What is saving faith?

What is saving faith? Part 3 in a 4-week Bible study on “What is the Gospel?” from the podcast Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta.

Review

Death – phenomena of human existence where everything physical & spiritual breaks down. Life is the opposite of death; tendency toward good in all of human existence
Life automatically and inevitably flows from holiness. Death automatically and inevitably flows from sin.
God is the sole source of life, because He alone can give holiness.
When we rebelled, we cut ourselves off from the source of life (God) and we are stuck with death.
The rebellion itself is wrong and deserves punishment. Until God’s justice is satisfied, He will not grant life.
Justification is the forgiveness of our debt to justice which qualifies us to receive life. To be justified is to be in a position where God’s justice is satisfied.
Justification is a gift from God.
Justification is made possible by the sacrificial death of Jesus.
Justification is granted to those who have faith.

Saving faith is not obedience.
Saving faith is not giving intellectual assent to the right doctrines.
Saving faith is not giving intellectual assent to the right doctrines.
Saving faith is the permanent, ongoing trust in God that one day He will free me completely from all the consequences and effects of sin because of the blood of Jesus Christ.
Saving faith itself is a gift from God.

Saving faith includes:

a genuine desire for holiness in and of itself.
a genuine understanding that left to myself I am totally incapable of obtaining holiness; I am sinful.
a genuine understanding that God owes me nothing and I am totally unworthy of any gift from God; I am totally dependent on the mercy of God.
a firm trust that God — through the work of Jesus Christ — both intends to and will in fact bring me into holiness in the age to come and grant me life in His kingdom.

Justification only removed one of the consequences of our rebellion: the judicial penalty. We still struggle with sin and death in this life.
A mature faith must be nurtured.
In this life, faith is more immediately important for us than avoiding sin.
Struggling with sin and death matures our faith.
In this life, God’s highest priority is not to give us holiness, but to give us saving faith.
If we become bitter that God has not removed sin, our faith lacks humility and longing.
If we become bitter that God has not removed sin, our faith lacks humility and longing.
If holiness seems irrelevant, our faith lacks an understanding of and a longing for holiness.
If we despair because we still sinful, our faith lacks trust that God will indeed keep His promise.

In a very real sense our lot as believers in the present age is to wait patiently and hope for our inheritance.

We’ll talk about hope next.