’s heart, that it will even love and hold fast that which with the mouth it prays against. And of this sort are they that, “honour me with their mouth…but their heart is far from me” (Mat 15:8).’
Arthur Walkington Pink (1886-1952) evangelist and Biblical scholar
Pink was born in Nottingham, England on April 1, 1886 and became a Christian in his early 20’s. Though born to Christian parents, prior to conversion he migrated into a Theosophical society (an occult gnostic group popular in England during that time), and quickly rose in prominence within their ranks. His conversion came from his father’s patient admonitions from Scripture. It was the verse, Proverbs 14:12, ‘there is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death,’ which particularly struck his heart and compelled him to renounce Theosophy and follow Jesus.
Desiring to grow in knowledge of the Bible, Pink immigrated to the United States to study at Moody Bible Institute. In 1916 he married Vera E. Russell, who was from Kentucky. However, he left after just two months for Colorado, then California, then Britain. From 1925 to 1928 he served in Australia, including as pastor of two congregations from 1926 to 1928, when he returned to England, and to the United States the following year. He eventually pastored churches Colorado, California, Kentucky and South Carolina.
In 1922 he started a monthly magazine entitled Studies in Scriptures which circulated among English-speaking Christians worldwide, though only to a relatively small circulation list of around 1,000.
In 1934 Pink returned to England, and within a few years turned his Christian service to writing books and pamphlets. Pink died in Stornoway, Scotland on July 15, 1952. The cause of death was anemia.
After Pink’s death, his works were republished by the Banner of Truth Trust and reached a much wider audience as a result. Biographer Iain Murray observes of Pink, “the widespread circulation of his writings after his death made him one of the most influential evangelical authors in the second half of the twentieth century.” His writing sparked a revival of expository preaching and focused readers’ hearts on biblical living.
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Please watch: “A Call to Separation – A. W. Pink Christian Audio Books / Don’t be Unequally Yoked / Be Ye Separate”