Distinguishing Marks of Saving Faith (8)

(This article continues the translation of Chapter 33 of The Christian’s Reasonable Service.)

Let us now compare to this the spiritual frame of the true believer for the purpose of fully identifying true as well as temporal believers—for the one in reference to the genuineness of saving grace, and for the other in reference to his imagined attainment. In true believers the following matters manifest themselves:

1. By faith true believers frequently receive the Lord Jesus with their heart. They receive Jesus by faith rather than indulging themselves in speculating about various doctrinal issues and saving benefits. They go to the fountain itself and are engaged in transactions with God and Christ Himself. To Him they turn, Him they desire, for Him they long Him they receive, upon Him they rely, to Him they surrender themselves, to Him they desire to be united—all by faith. How they desire to be exercised in the acts of faith which we described in the previous chapter, and thus remain sensibly united to Him! God and Christ are the focus of their spiritual activity, be it sometimes weaker and at other times stronger. Such is also the testimony of Holy Writ, “As many as received Him” (John 1:12); “Ye believe in God, believe also in me” Gohn 14:1).

They receive the Lord Jesus with their heart. Their activity is neither external nor intellectual in nature, but proceeds from within. Their heart mourns, longs, believes, surrenders, and is conscious of what is lacking within. They examine the condition of their heart, and in such a frame of mind, they engage in seeking to have the Lord Jesus in their heart. All that does not proceed from the heart they consider of no value; it grieves them and they can find no delight in it. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness” (Romans 10:10); “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Ephesians 3:17).

They frequently, if not a thousand times, receive the Lord Jesus by faith. They always believe that their reception of Him has not been as unreserved as it

ought to be and that it has not been with sufficient clarity and sincerity, not as wholeheartedly as it ought to have been. This receiving of Him is their daily food and therefore they repeat it over and over, not so much with the objective to be included in the covenant of grace, as to be more and more intimately united with Christ. They are motivated by their daily failures to do so, as they perceive that without Him they cannot approach unto God. The desire for rest and inner peace continually drives them out to Him who alone is their peace. All this, however, is superseded by love, which also continually drives them out to Him. They are also subject to many periods of darkness, spiritual desertions, strifes, and infirmities of faith. Since there is no restoration outside of Christ, they time and again return and cleave to Him, repeatedly renewing the exercises of faith. Since the believer’s spiritual life is dependent upon continually receiving Christ (who is his life), and just as a person will succumb when he is not able to breathe, so the believer will succumb if by faith he is not able to bring Christ into his heart or his heart to Christ. This constant repetition of believing and receiving may be observed especially in the Psalms and in the Song of Solomon.

Behold, such is the clear distinction between a temporal and a true believer. The one functions outside the realm of his heart and does not move beyond speculating about these matters. He proceeds in an external fashion, having experienced only an imaginary change. The true believer engages himself with his heart; he has dealings with Jesus and finds strength and life in the continual receiving of Him.

2. True believers perceive and acknowledge Christ as being very precious to them. It is not only the excellency of the benefits which one receives through Christ, namely, to be delivered from all evil and to become partakers of salvation in the fullest sense of the word which they perceive, but also that which is precious in all the daughters of Zion, as well as the blessed portion of all who are partakers of Jesus. They can say, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance” (Psalm 33:12). Temporal believers are also capable of perceiving this, albeit with a different estimation than true believers.

However, to true believers Christ is precious, and they desire to enjoy Him experientially. “Unto you therefore which believe He is precious” (1 Peter 2:7). It is an absolute necessity for them to have Him as their Surety and Mediator by personal application. They perceive so much of the wisdom, goodness, righteousness, and truth of God in the fact that God would save them in Christ that they desire no other way, but embrace this way with their whole heart. Christ is to them so lofty, so glorious, so desirable; to enjoy Him is so sweet and precious that in comparison to Him all else is of no value. Even if they do not know whether they are partakers of Him, how precious He nevertheless is to them! How their soul would live if they might have Him and if He would be pleased to be their portion! The preciousness of Jesus draws eyes, heart, and hands to Him. Once they may enjoy Him, they know how precious a treasure they have found; their concern then is that they not lose Him, and thus they cling to Him and cannot let Him go. The magnificence and preciousness of Jesus is the subject of their discussions, and if they meet someone to whom Jesus also is precious, they treasure such a person with all their heart. Such persons are precious to them since they esteem Jesus to be so precious.

3. True believers wholeheartedly and unreservedly receive Jesus by faith, surrendering themselves unconditionally to Him in order to be brought to God by Him in such a way as pleases Him.

Temporal believers, being strangers of genuine, heart-felt transactions with Jesus, do not desire a full and complete Jesus. They dodesire to have Him as their High Priest to reconcile them with God, to pray for them, and to save them. However, they do notdesire Him as their Prophet to be internally taught of Him, to be humbled by the uncovered filth of their heart, to learn to despise all that is of the world and that which is desirable to the eye. Even though they have an external desire for a knowledge of Scripture and for knowledge itself, they do not desire to be taught by God in order that they might draw near to Him and that their soul might be transformed in the image of God. To them all knowledge is desirable in order that they may also be honored as enlightened and knowledgeable individuals. Temporal believers are filled with self-love and hence desire to seek self.

They also do not desire to have Him as their King, to be ruled by Him according to His will in their thoughts, motives, and actions. They intimate that such is the case, something which they even express in their prayers, but these are no more than empty addresses. Their hearts remain untouched. They desire Him to be King over the multitude to which they join themselves. It is their desire to perceive that He dwells with them, protects them, and honors them, in order that they may appear to share His glory. And thus they do not surrender themselves in all things to Him with the heart.

However, true believers wholeheartedly receive Him as their Prophet, Priest, and King. They cannot determine in which office they desire Him most. Even though at one time one office, and then again another, comes to the foreground in their particular situation, they cannot separate these offices. They know that all three are necessary to their salvation, and that therefore one cannot be separated from the others. Their prayer is, “Teach me” (Psalm 25:5); “Open Thou mine eyes” (Psalm 119:18). They desire to “be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ” (Philippians 3:9). It is their wish that the blood of Jesus Christ may cleanse them from all their sins (1 John 1:7), and that He would intercede for them (Romans 8:34). It is their desire that He be King over their heart, defeating and removing all that rebels against Him, and bringing everything in subjection to Himself. They receive Him by faith as He has been made unto them of God, “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).

Wilhelmus à Brakel (1635-1711), a Second Reformation divine, was a leading representative of practical Reformed Orthodoxy in the Netherlands who became most renowned for his major work,Redelijke Godsdienst (The Christian’s Reasonable Service).

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