ALL OF GRACE 10

10. Why are We Saved by Faith?

Why is faith selected as the channel of salvation? No doubt this question is often asked. “By grace you have been saved through faith,” is surely the doctrine of Holy Scripture, and the ordinance of God; but why is that? Why is faith selected instead of hope, or love, or patience?

It is appropriate to be modest in answering such a question, for God’s ways are not always clearly understood; nor are we allowed to question them presumptuously. Humbly we would reply that, as far as we can tell, faith has been selected as the channel of grace, because there is a natural adaptation in faith to be used as the receiver. Suppose that I am about to give a poor man an alms of money: I put it into his hand-- why? Well, it would hardly be fitting to put it into his ear, or to place it on his foot; the hand seems to be made for the purpose of receiving. So, in our mental frame, faith is created on purpose to be a receiver: it is the hand of the man, and therefore, suitable in receiving grace in this way.

Let me put this very plainly. Faith that receives Christ is as simple an act as when your child receives an apple from you, because you hold it out and promise to give him the apple if he comes for it. The belief and the receiving relate only to an apple; but they make up precisely the same act as the faith that deals with eternal salvation. What the child’s hand is to the apple, that your faith is to the perfect salvation of Christ. The child’s hand does not make the apple, nor improve the apple, nor deserve the apple; it only takes it; and faith is chosen by God to be the receiver of salvation, because it does not pretend to create salvation, or to help in it, but it is content to humbly receive it. “Faith is the tongue that begs pardon, the hand which receives it, and the eye which sees it; but it is not the price which buys it.” Faith never makes herself her own request; she rests all her argument upon the blood of Christ. She becomes a good servant to bring the riches of the Lord Jesus to the soul, because she acknowledges from where she drew them, and admits that grace alone entrusted her with them.

Again, faith is, without doubt, selected because it gives all the glory to God. It is of faith that it might be by grace, and it is of grace that there might be no boasting because God hates pride. “The haughty He knows from afar” (Psalm 138:6, ESV), and He has no wish to come nearer to them. He will not give salvation in a way that will suggest or encourage pride. Paul says, “Not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:9). Now, faith leaves out all boasting. The hand that receives charity does not say, “I am to be thanked for accepting the gift”; that would be absurd. When the hand delivers bread to the mouth it does not say to the body, “Thank me; for I feed you.” It’s a very simple thing what the hand does, though a very necessary thing; and it never inappropriately demands glory to itself for what it does. So God has selected faith to receive the unspeakable gift of His grace, because it cannot take to itself any credit, but must adore the gracious God who is the giver of all good things. Faith sets the crown upon the right head, and therefore the Lord Jesus was accustomed to put the crown upon the head of faith, saying, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace” (Luke 7:50).

Next, God selects faith as the path of salvation because it is a sure method, linking man with God. When man confides in God, there is a point of union between them, and that union guarantees blessing. Faith saves us because it makes us cling to God, and so brings us connects us to Him. I have often used the following illustration, but I must repeat it, because I cannot think of a better one. I am told that years ago a boat was capsized above the Niagara Falls: two men were being carried down the current when those on shore managed to float a rope out to them, and that rope was seized by them both. One of them held on to it tightly and was safely pulled to the bank; but the other, seeing a huge log floating by, unwisely let go of the rope and hugged the log (because the log was bigger than the rope), and apparently better to cling to. Sadly, the log with the man on it went right over the falls because there was no union between the log and the shore. The size of the log was no benefit to the man that grasped it; it needed a connection with the shore to produce safety. So when a man trusts in his works, or in sacraments, or to anything of that sort, he will not be saved, because those provide him no connection between the man and Christ; but faith, though it may seem like a slender cord, is in the hands of the great God on the shore; infinite power pulls on the connecting line, and therefore hauls the man from destruction. Oh the blessedness of faith, because it unites us to God!

Faith is chosen again, because it touches the springs of action. Even in ordinary things faith of a certain kind lies at the root of all things. I wonder whether I shall be wrong if I say that we never do anything except that it is through faith in some way. If I walk across the room it is because I believe my legs will carry me. A man eats because he believes in the necessity of food; he goes to business because he believes in the value of money; he accepts a check because he believes that the bank will honor it. Columbus discovered America because he believed that there was another continent beyond the ocean; and the Pilgrim Fathers colonized it because they believed that God would be with them on those rocky shores. Most grand deeds have been born of faith; for good or for evil, faith works wonders by the man in whom it dwells. Faith in its natural form is an all-prevailing force, which enters into all kinds of human actions. Possibly he who mocks faith in God is the man who, in an evil way, has the most of faith; indeed, he usually falls into a gullibility that would be ridiculous, if it were not disgraceful. God gives salvation through faith, because by creating faith in us He touches the real mainspring of our emotions and actions. He has taken possession of the battery, so to speak, and now He can send the sacred electric current to every part of our nature. When we believe in Christ, and the heart has come into the possession of God, then we are saved from sin, and are moved toward repentance, holiness, zeal, prayer, consecration, and every other gracious thing. “What oil is to the wheels, what weights are to a clock, what wings are to a bird, what sails are to a ship, that faith is to all holy duties and services.” Have faith, and all other graces will follow and continue to hold their course.

Faith, again, has the power of working by love; it influences the affections toward God, and draws the heart after the best things. He that believes in God will love God beyond question. Faith is an act of the understanding; but it also proceeds from the heart. “With the heart one believes unto righteousness” (Romans 10:10); and for this reason God gives salvation to faith because it lives next door to the affections, and is near akin to love; and love is the parent and the nurse of every holy feeling and act. Love to God is obedience; love to God is holiness. To love God and to love man is to be conformed to the image of Christ; and this is salvation.

Moreover, faith creates peace and joy; he that hath it rests, and is tranquil, is glad and joyous, and this is a preparation for heaven. God gives all heavenly gifts to faith, for this reason among others, that faith works in us the life and spirit that are to be eternally manifested in the upper and better world. Faith furnishes us with armor for this life, and education for the life to come. It enables a man to both live and to die without fear; it prepares both for action and for suffering; and hence the Lord selects it as a most convenient method for conveying grace to us, and thereby securing us for glory.

Certainly faith does for us what nothing else can do; it gives us joy and peace, and causes us to enter into rest. Why do men attempt to gain salvation by other way? An old preacher says, “A silly servant who is bidden to open a door, sets his shoulder to it and pushes with all his might; but the door stirs not, and he cannot enter, using whatever strength he can muster. Another comes with a key, and easily unlocks the door, and enters right readily. Those who would be saved by works are pushing at heaven’s gate without result; but faith is the key which opens the gate at once.” Reader, will you not use that key? The Lord commands you to believe in His dear Son, therefore you may do so; and in doing so you will live. Isn’t this the promise of the gospel, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16, ESV)? What can be your objection to a way of salvation that entrusts itself to the mercy and the wisdom of our gracious God?

[Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s classic, All of Grace, has been edited in Modern English by Jon Cardwell. A chapter or two will be posted each Friday.]

ALL OF GRACE 9

9. How May Faith Be Illustrated?

To make the matter of faith even clearer, I will give you a few illustrations. Though the Holy Spirit alone can make my reader see, it is my duty and my joy to furnish all the light I can, and to pray the divine Lord to open blind eyes. Oh that my reader would pray the same prayer for himself!

The faith that saves has its similarities in the human body.

It is the eye that looks. By the eye we bring into the mind those things that are far away; we can bring the sun and the distant stars into the mind by a glance of the eye. So by trust we bring the Lord Jesus near to us; and though He is far away in Heaven, He enters into our heart. Only look to Jesus; for the hymn is exactly true:

There is life in a look at the Crucified One,

There is life at this moment for thee.

Faith is the hand that grasps. When our hand takes hold of anything for itself, it does exactly what faith does when it grabs hold of Christ and the blessings of His redemption. Faith says, “Jesus is mine.” Faith hears of the pardoning blood, and cries, “I receive it to pardon me.” Faith calls the inheritance of the dying Jesus her own; and they are her own, for faith is Christ’s heir; He has given Himself and all that He has to faith. Take, O friend, that which grace has provided for thee. You will not be a thief, for you have a divine permit: “Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). Anyone that can have a treasure simply by grabbing it will be foolish indeed if he remains poor.

Faith is the mouth that feeds upon Christ. Before food can nourish us, it must be received into us. This is a simple matter-- this eating and drinking. We willingly receive into the mouth that which is our food, and then we consent that it should pass down into our inward parts, where it is taken up and absorbed into our body. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Romans, in the tenth chapter, “The word is near you, in your mouth” (Romans 10:8). Now then, all that is to be done is to swallow it, to allow it to go down into the soul. Oh that men had an appetite! A hungry man that sees meat in front of him does not need to be taught how to eat. Someone once said, “Give me a knife and a fork and a chance.” He was fully prepared to do the rest. Truly, a heart that hungers and thirsts after Christ only needs to know that He is freely given, and at once it will receive Him. If this sounds like you, don’t hesitate to receive Jesus; for he may be sure that he will never be blamed for doing so: for unto “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). He never rejects one, but He authorizes all who have come to remain sons forever.

The pursuits of life illustrate faith in many ways. The farmer buries good seed in the earth, and expects it not only to live, but also to be multiplied. He has faith in the covenant arrangement, that “seed-time and harvest shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22), and he is rewarded for his faith.

The merchant places his money in the care of a banker, and completely trusts the honesty and soundness of the bank. He entrusts his wealth to hands of another, and feels far more at ease than if he had the solid gold locked up in an iron safe.

The sailor trusts himself to the sea. When he swims he takes his foot from the bottom and rests upon the buoyant ocean. He could not swim if he did not complete cast himself into the water.

The goldsmith puts precious metal into the fire, which seems eager to consume it, but he receives it back again from the furnace purified by the heat.

You cannot turn anywhere in life without seeing faith in operation between man and man, or between man and natural law. Now, just as we trust in daily life, even so, we are to trust in God as He is revealed in Christ Jesus.

Faith exists in different persons in various degrees, according to the amount of their knowledge or growth in grace. Sometimes faith is little more than a simple clinging to Christ, a sense of dependence and a willingness to truly depend. When you are down at the seashore, you will see limpets sticking to the rock. You walk carefully up to the rock; you strike the mollusk using a rapid blow with a stick, and off he comes. Try the next limpet in that way. You have given him warning; he heard the blow with which you struck his neighbor, and he clings with all his might. You will never get him off. Not you! Strike, and strike again, but you may as soon break the rock. Our little friend, the limpet, does not know much, but he clings. He is not acquainted with the geological formation of the rock, but he clings. He can cling, and he has found something to cling to: this is all his stock of knowledge, and he uses it for his security and salvation. It is the limpet’s life to cling to the rock, and it is the sinner’s life to cling to Jesus. Thousands of God’s people have no more faith than this; they know enough to cling to Jesus with all their heart and soul, and this is sufficient for the present peace and eternal safety. Jesus Christ is to them a Savior strong and mighty, a Rock immovable and immutable; they cling to him for dear life, and this clinging saves them. Reader, cannot you cling? Do so at once.

Faith is seen when one man relies upon another from knowledge of the superiority of the other. This is a higher faith; the faith which knows the reason for its dependence, and acts upon it. I do not think the limpet knows much about the rock: but as faith grows it becomes more and more intelligent. A blind man trusts himself with his guide because he knows that his friend can see, and, trusting, he walks where his guide conducts him. If the poor man is born blind he does not know what sight is; but he knows that there is such a thing as sight, and that his friend possesses it and therefore he freely puts his hand into the hand of the seeing one, and follows his leadership. “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). This is as good an image of faith as can be; we know that Jesus has merit, and power, and blessing, which we do not possess, and therefore we gladly trust ourselves to Him to be to us what we cannot be to ourselves. We trust Him as the blind man trusts his guide. He never betrays our confidence; but He “became for us wisdom from God-- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Every boy that goes to school has to exert faith while learning. His teachers teach him geography, and instruct him as to the form of the earth, and the existence of certain great cities and empires. The boy himself does not know whether or not these things are true, except that he believes his teacher, and the books put into his hands. That is what you will have to do with Christ, if you are to be saved; you must simply know because He tells you, believe because He assures you it is even so, and trust yourself with Him because He promises you that salvation will be the result. Almost all that you and I know has come to us by faith. A scientific discovery has been made, and we are sure of it. On what grounds do we believe it? On the authority of certain famous, educated men, whose reputations are established. We have never made or seen their experiments, but we believe their witness. You must do likewise with regard to Jesus: because He teaches you certain truths if you are to be His disciple, and believe His words; because He has performed certain acts you are to be His client, and trust yourself with Him. He is infinitely superior to you, and presents Himself to your confidence as your Master and Lord. If you will receive Him and His words you shall be saved.

Another and a higher form of faith is that faith which grows out of love. Why does a boy trust his father? The reason why the child trusts his father is because he loves him. Blessed and happy are they who have a sweet faith in Jesus, intertwined with deep affection for Him, for this is a restful confidence. These lovers of Jesus are charmed with His character, and delighted with His mission, they are carried away by the loving kindness that He has manifested, and therefore they cannot help trusting Him, because they so much admire, revere, and love Him.

The way of loving trust in the Savior may be illustrated in this way: A lady is the wife of the most famous physician of the day. She suffers an attack from a dangerous illness, and is confined to bed by its power; yet she is wonderfully calm and quiet, for her husband has made this disease his special study, and has healed thousands who were similarly afflicted. She is not in the least troubled, for she feels perfectly safe in the hands of one so dear to her, and in whom skill and love are blended in their highest forms. Her faith is reasonable and natural; her husband, from every point of view, deserves it of her. This is the kind of faith that the happiest of believers exercise toward Christ. There is no physician like Him, none can save as He can; we love Him, and He loves us, and therefore we put ourselves into His hands, accept whatever He prescribes, and do whatever He bids. We feel that nothing can be wrongly ordered while He is the director of our affairs; for He loves us too well to let us perish, or suffer a single needless pang.

Faith is the root of obedience, and this may be clearly seen in the matters of life. When a captain trusts a pilot to steer his ship into port he manages the vessel according to his direction. When a traveler trusts a guide to lead him over a difficult pass, he follows the track that his guide points out. When a patient believes in a physician, he carefully follows his prescriptions and directions. Faith that refuses to obey the commands of the Savior is a mere pretence, and will never save the soul. We trust Jesus to save us; He gives us directions as to the way of salvation; we follow those directions and are saved. Don’t forget this: Trust Jesus, and prove your trust by doing whatever He requests of you.

A notable form of faith arises out of assured knowledge; this comes of growth in grace, and is the faith that believes Christ because it knows Him, and trusts Him because it has proved Him to be infallibly faithful. An old Christian was in the habit of writing T and P in the margin of her Bible whenever she had tried and proved a promise. How easy it is to trust a tried and proven Savior! You cannot do this as yet, but you will. Everything must have a beginning. You will rise to strong faith in due time. This matured faith asks not for signs and tokens, but bravely believes. Look at the faith of the master mariner-- I have often wondered at it. His lines are cast off from the pier and he steams away from the land. For days, weeks, or even months, he never sees ship or shore; yet on he goes day and night without fear, until one morning he finds himself exactly opposite to the desired harbor toward which he has been steering. How did he find his way over the trackless deep? He has trusted in his compass, his nautical charts and almanac, his binoculars, and the stars at night; and obeying their guidance, without sighting land, he has steered so accurately that he didn’t need to change a single point to enter into port. It is a wonderful thing-- that sailing or steaming without sight. Spiritually it is a blessed thing to leave the shores of sight and feeling altogether, and to say, “Good-bye” to inward feelings, cheering providences, signs, tokens, and so forth. It is glorious to be far out on the ocean of divine love, believing in God, and steering for Heaven straight away by the direction of the Word of God. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29); to them it shall be administered an abundant entrance at last, and a safe voyage on the way. Won’t you put your trust in God in Christ Jesus, my reader? There I rest with joyous confidence. Brother, come with me, and believe our Father and our Savior. Come at once.

[Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s classic, All of Grace, has been edited in Modern English by Jon Cardwell. A chapter or two will be posted each Friday.]

ALL OF GRACE 8

8. What is Faith?

What is this faith concerning which it is said, “By grace you have been saved, through faith?” There are many descriptions of faith; but almost all the definitions I have met with have made me understand it less than I did before I saw them. Someone said that when he read the chapter that he would confound it; and it is very likely that he did, though he meant to expound it. We may explain faith until nobody understands it. I hope I shall not be guilty of that fault. Faith is the simplest of all things, and perhaps because of its simplicity it is the more difficult to explain.

What is faith? It is made up of three things-- knowledge, belief, and trust. Knowledge comes first. “And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14). I want to be informed of a fact before I can possibly believe it. “Faith comes by hearing” (Romans 10:17); we must first hear, in order that we may know what is to be believed. “Those who know Your name will put their trust in You” (Psalm 9:10). A measure of knowledge is essential to faith; hence the importance of getting knowledge. “Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live” (Isaiah 55:3). Such was the Word of the ancient prophet, and it is the word of the gospel still. Search the Scriptures and learn what the Holy Spirit teaches concerning Christ and His salvation. Seek to know God: “for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). May the Holy Spirit give you the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord! Know the gospel: know what the good news is, how it talks of free forgiveness, and of change of heart, of adoption into the family of God, and of countless other blessings. Know especially Christ Jesus the Son of God, the Savior of men, united to us by His human nature, and yet one with God; and thus able to act as Mediator between God and man, able to lay His hand upon both, and to be the connecting link between the sinner and the Judge of all the earth. Make an effort to know more and more of Christ Jesus. Try especially to know the doctrine of the sacrifice of Christ; for the point upon which saving faith mainly fixes itself is this-- “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Know that Jesus was made “a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)” (Galatians 3:13). Drink deep of the doctrine of the substitutionary work of Christ; for it is found in that truth the sweetest possible comfort to the guilty sons of men, since the Lord “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Faith begins with knowledge.

The mind goes on to believe that these things are true. The soul believes that God is, and that He hears the cries of sincere hearts; that the gospel is from God; that justification by faith is the grand truth which God hath revealed in these last days by His Spirit more clearly than before. Then the heart believes that Jesus is verily, and in truth, our God and Savior, the Redeemer of men, the Prophet, Priest, and King of His people. All this is accepted as sure truth, not to be questioned. I pray that you may come to this at once. Get firmly to believe that “the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s dear Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7); that His sacrifice is complete and fully accepted of God on man’s behalf, so that he that believes on Jesus is not condemned. Believe these truths as you believe any other statements, for the difference between common faith and saving faith lies mainly in the subjects upon which it is exercised. Believe the witness of God just as you believe the testimony of your own father or friend. “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater” (1 John 5:9).

So far you have made an advance toward faith; only one more ingredient is needed to complete it, which is trust. Commit yourself to the merciful God; rest your hope on the gracious gospel; trust your soul on the dying and living Savior; wash away your sins in the atoning blood; receive His perfect righteousness, and all is well. Trust is the lifeblood of faith; there is no saving faith without it. The Puritans were accustomed to explain faith by the word “recumbency.” It meant to lean upon something; lean upon Christ with all your weight. It would be a better illustration still if I said, fall flat on your face and lie on the Rock of Ages. Cast yourself upon Jesus; rest in Him; commit yourself to Him. That accomplished, you have exercised saving faith. Faith is not a blind thing because faith begins with knowledge. It is not a speculative thing because faith believes facts that are true and certain. It is not an unpractical, dreamy thing because faith trusts, and stakes its destiny upon the truth who and what has been revealed. That is one way of describing what faith is.

Let me try again. Faith is believing that Christ is what He is said to be, and that He will do what He has promised to do, and then to expect this of Him. The Scriptures speak of Jesus Christ as being God, God is human flesh; as being perfect in His character; as being made of a sin-offering on our behalf; as bearing our sins in His own body on the Tree. The Scripture speaks of Him as having finished transgression, made an end of sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness. The sacred records also tell us that He “rose again from the dead” (1 Thessalonians 4:14), that “He always lives to make intercession for” us (Hebrews 7:25), that He has gone up into the glory, and has taken possession of Heaven on the behalf of His people, and that He will shortly come again to “judge the world in righteousness, and His people with equity” (Psalm 98:9). We are to believe most firmly that it is so; for this is the testimony of God the Father when He said, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him” (Luke 9:35). God the Holy Spirit also testified to this; for the Spirit has borne witness to Christ, both in the inspired Word and by various miracles, and by His working in the hearts of men. We are to believe that this testimony is true.

Faith also believes that Christ will do what He has promised; that since He has promised not to cast out a single one that comes to Him, it is certain that He will not cast us out if we come to Him. Faith believes that since Jesus said, “The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14), it must be true; and if we get this living Water from Christ it will abide in us, and will well up within us in streams of holy life. Whatever Christ has promised to do He will do, and we must believe this, so we can look for pardon, justification, preservation, and eternal glory from His hands, according to His promise for them that believe in Him.

Then comes the next necessary step. Jesus is what He is said to be, Jesus will do what He says He will do; therefore we must each one trust Him, saying, “He will be to me what He says He is, and He will do to me what He has promised to do; I leave myself in the hands of Him who is appointed to save, that He may save me. I rest upon His promise that He will do just as He has said.” This is a saving faith, and he that has it has everlasting life. Whatever his dangers and difficulties, whatever his darkness and depression, whatever his infirmities and sins, he that believes on Christ Jesus is not condemned, and shall never come into condemnation.

May that explanation be of some service! I trust it may be used by the Spirit of God to direct my reader into immediate peace. “Do not be afraid; only believe” (Mark 5:36). Trust, and be at rest.

I fear that the reader should rest content with understanding with what is to be done, and yet never do it. Better the poorest real faith actually at work, than the best ideal of it left in the area of assumption. The great matter is to believe on the Lord Jesus at once. Never mind distinctions and definitions. A hungry man eats even though he does not understand what ingredients came together to make the meal, the anatomy of his mouth, or the process of digestion: he lives because he eats. Another far more clever person understands thoroughly the science of nutrition; but if he does not eat he will die with all his knowledge. There are many in hell, no doubt, who this very moment understood the doctrine of faith, but did not believe. On the other hand, not one who has trusted in the Lord Jesus has ever been cast out, though he may never have been able intelligently to define his faith. Oh dear reader, receive the Lord Jesus into your soul, and you shall live forever! He that believes in Him has everlasting life (John 6:47).

[Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s classic, All of Grace, has been edited in Modern English by Jon Cardwell. A chapter or two will be posted each Friday.]