In the gift of the Holy Spirit we have the gift of Christ Himself (John 14:18). What splendid grace from the hand of the Father!
How we thank God for the precious ministry of the Holy Spirit. We easily forget that none of us would have become believers without His regenerating power. It is the Holy Spirit alone who draws us to the cross and fastens us to the Savior. He is the great revealer of Christ. If we think that people can come alive to God without the power and action of the Spirit, we have yet to learn the extent of human sinfulness and helplessness. We were dead (destitute of power, lifeless) in trespasses and sin and, therefore, needed divine intervention to bring us to life (Ephesians 2:1;2:5).That’s why we read in Ephesians 2:8-9,
"By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."
The Spirit generates faith (Gal 5:22) and it is this faith that actively links us as sinners to Jesus the sinbearer. Faith recognizes that salvation is something that God has already accomplished outside of us, in the person of Jesus (Acts 13:32-33, 38-39). But remember, faith itself does not qualify us to receive God’s acquittal. Salvation is an undeserved gift of grace received by faith, but it is not created because we have faith. What Spirit generated faith does is to receive the truth concerning the Son of God as it recognizes the sufficiency of His great sacrifice for our sin. Faith makes the gospel personal for us. Faith sees that the great Shepherd has laid down His life, not just for the sheep in general (John 10:11) but for us in particular.
Faith sees that the Lord Jesus came to this earth for the express purpose of ransoming, not just people in general (Matt 20:28), but came to ransom us in particular (Gal 2:20b). Faith also sees that Christ came not merely to say something about our sin, but came to do something about our sin.
Faith also sees that Christ came, not primarily to preach the gospel, but that we would, in Him, have a gospel to preach. Faith sees that this Christian life is not about us and our performance but about Him and His performance.
“The best obedience of my hands Dares not appear before thy throne; But faith can answer thy demands, By pleading what the Lord has done.”
Faith is not something that buys us salvation; Christ alone has bought us. By faith the believing believer sees that we have been purchased by God's own blood (Acts 20:28) and that no further payment is necessary!
But what if my faith is weak?
All of us at times suffer from weak faith, yet a weak faith cannot undo what Christ Jesus has accomplished at Calvary. We are ‘in Christ’, (1 Cor 1:30a; 1 Cor 15:22).—We are in covenant union with Christ and are now found in Him. Our strength of faith, therefore, is not our security. Remember, faith is not the purchaser of our salvation, Christ alone has bought us! A weak faith may indeed sometimes interfere with our enjoyment of salvation, but our security is in Christ alone. He is our covenant head (Rom 5:15-21). All that He has is ours! We may feel like the lowest and the least; we may feel that we are too weak to even grasp the promises—but no matter, the promises have already grasped us. Our Savior has already taken a hold of us and He will never let us go (Heb 13:5).
And that’s the Gospel Truth