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.]