Dave Chanski

Bill: So, you say that when God saves someone, He leaves evidence. What exactly is the evidence?

Greg: Well, we can start at the beginning. The first evidence is faith.

Bill: Continue.

Greg: Just what is it to have faith? Obviously, it means to know and understand the truth–for instance, that Christ is fully God as well as fully man. John wrote, “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22; cf. 4:2-3). There are many people who would say they have believed, but they don’t know that saving faith means believing that Christ is fully God.

Bill: You mean like Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Greg: Right–or many ‘liberal Christians’. So faith means knowing the truth. It also means agreeing with the truth. I’ve come across people who call themselves ‘atheists’, who understand what the Bible says, but who deny it. They call the Bible a book of fairy tales. Some of them may even have ‘asked Jesus into their hearts’ when they were kids. Do they have faith?

Bill: No, they don’t.

Greg: So, someone who has saving faith knows the truth, and he agrees with it. He also trusts in the God of truth. Someone can understand all that the Bible says and agree that it’s true and still not be saved! That’s what James said is true about demons (James 2:19). And Jesus said it was true about people in His day (John 2:23-25). Their ‘faith’ was not saving faith because they didn’t receive and embrace Christ as their own and rest entirely upon Him to save them. A true Christian is one who clings to Christ for dear life, like a baby monkey does to his mother when she is swinging through the trees. So, do you have faith, Bill?

Bill: I think I do. But, I’m sure you have a lot more to say about this subject.