Spurgeon's insights are worth repeating on the subject of salvation.
BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH
"By grace are ye saved, through faith" (Ephesians
2:8 ).
I THINK IT WELL to turn a little to one side
that I may ask my reader to observe adoringly the
fountain-head of our salvation, which is the grace
of God. "By grace are ye 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 well-head.
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
measure its breadth? Who can fathom its depth?
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 short
for "good." Unbounded goodness and love enter
into the very essence of the Godhead. It is because
"his mercy endureth for ever" that men are not
destroyed; because "his compassions fail not" that
sinners are brought to Him and forgiven.
Remember this; or 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 even 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 Ghost. "No
man cometh unto me," saith Jesus, "except the
Father which hath 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, essential as it is, is
only an important part of the machinery which
grace employs. We are saved "through faith," but
salvation is "by grace." Sound forth those words as
with the archangel's trumpet: "By grace are ye
saved." What glad tidings for the undeserving!
Faith occupies the position of a channel or conduit
pipe. 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 entire 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 only the
channel or aqueduct, and not the fountainhead, and
we must not look so much to it as to exalt it above
the divine source of all blessing which lies in the
grace of God. Never make a Christ out of your
faith, nor think of 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 powerful engine,
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; but 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.
See then, dear friend, that the weakness of your
faith will not destroy you. A trembling hand may
receive a golden gift. The Lord's salvation can
come to us though we have only faith as a grain of
mustard seed. The power lies in the grace of God,
and not in our faith. Great messages can be sent
along slender wires, and the peace-giving witness
of the Holy Spirit can reach the heart by means of
a thread-like faith which seems almost unable to
sustain its own weight. Think more of Him to
whom you look than of the look itself. You must
look away even from your own looking, and see
nothing but Jesus, and the grace of God revealed in
Him.
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