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Hope
Unlimited
Chapter
9: Why Are We Saved By Faith?
WHY IS FAITH SELECTED as the channel of salvation? No doubt this
inquiry is often made. Scripture gives us the assurance . . . "By grace are ye saved through
faith," but why is it so? Why is faith selected rather
than hope, or love, or patience?
It
becomes us to be modest in answering such a question, for God's ways
are not always to be understood; nor are we allowed presumptuously
to question them. 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 a gift: I put it into his hand - why?
Well, it would hardly be fitting to put it into his ear, or to lay
it upon his foot; the hand seems made on purpose to receive. So, in
our mental frame, faith is created on purpose to be a receiver: it
is the hand of the man, and there is a fitness in receiving grace by
its means.
Do
let me put this very plainly. Faith which 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 which 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, nor to
help in it, but it is content humbly to 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 plea, 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 where the
riches come form, and acknowledges that only grace and grace alone
entrusted her with these riches.
Faith,
again, is doubtless 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; for God cannot endure pride. "The proud He knows from
afar," and He has no wish to come nearer
to them. He will not give salvation in a way which will suggest or
foster pride. Paul says, "Not of works, lest any man should
boast." Now, faith excludes all boasting. The hand which
receives charity does not say, "I am to be thanked for
accepting the gift"; that would be absurd. When the hand
conveys bread to the mouth it does not say to the body, "Thank
me; for I feed you." It is a very simple thing that the hand
does though a very necessary thing; and it never arrogates 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. Faith sets the crown upon the right head, and therefore the
Lord Jesus chose to put the crown upon the head of faith, saying,
"Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace."
Next,
God selects faith as the channel 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
into connection with Him. I have often used the following
illustration, but I must repeat it, because I cannot think of a
better. I am told that years ago a boat was upset above the falls of
Niagara, and two men were being carried down the current, when
persons on the shore managed to float a rope out to them, which rope
was seized by them both. One of them held fast to it and was safely
drawn to the bank; but the other, seeing a great log come floating
by, unwisely let go the rope and clung to the log, for it was the
bigger thing of the two, and apparently better to cling to. Alas!
the log with the man on it went right over the vast abyss, because
there was no union between the log and the shore. The size of the
log was no benefit to him who grasped it; it needed a connection
with the shore to produce safety. So when a man trusts to his works,
or to sacraments, or to anything of that sort, he will not be saved,
because there is no junction between him and Christ; but faith,
though it may seem to be like a slender cord, is in the hands of the
great God on the shore side; infinite power pulls in the connecting
line, and thus draws 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
common things faith of a certain sort lies at the root of all. I
wonder whether I shall be wrong if I say that we never do anything
except through faith of some sort. If I walk across my study 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 manner of human actions.
Possibly he who derides faith in God is the man who in an evil form
has the most of faith; indeed, he usually falls into a credulity
which would be ridiculous, if it were not disgraceful. God gives
salvation to faith, because by creating faith in us He thus touches
the real mainspring of our emotions and actions. He has, so to
speak, taken possession of the battery and now He can send the
sacred current to every part of our nature. When we believe in
Jesus, 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 beyond all question love God. Faith is an
act of the understanding; but it also proceeds from the heart.
"With your heart you believe and are justified"; and this
is why God gives salvation to faith because it resides 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 which are to be eternally
manifested in the upper and better world. Faith furnishes us with
armour for this life, and education for the life to come. It enables
a man both to live and to die without fear; it prepares both for
action and for suffering; and hence the Lord selects it as a most
convenient medium 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 means? 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, use what strength he may. 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 doing so you shall live. Is not
this the promise of the gospel, "He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved"? (Mark 16:16). What can be your
objection to a way of salvation which commends itself to the mercy
and the wisdom of our gracious God?
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