What is true faith?

1. 0:00Highly Bird catechism, Lord’s Day 7.
2. 0:12Are all people then saved through Christ just as they were lost through Adam? No, only those are saved who through true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all his benefits.
3. 0:26What is true faith?
4. 0:28True faith is not only a sure knowledge by which I hold as true all that God has revealed to us in his word, it is also a wholehearted trust which the Holy Spirit works in me by the gospel, that God has freely granted,
5. 0:44not only to others, but to me also, forgiveness of sins, eternal righteousness, and salvation.
6. 0:52These gifts are purely of grace, only because of Christ's merit.
7. 0:57What then must a Christian believe?
8. 1:00and all that is promised us in the Gospel, a summary of which is taught us in the articles of our Catholic and undoubted Christian faith.
9. 1:08What are these articles?
10. 1:10I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
11. 1:14I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
12. 1:26crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he will come
13. 1:39to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection
14. 1:51of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Lord’s Day 7 is on the necessity and and the nature of true faith.
15. 2:01And this Lord’s Day gives a very important definition of faith that involves two parts: knowledge and trust.
16. 2:10I try to teach my catechism students to be able to summarize the point of different Lord's Days.
17. 2:15And I ask them, "How do you define faith? What is faith?"
18. 2:19knowledge and trust.
19. 2:21A sure knowledge and a wholehearted trust is the language of this Lord’s Day.
20. 2:27Answer 21 says, "True faith is not only a sure knowledge by which we hold as true all that God has revealed to us in His Word, it is also an absolute truth And then it describes the trust aspect.
21. 2:42But we ought not to quickly pass over the emphasis on true knowledge.
22. 2:47It's not dismissive of this knowledge, as if to say, well, you know, knowledge is not important.
23. 2:53It's the trust that's important.
24. 2:56No, a sure knowledge is essential to faith. In fact, in 2 Thessalonians 2, we hear these words of the Apostle Paul. He says, "We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because
25. 3:16God from the beginning chose you for salvation through salvation, through salvation, and sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. And so faith involves
26. 3:26belief in the truth. And that means that true faith is not some kind of leap. It's not simply a choice to believe something that we might find personally helpful or meaningful.
27. 3:39meaningful. No, this knowledge, this sure knowledge, is also worked by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, no less than that personal trust. And it's a knowledge, we might say, of what happened.
28. 3:59Christianity is not a philosophy of life. It's not a list of rules. But it is based upon the knowledge of the triune God, who is and who acts. Who acts in history. In fact, all of history depends upon his initials.
29. 4:19act of creation. And that's very important for understanding of the Christian message. It's a report indeed. It's good news. And that's so evident in
30. 4:33the Apostles' Creed where it defines the gospel, right? Gospel means good news, and then it speaks of creation, God's work in bringing all things into existence, and then his providence,
31. 4:47but it focuses upon Christ, who he is, and what he has done.
32. 4:55And that really follows the pattern of the Apostle Paul description of the gospel, for example, in 1 Corinthians 15, where he says, "I declare
33. 5:06to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which you stand, by which you are also saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you,
34. 5:16unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried,
35. 5:27and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures.
36. 5:31The Gospel consists of the facts of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done.
37. 5:38A lot of people want to talk about religion in a very philosophical or abstract way, but the Christian message is a report about what happened in history. Well-attested events. Christ came and fulfilled
38. 5:53the scriptures. And faith involves believing that report. And then secondly, it involves trust. As the catechism goes on, "It is also a wholehearted trust, which the Holy
39. 6:05Spirit works in me by the Gospel, that God has freely granted, not only to others, but to me also, forgiveness of sins, eternal righteousness and salvation. These gifts
40. 6:17are purely of grace only because of the Holy Spirit."
41. 6:19because of Christ's merits.
42. 6:22We might describe this second part of this definition of faith in terms of personal appropriation.
43. 6:29Coming to Christ, resting upon him, even eating and drinking of Christ.
44. 6:36This is language that describes taking Christ unto ourselves as our Savior.
45. 6:44That's beautiful language that we have in answer 20, where it speaks of those who are saved as those who by true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all his benefits.
46. 6:56That's the language of union with the Lord Jesus.
47. 6:59Christ. By faith we are joined to him in this living relationship in which all that he has done, all that he has, is ours. And that's the foundation for our forgiveness,
48. 7:14for the eternal life that we possess, and every benefit that we derive from the Lord Jesus Christ.
49. 7:19received by faith alone.

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