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.]