Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1609
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, July 17, 1881
“By Grace are you saved through faith.” Ephesians 2:8.
I MEAN to dwell mainly upon that expression, “Through faith.” I call attention, however, first of all, to the foun-tainhead of our salvation, which is the Grace of God. “By Grace are you saved.” Because God is gracious, therefore sinful men are forgiven, converted, purified and saved. It is not because of anything in them, or that ever can be in them, that they are saved, but because of the boundless love, goodness, pity, compassion, mercy and Grace of God. Tarry a moment, then, at the wellhead. Behold the pure river of Water of Life as it proceeds out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb. What an abyss is the Grace of God! Who can fathom it? Like all the rest of the Divine attributes, it is infinite! God is full of love, for “God is love.” God is full of goodness—the very name, “God,” is but short for, “good.”
Unbounded goodness and love enter into the very essence of the Godhead. It is because, “His mercy endures forever,” that men are not destroyed. It is because, “His compassions fail not,” that sinners are brought to Himself and forgiven. Right well remember this, for otherwise you may fall into error by fixing your minds so much upon the faith which is the channel of salvation as to forget the Grace which is the fountain and source of faith itself! Faith is the work of God’s Grace in us. No man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the Holy Spirit. “No man comes unto Me,” says Christ, “except the Father which has sent Me draw him.” So that faith, which is coming to Christ, is the result of Divine drawing!
Grace is the first and last moving cause of salvation and faith, important as it is, is only an important part of the machinery which Grace employs. We are saved “through faith,” but it is “by Grace.” Sound forth those words as with the archangel’s trumpet—“By Grace are you saved!” Faith occupies the position of a channel or conduit. Grace is the fountain and the stream—faith is the aqueduct along which the flood of mercy flows down to refresh the thirsty sons of men. It is a great pity when the aqueduct is broken. It is a sad sight to see, around Rome, the many noble aqueducts which no longer convey water into the city because the arches are broken and the marvelous structures are in ruins.
The aqueduct must be kept in tact to convey the current and, even so, faith must be true and sound, leading right up to God and coming right down to ourselves, that it may become a serviceable channel of mercy to our souls. Still, I again remind you that faith is the channel or aqueduct and not the fountainhead. We must not look so much to faith as to exalt it above the Divine source of all blessings which lie in the Grace of God. Never make a Christ out of your faith, nor think of it as if it were the independent source of your salvation. Our life is found in “looking unto Jesus,” not in looking to our own faith. By faith all things become possible to us, yet the power is not in the faith, but in the God upon whom faith relies.
Grace is the locomotive and faith is the chain by which the carriage of the soul is attached to the great motive power. The righteousness of faith is not the moral excellence of faith, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ which faith grasps and appropriates. The peace within the soul is not derived from the contemplation of our own faith—it comes to us from Him who is our peace, the hem of whose garment faith touches—and virtue comes out of Him into the soul. However, it is a very important thing that we look well to the channel and, therefore, at this time we will consider it, as God, the Holy Spirit, shall enable us. Faith. What is it? Faith. Why is it selected as the channel of blessing? Faith. How can it be obtained and increased?
I. FAITH, WHAT IS IT? What is this faith concerning which it is said, “By Grace are you 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! The Negro said, when he read the chapter, that he would confound it, and it is very likely that he did so, though he meant to expound it. So, Brethren, we may explain faith till 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. Romanist divines hold that a man can believe what he does not know. Perhaps a Romanist can, but I cannot. “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” I need to be informed of a fact before I can possibly believe it. I believe this, I believe that—but I cannot say that I believe a great many things of which I have never heard. “Faith comes by hearing.” We must first hear in order that we may know what is to be believed. “They that know Your name will put their trust in You” (Psa. 9:10). A measure of knowledge is essential to faith and, therefore, the importance of getting knowledge. “Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live”—such was the word of the ancient Prophet, and it is still the Word of the Gospel!