Faith
Assurance is of the Essence of Saving Faith – 1997 Grace Evangelical Society Conference – MP3 / YouTube
What is the difference between saving faith and assurance? Why is the nature of the gospel message, such that when a person believes the biblical gospel, he necessarily has the assurance of eternal salvation? If a person is not assured of his eternal salvation, then that person is not believing the gospel message of eternal life. Believing something false never saved anybody, although believing a falsehood may give false assurance. What is saving faith? Is it a persuasion or a decision? Most false professions are made when the decision/process precedes the persuasion. What does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Christ? It means that Jesus is the guarantor of resurrection and eternal life to everyone who believes in Him. At the moment of saving faith, the believer is sure that he is eternally saved. Passages mentioned include: John 3:16, 20:31; 1 John 5:1; John 11:25-27; John 9:35-38; Matthew 11:2-3; and 2 Timothy 2:18.
Assurance of Salvation – 1976 Dallas Theological Seminary Chapel – MP3 / YouTube
How do I really know that I have eternal life? We, as Christians, need the assurance that our basic relationship with our heavenly Father is not altered even by our failures or even by our sins. Does assurance come from seeking and serving God with the utmost diligence? Does assurance really rest on our perseverance in good works until the end of life? The fundamental grounds for assurance that we possess eternal life rests always on the promise of God. If we are searching for assurance in anything that we find in ourselves, we will never find assurance if we are candid and honest with ourselves. Faith is not occupied with itself. Faith is occupied with God and faith is occupied with the testimony of God. We are not invited to believe that we believe, but to believe that what God says is true. Passages mentioned include: 1 John 5:9-13, 1 John 1:3-4; 2:1,12-14,20-21,24-26; and John 3:16, 5:24, 6:35.
What Is Saving Faith? (April 21, 1990) – MP3 / YouTube
In this message given at Jansen Bible Church shortly after the publication Absolutely Free! (1989), Zane Hodges answers the following questions: What is Lordship Salvation? Is there any substantive difference between Lordship Salvation and the Free Grace position? Is the difference between Lordship Salvation and Free Grace, just a difference in semantics? What is saving faith? Why does Lordship Salvation need to redefine saving faith? Why is assurance part and parcel with saving faith? After his message, Zane answers various questions on salvation, including: What is the content of saving faith? Passages mentioned include: Revelation 22:17; 1 John 5:9-13; John 3:16; John 5:24; John 6:47; Acts 16:31; John 11:25-27; John 20:30-31; James 2:19; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 11:29; John 15; 1 John 1:5-6; 1 John 3:11-15; 2 Peter 1:3, 5-Revelation 22:17; 1 John 5:9-13; John 3:16; John 5:24; John 6:47; Acts 16:31; John 11:25-27; John 20:30-31; James 2:19; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 11:29; John 15; 1 John 1:5-6; 1 John 3:11-15; 2 Peter 1:3, 5-7.
What Is Discipleship? (April 22, 1990) – MP3 / YouTube
In this message given at Jansen Bible Church shortly after the publication Absolutely Free! (1989), Zane Hodges answers the following questions: What is faith? What is saving faith? What is the message that must be believed in order to be saved? What is a disciple? How is being a Christian different from being a disciple? What is repentance? What are the basic views of repentance and its connection with salvation? What is the only book in the New Testament that professes to bring men to salvation? How many times does the Gospel of John mention repentance? What is lost when a Christian sins? Is repentance a requirement for salvation? What happens in the life of a Christian who refuses to repent? Is a awareness of sin necessary for a person to be saved? How is a call to repentance broader than the call to salvation? Where was the Apostle Paul converted? What is the relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility? Passages mentioned include: Luke 14; John 4; John 20:30-31; John 1:15-36; Revelation 2:16; Revelation 3:19-20; Revelation 2:5; 1 John 1:9; Luke 17:3-4; Luke 15:11-32; Acts 10; John 9; Matthew 3:10-11; Acts 19:4; Luke 13:1-5; John 5:24; Acts 3:19-20; Luke 15:11-32; Acts 2-3; Acts 20.
Matthew 8:5-13 – Outer Darkness Part 3 – Centurion’s Great Faith – Zane Hodges and Bob Wilkin Discussion – MP3 / YouTube
Zane Hodges and Bob Wilkin discuss the passage regarding the Centurion’s great faith and the “Outer Darkness”. Other passages mentioned include: Matthew 13:38, Luke 22:24-30, Hebrews 12:22-23, and 2 Timothy 2:13.
Luke 17:3-10 – Faith Is Not a Bingo Game (May 2, 1993) – MP3 / YouTube
Tragically, there are born again Christians, that think of God as Someone Who will give them instant gratification. They think if they play the game right, then God will reward them lavishly here and now. Is there such thing as a big faith compared to a small faith? The issue in faith is not the size of faith. The issue in faith is whether it is there. Faith is having confidence in what God says. The Bible never contrasts big faith with little faith. Faith is always contrasted with unbelief. The needs and desires of the Master come ahead of the needs and desires of the slave. All that we do in Christian service is what we have been commanded to do and we are unprofitable servants. The life of faith is lived with the recognition, that God comes first, all the time throughout the entirety of our lives, and then He will reward us graciously. Other passages mentioned: John 6:47; John 11:25-27; Matthew 5:21.
Luke 20:19-26 – Faith + Fantasy = Frustration (May 29, 1994) – MP3 / YouTube
A problem that has haunted the Christian church from almost the very beginning, is the problem of confusing religious reality with religious fantasy. One of the ways we can fall into a fantasy, is through our own sense of pride and our own sense of self-importance. Sometimes we are tempted to feel so important and so special and that we have such a special faith, that we believe that God is going to do some spectacular thing for us, which God has not promised in His word at all. When you leave the solid ground of the promises in God’s word, it is easy to move into fantasy land and to believe all sorts of things that our own minds and other minds create, which have nothing to do with the promises in God’s word. The Bible is the only guide we got. If we turn aside to imaginary ideas, mirages and fantasies, we are going to reap the consequences of that. We need to keep our heads in the Bible and reject the fantasies that exist all around us. Other passage mentioned Romans 13:1-2.
Luke 23:39-43 – Be Impossible to Forget (December 17, 1995) – MP3 / YouTube
One of the deepest felt needs of the human heart is the need to be remembered. However, all of us have the capacity to forget people. Was the thief on the cross asking Jesus to save him or take him into the kingdom? Nobody in the New Testament has ever asked Jesus to save them from eternal punishment. We are not saved by asking Jesus to save us. We are saved by believing that Jesus keeps His promise to save us when we trust Him to do that. We do not need to pray or ask to be saved. We just need to believe in Jesus for the free gift of everlasting life. By the thief’s faithfulness to Jesus Christ when Jesus was dying alone, the thief on the cross became impossible to forget and was rewarded in the kingdom. The question is whether Jesus will remember us in the same way.
John 2:23-25 – Secret Believers – Zane Hodges and Bob Wilkin Discussion – MP3 / YouTube
Zane Hodges and Bob Wilkin discuss the passage where “many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” (John 2:23-25, NKJV). Questions of whether these are true believers and why Jesus did not commit Himself to them, are dealt with. Other passages discussed include: John 3:1, 20-21, John 7:47, 50-52, and John 12:42-43.
Romans Part 2 (Chapters 2-4) – Justification (May 18, 1997) – MP3 / YouTube
In this second message on the Book of Romans, Zane focuses on justification in chapters 2, 3 and 4. In Romans chapter 2, Zane discusses the standards that God will apply at the final Great White Throne Judgment. In Romans chapter 3, Zane demonstrates that justification can only be by faith in Jesus Christ, since no one is justified by the works of the law. In Romans chapter 4, Zane demonstrates that even Abraham was justified by faith and that faith is a persuasion and not a decision. Note, it appears that the beginning of this message, discussion of Romans 1, has been cut off. Other passages mentioned include: Revelation 20; Matthew 19:16-20; Matthew 12:36-37, James 2:10, 23-24; Genesis 15:6; Psalm 32:1-2; Genesis 12:1-3; Galatians 3:6-9; Acts 7:51; Genesis 17; 2 Corinthians 4:4,6; Matthew 16:16-17; and 2 Timothy 2:19.
Once Again James 2 – 2005 Grace Evangelical Society Conference – YouTube
23 years after the publication of “James 2: What is a Dead Faith?“, Zane speaks again on James 2. This time focusing on justification by works.