It won’t save me to know that Christ is a Savior; but it will save me to trust Him as my Savior. I won’t be delivered from the coming wrath just by believing that His atonement is sufficient; but I will be saved by making that atonement my trust, my refuge, and my everything. The core of faith lies in

this—throwing oneself on God’s promise. It’s not the life buoy on the ship that saves the drowning man, nor his belief that it’s a good and effective invention. No! He must have it around his waist or his hand on it, or else he will sink.

Only a living faith that works in the heart and influences our desires and affections can be the faith of God’s chosen. A moonlight faith, which has light but no warmth, is a thing of the night, and it’s not the faith of the children of the day. A faith

that lives in the cold attic of the brain and never descends into the living room and banquet hall of the heart will freeze and starve. That’s not the kind of faith the Holy Spirit creates in us.