Definition of the term 'faith' or what a saving, justifying faith believes in? – John Calvin

“We need to have a clear definition of the term ‘faith’, for without it this teaching will be of no value to us…
When Paul speaks of faith, he does not mean having a vague sense that there is a God reigning in heaven, but of knowing God to be our Father. We can be assured of this because of the promises He has made. We can be joined & united to the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that all He has is ours & that we have share in it because we are members of His body…

There is, however, a point here which will be of great help to us, & that is to know how Abraham believed in God. Which this, we conclude. If Abraham had simply believed that there was a God in heaven, this could not have justified him, for the pagans believe as much. Or, if Abraham had simply believed that God was the Judge of all the earth, it would not have sufficed. But God said to Abraham, ‘Abram, I am thy shield, & thy exceeding great reward’, and ‘I will be a God unto thee, & to thy seed after thee’, and He also said that all nationts would be blessed in him (Gen. 15:1; 17:7). God spoke thus with Abraham & testified that He counted him a member of His family, one of His own children, & that He would be his God. When Abraham accepted this promise, he was justified. How is this? Well, when God presented Abraham with His bounty & grace, Abraham believed & accepted God’s Word. Thus, his salvation was completely secure.

Now we have a much clearer idea of what it means to be justified by faith. It does not mean we possess a vague notion that God exists, but rather, that we know Him as our Father & our Saviour, since He reveals Himself thus in His Word, & grants us a guarantee of it in the Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we are united & joined to God. Although we are wretched creatures, full of wickedness, He will still accept us as His own & find us pleasing in His sight. This is only possible because our Lord Jesus Christ mediates between God and man. Having such a promise, we must rest upon it entirely and not doubt that God will be favorable to us to the end. When we call upon Him, we must find all our refuge in Him, leaving the world behind us and pressing on in the hope of eternal life. This is having faith, & this is being justified! This is how our father Abraham believed. Without this, we cannot be Christians. For until we know what the gospel is really about (as Paul says in Rom. 10:14), we cannot call God our Father. We cannot, he says, call upon a God we have not heard of or believed in. And how can we possibly know Him unless He is revealed to us? Thus, we need faith to go before us. And how do we get faith? By hearing, says Paul (Rom. 10:17). Therefore, we need to be taught the gospel, otherwise we cannot have faith.”

– John Calvin, the true children of Abraham
John Calvin’s sermons on Galatians

The doctrine of human depravity and the love of God - Dr. Ichabod Spencer

“We love Him because He first loved us.” – 1 John 4:19

“The doctrine of human depravity has been called gloomy & dreadful. Aside from the gospel so it is. And unbelievers under the gospel (simply because they were unbelievers) have recoiled from its conviction, from coming down to the humble place it assigns to them. But with the gospel, if our hearts will only believe it, this truth about our entire depravity has a most glorious bearing. It helps to explain to us the love of God. He did not love us because we deserved it. He did not love us because He saw among the defilements of our character some lingering traces of holiness, some spots of light & promise, which won Him to our relief…

God loved us in our depravity, in our entire depravity. When we see this, the glorious truth brings us up to a vast elevation above the groveling of such sentiments as attribute the love of the Deity for us to His discernment of some excellencies in us which deserved His love. He made no such discovery. He loved us without it. He loved like a God…God loved us – not from the lingering attractions of our character, but from the adorable grace of His own kindness. We believing in the entire depravity of man, have this high idea of God. We carry out His love to a different thing, to an altogether different sphere of action. We make His love itself a different thing – heaven-high above all the conceptions of it which a man can ever entertain who believes that God loved us because He saw something in us to be loved. It is foundation of this love of God, on this fixed & settled conviction of its unequalled nature, that believers love Him.”

- Dr. Ichabod Spencer, We love Him because He first loved us,
The life and sermons of Dr. Ichabod Spencer, volume Three

“We love the saints because we know where they are going” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“A Christian is a man who has a new test for everyone and everything. When he meets a person for the first time he does not look at his clothing, he does not look at his general external appearance. That is the carnal way of judging people. He does not ask himself, Where has he come from, what school has he attended, what is his bank balance? Those are no longer his questions or his tests. He is interested in one thing only now. Is he a child of God, is he my brother in Christ? Are we related?

A good story is told in connection with Philip Henry, the father of Matthew Henry the Commentator. He and a certain young lady had fallen in love with each other. She belonged to a ‘higher’ circle of society than he did, but the young lady had become a Christian, and therefore social standing no longer counted with her or constituted any kind of obstacle to their marriage. Her parents, however, were not pleased, and expostulating with her they said, ‘This man Philip Henry, where has he come from?’, to which she gave the immortal reply, ‘I don’t know where he has come from, but I know where he is going’. We love the saints because we know where they are going. They and we are marching together to Zion. We belong to the same Father, to the same household, to the same family; we are going to the same home and we know it. Some of us are very difficult and very trying, and very unworthy, but, thank God, because we are God’s children we are travelling together towards our heavenly home; and we know that the day will come when all our faults and blemishes and spots and wrinkles will disappear and we shall all be glorified and perfected together, enjoying the same glorious eternity.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, sermon ‘Tests of Christian Profession’; sermon text: Ephesians 1:15,16;
an Exposition of Ephesians, volume 1: God’s Ultimate Purpose

http://www.mlj-usa.com/mlj.nsf/(PRODUCTS-BYCODE-WEB)/MLJB.2720

http://www.mlj-usa.com/mlj.nsf/(PRODUCTS-BYCODE-WEB)/MLJ.MP01EC

“On what principle God claims you” - Dr. Ichabod Spencer

"But I say the claim of the Deity to us is more frequently based on redemption than on any other principle. This is the most usual argument by which He would make us feel our obligations to Him. We cannot now enter into this article. A full examination would require a volume. But if you will notice, as you read your Bible, on what principle God claims you, you will find it the principle of redemption more frequently than the principle of creation even. It has been said that the most perfect right is that of creation; that God has more entire right over us because He created us, than for any other reason. I will not say that His right, based on creation, is not perfect, but I do say it is not more perfect than His right based on redemption, & is not so often mentioned in His Word. The principle of redemption forms even the very preamble of the moral law, the system which embraces everything of holiness: I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage (Exodus 20:2). And this redemption, you know, was typical of the spiritual deliverance of Jesus Christ. It is similar to the argument of the apostle: Ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God (1 Corinthians 6:20).”

- Dr. Ichabod Spencer