True Faith Involves Knowing Christ

SALVATION’S ORIGIN

Biblical salvation has its origin in a divine regeneration; salvation does not and cannot result from any human effort or good works. By God’s “own will,” as James said, He chose to give us birth, to bring us “forth by the word of truth.” Salvation begins with God, not with us. We don’t initiate it; God does. We didn’t originate it; He did. We can’t sustain it; He can. Had God not chosen us, we never would have chosen Him. As Isaiah put it seven hundred years before Christ, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

Without Christ, we are unresponsive to the offer of salvation. We are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). When a man is dead physically, he doesn’t respond to physical stimuli. He feels no pain or heat. Similarly, people who are dead spiritually do not respond to spiritual stimuli. They are unresponsive. Without Christ, we are also unperceptive: the gospel “is veiled to those who are perishing . . . who do not believe” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4). Without Christ, we are unteachable as well: “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). Finally, without Christ we are unrighteous. King David reminded us all of this fact: “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5).

So far, our spiritual situation is not looking too good for us. But here comes the good news. Since we can do nothing in and of ourselves to reach our holy God, He must do something. He must be the initiator of our salvation—and He is! According to James, God chose to give us life: “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth.” As our Lord Jesus Christ plainly put it, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). Paul added, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). The Bible is the story of God’s love for His chosen people.

How does this work for us? The Bible says that God calls us to Himself (Romans 8:29–30). There are two calls, the outward call and the inward call. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ issues the outward call in various manners and through various ministries. But only the Spirit issues the inward call to the heart. God chooses to give us new birth, to bring us “forth by the word of truth.”

Only this new birth can bring a person into a new life. Salvation does not find its origin in heredity. We don’t acquire it through osmosis. It isn’t brought about by winsomeness or persuasive preaching. The new birth originates with God. Salvation is God’s work, not ours. A genuine walk of faith comes with knowing Christ and understanding that salvation has its origin in God.

SALVATION’S OPERATION

Our salvation comes by “the word of truth.” Put differently, we are born again “through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23). No one has ever been converted apart from God’s Word. As Paul clearly stated, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

Conviction always precedes conversion in a Christian’s life. God’s Word cuts us “to the heart” (Acts 2:37). The Word of God reveals to us that we are sinners in need of salvation. God’s Word also makes plain to us the way to eternal life. Salvation operates through “the word of truth.”

The Word of God, living and written, is God’s instrument of salvation. True faith involves knowing Christ as Savior and Lord, knowing that salvation has its very origin in the sovereignty of God, and knowing that salvation operates through the Bible, God’s Word to us.

SALVATION’S OUTCOME

James reminds us that the outcome of our salvation is “that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:18). The Word of God is the seed that brings forth fruit in our lives.

Jesus was making this very point when, to the inquiring Greeks, He said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain” (John 12:24). We think that death comes from life. But Jesus revealed just the opposite: life actually comes from death.

Imagine, for a minute, that you drop a grain of wheat into the earth and cover it with soil. That little grain corrodes and rots—it dies—and then releases its life germ. After a while a tiny blade pushes its way through the soil and reaches up toward the sun. Days pass, weeks pass, and the blade eventually becomes a full-grown plant producing hundreds of little seeds just like the one you planted. All of that energy and life was in a single, tiny grain of wheat. But, you couldn’t see it . . . until the seed died. Then it produced a lot more grain just like itself, many other “firstfruits.”

Now imagine for a moment that instead of dropping that little grain of wheat in the ground, you drop it in your desk drawer. Leave it there for a few months. Then go back to the drawer and open it. The seed is still there, but “it remains alone” (John 12:24).

During His sojourn on earth, Jesus remained just like that little seed in your desk drawer: He produced no one like Himself. After spending three years preparing for Jesus’ departure, the disciples argued among themselves about which of them should be the greatest in the coming kingdom. Then, on the night He needed them most, they all forsook Him and fled in the darkness. But what a difference in them after Jesus died, after He was planted in the earth and then came forth on the third day! No longer did Jesus “remain alone.” He became the “firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). And these first-century believers—who were scattered among the nations and to whom James was writing his letter—were the first generation to trust in Christ as their promised Messiah. James called them the “firstfruits” in God’s forever family.

Once we become a part of God’s family, we, too, will bear fruit; and Jesus said that people will know His people “by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). Individuals knowing Christ is the first step in solving the church’s credibility crisis.