Mar 19
17
With the heart man believeth’
Read Jeremiah 17:5-14
‘If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus; and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved.’ This is the one thing that is essential: you must believe in
thine heart’. I urge you to ‘examine yourselves, whether ye be in the
faith’. I would do nothing to rob any true believer of the joy of
confident assurance. But I must warn all men to guard against religious
presumption. It is Satan’s cheap counterfeit.
False faith can be very deceptive. False faith produces good works. It
excites the emotions. It reforms the outward life. It performs deeds of
religion. It causes sorrow for sin. It speaks well of Christ. It does
works of charity. It trembles under the preaching of the gospel. False
faith gains high offices in the church. It secures peace of mind. It
walks in the company of great preachers. False faith even holds out to
the Day of Judgment (Matt. 7;22-23). My friend, beware of false faith!
Remember Lot’s wife, Judas, Simon, Demas and Diotrephes. Be not numbered
among them.
True faith is the heart knowledge of, trust in and submission to the
Lord Jesus Christ. God has revealed Christ to us in the gospel, by which
we know our desperate need and his saving power and fairness. Trusting
Christ alone as our all-sufficient Savior, we commit ourselves, body and
soul, to him. And where there is true faith, there is the submission of
heart to Christ as our sovereign Lord and King. This faith comes not by
heredity, nor by the logic and persuasiveness of the preacher. It is the
gift of God. Christ is reveled in the heart by the Holy Spirit.
This heart faith can be known by those who possess it. Have we believed?
If so, we have firmly cordially and voluntarily received Christ in all
his offices. To them that believe, Christ is precious. Heart faith
purifies the heart and weans it from the world. Heart faith works by
love, lives in hope and rests in Christ. This is true faith. This is
heart faith. Forsaking all I take Him.
Don Fortner.