Sermon Title: Faith giving salvation by grace, and faith in vain not to be saved
Apostle Paul testifies by the Holy Ghost of the gospel of Christ by grace giving eternal life. He preached the gospel saying, even though anyone who has lived like the child of the devil in the world is to be saved by grace only if he believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.
When he called Jesus “Lord,” he believed in Jesus Christ as the Christ and savior coming as King. Upon knowing his faith, Jesus answered him saying he shall be with him in paradise that day. Jesus knew all that he had done all kinds of sin as a child of the devil, but the moment he called Jesus as the Lord, he saw his faith and saved him by grace.
The thief must have believed in Jesus as the Lord who is the only one that forgives his sins. He called upon Jesus as the Lord with sincere repentance. If he had been released before he died on the cross, he would not have given up his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ until he died. Jesus knew that his faith was not in vain, so he forgave all his sins and saved him by grace. He was saved not by any works of his own, but only by grace. Therefore, he had nothing to boast himself of the salvation he received.
Apostle Paul testified very concisely and accurately to the Ephesian church members about the gospel of grace:
Therefore, regardless of Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, rich or poor, no matter what kind of wicked or sinner are, if man believes in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for him on the cross is to be saved to be child of God.
Meanwhile, Apostle Paul left a warning message to the Corinthians thinking there may be someone who believes in vain:
When Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church members, he reminded them saying, ” if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.” He conveyed a message of concern that among those who profess to believe in Jesus, there may be some who do not hold fast to the gospel and believe in vain. These people are saying that they believe in Jesus with mouth, but they may not be saved by grace. In other words, they go to church and worship every Sunday, but they are only religious people who are not regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
The parable of the sower that Jesus told , reminds us once again of the true and false faith:
According to the parable Jesus told, the first three kind of people cannot be saved because their faith in vain. and it is clear that the fourth one is saved because he holds fast to the word of God, and brings forth fruit with patience.
Regarding those who bear fruit in the word of the gospel, tApostle Peter testified:
Then, we need to meditate deeply of the faith in vain not giving salvation. This is because so many people who confess to believe in Jesus have no choice but to go to hell after attending church for the rest of their lives just because of their faith in vain. The parable of the sower teaches us that even if only one fourth of those who claim to believe in Jesus are saved to bear the fruit statistically. This means that only small number of people are to be saved. But we cannot help thinking pessimistically of much fewer than one fourth of Christians looks to be saved in reality in the end time.
It is necessary to think deeply about how many people who confess their faith in Jesus and believe that they will go to heaven after death attending church service every Sunday to say hello God with their eyes to comforting themselves. Those who profess to believe in Jesus may worship and praise Jesus while confessing with their lips that Jesus died on the cross for their sins, but before confessing that they believe in Him, how desperately they realize that they are miserable sinners? This is something that they should ask themselves and answer unto themselves. On the other hand, the thief, who was crucified with Jesus, grievously realized that he used to be the enemy of God, and cried out to Jesus, “Lord!” If we imagine how much loudly his shouted must have been, his voice must have been like as degree of a thunder shaking heaven and earth.
However, we need to know how desperately those who profess to believe in Jesus cried out before Him as they repent their sins. Perhaps most people think they are cleaner than the thief on the cross with Jesus.
Jesus told the Pharisees and scribes, who considered themselves righteous, that the sins in them were no different from the sins of the thief. But they did not understand it. Most people who confess to believe in Jesus today are not aware that they are same kinds of sinners:
When we look again at how the faith in vain of the three kinds of people in the parables of Jesus, if they realized that they were wretched sinners lived as the enemy of God, how would they let the evil take away the word of God, and how they could give up their faith because of persecution from others? How they can exchange their faith with riches and the pleasure of life? Their faith is totally in vain to be cast into hell.
Most people living in the last days, including those who claim to be Christians, love themselves, love money, and love the world, but do not know that they are enmity with God. Even in the churches, it may not enough to count true Christian with our ten fingers. Jesus said, when he come again how he can find out some one in faith?