How is faith in Christ the same as faith in a chair?
Faith in Christ is like faith in a chair because both rest on the trustworthiness of the object. A chair must be faithful to hold you; Christ, having done everything necessary, is faithful to keep you. Assurance rests on His faithfulness and love, not on how much we love Him.
Les uses the chair illustration to show that faith is only as good as its object. When people came in, they did not inspect or analyze the chair to see if it would hold them; they simply trusted it. That faith assumed the chair would be faithful, and if it were not, they would go to the floor. In the same way, Christ claimed to have done everything necessary, and faith rests in that. Les says that in the eternal abode God will not say it was not what it seemed; He will declare that the blood of Christ is faithful, He is faithful, and that is why we can trust Him. Paul is driving at being kept through the faithfulness of the One who is faithful, because He loved me and gave Himself for me. The point is not how much we love Him, but how much He has loved us.