How Is Salvation Received?

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 1, 1877,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by Grace; to the end the
promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the
Law, but to that, also, which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the
father of us all." Romans 4:16.

WE shall turn during yet another Sabbath morning to one of the great
vital Truths of the Gospel. I feel it to be more and more important to
bring forward the fundamental doctrines since they are, in certain
quarters, placed so much in the background. I met with a remark the
other day that even the evangelical pulpit needs to be evangelized–I
am afraid it is too true and, therefore, we will give such prominence
to the Gospel and to its central Doctrine of Justification by Faith,
that no such remark shall be applicable to us. We have heard it said
that if an instrument could be invented which would serve the same
purpose towards sermons as the lactometer does towards milk, you would,
with great difficulty, be able to discover any trace of the
unadulterated milk of the Word of God in large numbers of modern
discourses.

I shall not subscribe to any sweeping censure, but I am afraid there is
too much ground for the accusation. In abundance of sermons, the polish
of the rhetoric is greatly in excess of the weight of the doctrine and
"the wisdom of words" is far more conspicuous than the Cross of Christ.
Besides, the Gospel is always needed. There are always some persons who
urgently need it and will perish unless they receive it. It is a matter
of hourly necessity! There may be finer and more artistic things to
speak about than the simplicities of Christ, but there are certainly no
more useful and requisite things.

The signposts at the crossroads bear very simple words, generally
consisting of the names of the towns and villages to which the roads
lead. But if these were painted out and their places supplied with
stanzas from Byron, or stately lines from Milton, or deep thoughts from
Cowper or Young, I am afraid there would be grievous complaints from
persons losing their way! They would declare that however excellent the
poetry might be, they thought it an impertinence to mock them with a
verse when they needed plain directions as to the king's highway! So
let those who will, indulge in poetical thoughts and express them in
high-flown language–it shall be ours to set up the signposts marking
out the way of salvation and to keep them painted in letters large and
plain–so that he who runs may read.

There is another reason for giving the Gospel over and over, again and
again. It is the reason which makes the mother tell her child 20 times,
namely, because 19 times are not enough! Men are so forgetful about the
things of Christ and their minds are so apt to step aside from the
Truth of God, that when they have learned the Gospel they are very
easily bewitched by falsehood and are readily deceived by that "other
gospel" which is not another! Therefore we need to give them "line upon
line and precept upon precept." I scarcely remember the old rustic
rhyme, but I remember hearing it sung in my boyish days when the
country people were planting beans according to the old plan of putting
three into each hole–I think it ran thus–

"One for the worm and one for the crow, And let us hope the other will
grow." We must be content to plant many seeds in the hope that one will
take root and bear fruit! The worm and crow are always at work and will
be sure to get their full share of our sowing and, therefore, let us
sow the more! Come we, then, to our text and to the Gospel of faith.
Last Lord's Day the theme was, "For whom is the Gospel meant?" And the
reply was, for sinners. The question, today, is, "How is the Gospel
received?" The answer is, by faith. Our first head shall be the fact–
"it is of faith." Secondly, the first reason for this– "that it might
be by Grace." And thirdly, the further reason– "to the end that the
promise might be sure to all the seed."

I. First, then, here is THE FACT–it is of faith. What does the "it"
refer to? It is of faith. If you will read the context, I think you
will consider that it refers to the promise, although some have said
that the antecedent word or thought is, "the inheritance." This matters
very little, if at all–it may mean the inheritance, the Covenant, or
the promise, for these are one. To give a wide word which will take in
all–the blessedness which comes to a man in Christ, the blessedness
promised by the Covenant of Grace is of faith–in one word, salvation
is offaith!

And what is faith? It is believing the promise of God, taking God at
His word and acting upon that belief by trusting in Him. Some of the
Puritans used to divide faith improperly, but still instructively, into
three parts. The first was self-renunciation, which is, perhaps, rather
a preparation for faith than faith itself. In it a man confesses that
he cannot trust in himself and so goes out of self and all confidence
in his own good works. The second part of faith, they said, was
reliance in which a man, believing the promise of God, trusts Him,
depends upon Him and leaves his soul in the Savior's hands. And then
they said the third part of faith was appropriation by which a man
takes to himself that which God presents in the promise to the
Believer–he appropriates it as his own, feeds upon it and enjoys it.

Certainly there is no true faith without self-renunciation, reliance
and at least a measure of appropriation–where these three are found,
there is faith in the soul. We shall, however, better understand what
faith is as we proceed with our subject, if God the Holy Spirit will be
pleased to enlighten us. Dear Friends, you can easily see that the
blessing was of faith in Abraham's case–and it is precisely the same
with all those who, by faith, are the children of believing Abraham!
First, it was so in the case of Abraham. Abraham obtained the promise
by faith and not by works nor by the energy of the flesh. He relied
alone upon the Divine promise.

We read in the 17th verse–"(As it is written, I have made you a father
of many nations), before Him whom he believed, even God, who quickens
the dead and calls those things which are not as though they were."
Abraham's faith consisted in believing the promise of God and this he
did firmly and practically. He was far away in Chaldea when the Lord
called him out and promised to give him a land and a seed. And
straightway he went forth, not knowing where he went. When he came into
Canaan, he had no settled resting place, but wandered about in tents,
still believing most fully that the land in which he sojourned as a
stranger was his own.

God promised to give him a seed and yet he had no children. Year
followed year and in the course of nature he grew old and his wife was
long past the age of child-bearing–and yet there was no son born to
them. When at last Ishmael was born, his hope in that direction was
dashed to the ground, for he was informed that the Covenant was not
with Ishmael–believing Abraham had stepped aside to carnal expediency
and had hoped, in that way, to realize the lingering promise! But he
had 14 more years to wait–till he was 100 years old and till Sarah had
reached her 90th year! Yet he believed the word of the Lord and fell
upon his face and laughed with holy joy and said in his heart, "Shall a
child be born unto him that is 100 years old?" So, too, when Isaac was
born and grown up, he believed that in Isaac should the Covenant be
established. Nor did he doubt this when the Lord bade him take Isaac
and offer him up as a sacrifice! He obeyed without questioning,
believing that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead, or in some
other way to keep His word of promise.

Now consider that we have multiplied promises and those are written
down in black and white in the Inspired Word, which we may consult at
any time we please, while Abraham had only, now and then, a verbal
promise–and yet he clung to it and relied upon it. Though there was
nothing else to rely upon and neither sign nor evidence of any
offspring to fulfill the promise that he should be heir of the world
and father of many nations, yet he needed no other ground of confidence
but that God had said it and that He would make His word good. There
was in Abraham, also, an eye to the central point of the promise–the
Messiah–Jesus, our Lord.

I do not know that Abraham understood all the spiritual meaning of the
Covenant made with him. Probably he did not. But he did understand that
the Christ was to be born of him, in whom all nations should be
blessed. When the Lord said that He would make him a blessing and in
him should all nations of the earth be blessed, I do not suppose
Abraham saw all the fullness of that marvelous word–but he did see
that he was to be the progenitor of the Messiah. Our Lord, Himself, is
my Authority for this assertion–"Abraham saw My day, he saw it and was
glad" (John 8:56). Though there appeared to this man, old and withered,
with a wife 90 years of age, no likelihood that he should ever become a
father, yet did he fully believe that he would be the father of many
nations–and that upon no basis whatever but that the living God had so
promised him and, therefore, so it must be!

This faith of Abraham we find considered no difficulties whatever. "Who
against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many
nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall your seed be. And
being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when
he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:
he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief." Brothers and
Sisters, these were, in themselves, terrible difficulties–enough to
make a man fear that the promise did but mock him–but Abraham did not
consider anything beyond the promise and the God who gave it! The
difficulties were for God to consider–not for him! He knew that God
had made the world out of nothing and that He supported all things by
the word of His power and, therefore, he felt that nothing was too hard
for Him!

His own advanced years and the age of his wife were of no consequence.
He did not take them into the reckoning, but saw only a faithful
Almighty God and felt content. O noble faith! Faith such as God
deserves! Faith such as none render to Him but those whom He calls by
Irresistible Grace! This it was which justified Abraham and made him
the father of Believers! Abraham's faith, also, gave glory to God. I
stopped in the middle of the 20th verse just now, but we must now
complete the reading of it. "But was strong in faith, giving glory to
God." God had promised and he treated the Lord's promise with becoming
reverence. He did not impiously suspect the Lord of falsehood, or of
mocking His servant, or of uttering today what He might take back
tomorrow.

Abraham knew that Jehovah is not a man, that He should lie, nor the son
of man that He should repent. Abraham glorified the Truth of God and,
at the same time, he glorified His power! He was quite certain that the
Lord had not spoken beyond His line, but that what He had promised He
was able to perform. It belongs to puny man to speak more than he can
do–full often his tongue is longer than his arm–but with the Lord it
is never so. Has He said, and shall He not do it? Is anything too hard
for the Lord? Abraham adoringly believed in the immutability, truth and
power of the living God–and looked for the fulfillment of His words!

All this strong, unstaggering faith which glorified God rested upon the
Lord alone. You will see that it was so by reading the 21st verse.
"Being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able, also,
to perform." There was nothing whatever in his house, his wife,
himself, or anywhere else which could guarantee the fulfillment of the
promise. He had only God to look to–only, did I say?–What could a man
have more? Yet so it was. There were no signs, marks, tokens, or
indications to substantiate the confidence of Abraham! He rested solely
upon the unlimited power of God! And this, dear Brothers and Sisters,
is the kind of faith which God loves and honors–which needs no signs,
marks, evidences, helps, or other buttresses to support the plain and
sure Word of the Lord–but simply knows that Jehovah has said it and
that He will make it good!

Though all things should give the promise the lie, we believe in it
because we believe in God. True faith ridicules impossibility and pours
contempt upon improbability, knowing that Omnipotence and Immutability
cannot be thwarted or hindered. Has God said it? Then so it is! Dictum!
Factum! Spoken! Done! These two are one with the Most High! Well, now,
the faith of every man who is saved must be of this character. Every
man who receives salvation receives it by a faith like that of Abraham,
for, my Brothers and Sisters, when we are saved we, too, take the
promise of God and depend upon it! To one Believer, one Word of God is
applied. To another, some sweet Word, most sure and steadfast, is
discovered upon which we fix our hope and find an anchor for our
spirit. Yes, and as we search the Word by faith–we take each promise
as we find it and we say, "this is true," and, "this is true," and so
we rest upon all of them!

Is it not so with all of you who have peace with God? Did you not gain
it by resting upon the promises of God as you found it in the Word and
as it was opened up to you by the Holy Spirit? Have you any other
ground of confidence but God's promise? I know you have not, my
Brethren, nor do you desire any! And we, also, believe in God over the
head of great difficulties. If it were difficult for Abraham to believe
that a son should be born to him, I think it is harder for a poor
burdened sinner, conscious of his great guilt–conscious that God must
punish him, also, for that guilt–to believe, nevertheless, in the
hopeful things which the Gospel prophesies unto him!

Can I believe that the righteous God is looking upon me, a sinner, with
eyes of love? Can I believe that though I have offended Him and broken
all His Laws, He, nevertheless, waits to be gracious to me? While my
heart is heavy and the prospect is black around me and I see nothing
but a terrible Hell to be my eternal portion–can I, at such a time,
believe that God has planned my redemption and given His Son to die for
me–and that now He invites me to come and receive a full, perfect and
immediate pardon at His hands? Can the Gospel message be true to such a
worthless rebel as I am?

It seems as if the Law and Justice of God set themselves against the
truth of such wonderful deeds of mercy as the Gospel announces! And it
is hard for a stricken heart to believe the report–but the faith which
saves the soul believes the Gospel promise in the teeth of all its
alarms and, notwithstanding, all the thunders of the Law! Despite the
trepidation of the awakened spirit, the Holy Spirit enables it to
accept the great Father's promise, to rest upon the propitiation which
He has set forth and to quiet itself with the firm persuasion that God,
for Christ's sake, does put away its sin.

At the same time another grand miracle is also believed in, namely,
regeneration. This seems to me to be quite as great an act of faith as
for Abraham to believe in the birth of a child by two parents who were
both advanced in years. The case stands thus–here am I, dead by
nature–dead in trespasses and sins. The deadness of Abraham and Sarah,
according to nature, was not greater than the deadness of my soul to
every good thing. Is it possible, then, that I should live unto God?
That within this stony heart there should yet throb eternal life and
Divine Love? That I should come to delight in God? Can it be that with
such a depraved and deceitful heart as mine should yet rise to
fellowship with the holy God and should call Him my Father and feel the
spirit of adoption within my heart?

Can I, who now dread the Lord, yet come to rejoice in Him? "Oh," says
the poor troubled sinner, "can I, that have fought against the Throne
of God. I that even tried to doubt His existence–can I ever come to be
at perfect peace with Him so that He shall call me His friend and
reveal His secrets to me and listen to my voice in prayer? Is it
possible?" The faith which saves the soul believes in the possibility
of regeneration and sanctification–no, more–it believes in Jesus and
obtains for us power to become children of God and strength to conquer
sin! This is believing God, indeed!

Look this way, yet again, for here is another difficulty. We know that
we must persevere to the end, for only he that endures to the end shall
be saved. Does it not seem incredible that such feeble, fickle, foolish
creatures as we are should continue in faith and the fear of God all
our lives? Yet this we must do! The faith which saves, enables us to
believe that we shall persevere, for it is persuaded that the Redeemer
is able to keep that which we have committed unto Him, that He will
perfect that which concerns us, that He will suffer none to pluck us
out of His hands and that having begun the good work in us He will
carry it on! This is faith worthy of the father of the faithful!

Once again, let us behold another difficulty for faith. We believe,
according to God's promise, that we shall one day be "without spot or
wrinkle, or any such thing." I do believe that this head shall wear a
crown of glory and that this hand shall wave a palm branch. I am fully
assured that He will one day sweetly say to me–

"Close your eyes that you may see What I ha ve in store for thee. Lay
your arms of warfare down, Fall that you may win a crown." We, all, who
are Believers in Jesus, shall one day be without fault before the
Throne of God! But how is this to be? Surely our confidence is that He
who has promised it is able to perform it! This is the faith which
finds its way to Glory–the faith which expects to enter into the
Redeemer's joy because of the Redeemer's love and life!

Brothers and Sisters, in this matter we see the difficulties, but we do
not consider them–we count them as less than nothing since Omnipotence
has come into the field. "Thanks be unto God which gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ." We know that our Redeemer lives and
that because He lives, we shall, also–live and be with Him where He
is! At the end of the chapter we are told that this saving faith rests
in the power of God as manifested in Jesus– "If we believe in Him who
was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our
justification." Beloved, we believe that Jesus died, as certainly died
as ever any man died–and yet on the morning of the third day He rose
again from the dead by Divine power.

It is not, to us, an incredible thing that God should raise the dead!
We, therefore, believe that because God has raised the dead He has
raised us, also, from our death in sin and that He will raise our
bodies from the tomb after they shall have slept, awhile, in the earth.
We believe, also, that our Lord Jesus died for our offenses and put
them away. Our faith builds upon the substitution of the Lord Jesus on
our behalf and it rests there with firm confidence. We believe, also,
that He rose again because His substitution was accepted and because
our offenses were forever put away–rose again to prove that we are
justified in Him! This is where we stand! I expect to be saved, not at
all because of what I am, nor of what I can do, nor because of anything
I ever shall be able to be or to do–but only because God has promised
to save those who believe in Jesus Christ through what the Lord Jesus
has suffered in their place.

Because Jesus has risen to prove that His suffering was accepted on the
behalf of Believers, there do we rest and trust, and that is the way in
which every Believer is saved–that way and no way else. Even as
Abraham believed, so do we! Here is the fact–it is of faith.

II. Now we come to the second point. Here we are to consider THE FIRST
REASON why God has chosen to make salvation by faith, "that it might be
of Grace." Now, dear Friends, the Lord might have willed to make the
condition of salvation a mitigated form of works. If He had done so, it
would not have been of Grace, for it is a principle which I need not
explain now, but a fixed principle, that if the blessing is of Grace it
is no more of works, otherwise Grace is no more Grace. And if it is of
works, it is no more of Grace, otherwise work is no more work.

As water and oil will not mix, and as fire and water will not lie down
side by side in quiet, so neither will the principle of merit and the
principle of free favor. You cannot make a legal work to be a condition
of a gracious blessing without at once introducing an alien element and
really bringing the soul under the Covenant of Works and so spoiling
the whole plan of mercy! Grace and faith are congruous and will draw
together in the same chariot, but Grace and merit are contrary, the one
to the other, and pull opposite ways and, therefore, God has not chosen
to yoke them together. He will not build with incongruous materials or
daub with untempered mortar. He will not make an image partly of gold
and partly of clay, nor weave a linsey-woolsey garment–His work is all
of one piece and that one piece is all Grace!

Again, in Abraham's case, inasmuch as he received, by faith, the
blessing which God promised him, it is very evident that it was of
Grace. You never heard anyone ascribe Abraham's salvation to his merits
and yet Abraham was an eminently holy man. There are specks in his
life–and in whose life will there not be found infirmities?–but he
was one of the grandest characters of history. Still, no man thinks of
Abraham as a self-justifying person, or as at all related to the
Pharisee who said, "God, I thank You that I am not as other men." I
never heard anybody hint that the great Patriarch had reason to glory
before God. His name is not " the father of the innocent," but, "the
father of the faithful."

When we read of Abraham's life, we see that God called him by an act of
Sovereign Grace, made a Covenant with him as an act of Grace and that
the promised child was born–not of the power of the flesh, but
entirely according to promise. Grace reigns through righteousness unto
eternal life in the life of the Patriarch and it is illustrated in a
thousand ways whenever we see his faith receiving the promises! The
holiness of Abraham, since it arose out of his faith, never leads us to
ascribe his blessedness to anything but the Grace of God!

Now, inasmuch as we are saved by faith, every Believer is made to see
in himself that, in his own instance, it is by Grace. Believing is such
a self-renounciating act that no man who looks for eternal life thereby
ever talked about his own merits except to count them but dross and
dung. No, Brothers and Sisters, the child of the promise cannot live in
the same house with the son of the bondwoman. When Isaac grows up,
Ishmael must depart–the principle of believing unto everlasting life
will not endure a hint about human merit. Those who believe in
Justification by Faith are the only persons who can believe in
salvation by Grace!

The Believer may grow in Grace till he becomes fully assured of his own
salvation, yes, and he may become holiness unto the Lord in a very
remarkable manner, being wholly consecrated to God in body, soul and
spirit. But you will never hear the believing man speak of his
experience, or attainments, or achievements as a reason for glorying in
himself, or as an argument for becoming more confident as to his
safety. He dares not trust his works, or states of feeling, for he
feels that he stands by faith. He cannot get away from simple faith,
for the moment he attempts to do so, he feels the ground going from
under him and he begins to sink into horrible confusion of spirit.
Therefore he returns to his rest and resolves to abide in faith in his
risen Savior, for there he abides in the Grace of God.

Through the prominence given to faith, the Truth of God of salvation by
Grace is so conspicuously revealed that even the outside world is
compelled to see it, though the only result may be to make them raise
trivial objections. They charge us with preaching too much concerning
Grace because they hear us magnifying and extolling the plan of
salvation by faith. They readily perceive that a gift promised to faith
must be a gift of Grace and not a reward for services done. Only begin
to preach salvation by works or ceremonies and nobody will accuse you
of saying too much of Grace! But keep to faith and you are sure to keep
to the preaching of Grace!

Moreover, faith never did clash with Grace. When the sinner comes and
trusts Christ and Christ says to him, "I forgive you freely by My
Grace," Faith says, "O Lord, that is what I need and what I believe in.
I ask You to deal with me even so." "But if I give you everlasting
life, it will not be because you deserve it, but for My own name's
sake." Faith

replies, "O Lord, that, also, is precisely as I desire! It is the sum
and substance of my prayer." When Faith grows strong and takes to
pleading in prayer (and oh how mighty she is with God in supplication,
moving His Omnipotence to her mind), yet all her pleadings are based on
Grace–none of them upon the merit of the creature! Never yet did Faith
borrow weapons from Mount Sinai! Never once did she ask as though the
favor were a debt, but she always holds to the promise of the gracious
God and expects all things from the faithfulness of her God.

Yes, and when Faith grows strongest and attains to her highest stature
and is most full of delight, so that she dances for very joy, yet she
never, in all her exultation, boasts or exalts herself! Where is
boasting, then? It is excluded! By the Law of works? No, but by the Law
offaith! Faith and carnal boasting never yet walked together! If a man
should boast of the strength of his faith, it would be clear evidence
that he had none at all, or at least that he had, for the time, fallen
into vainglorious presumption. Boasting? No, Faith loves to lie low and
behave herself as a little child. And when she lifts herself up, it is
to exalt her Lord, and her Lord, alone.

Faith, too, is well calculated to show forth the Grace of God, because
Faith is the child of Grace. "Ah," says Faith, "I have grasped the
Covenant. I have laid hold on the promises, I have seen Christ, I have
gazed into Heaven, I have enjoyed foretastes of eternal joys! But (she
says) I am of the operation of God–I would never have existed if the
Spirit of God had not created me!" The Believer knows that his faith is
not a weed suitable to the soil of his heart, but a rare plant–an
exotic which has been planted there by Divine Wisdom–and he knows,
too, that if the Lord does not nourish it, his faith will die like a
withered flower.

He knows that his faith is a perpetual miracle, for it is begotten,
sustained and preserved by a power not less mighty than that which
raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead! If I met with an angel in a
hovel I should know that he was not born there, but that he came from
above. And so is it with faith–its heavenly descent is manifest to
all! Faith, then, tracing her very existence to Grace, never can be
anything but the friend, the vindicator, the advocate and the glorifier
of the Grace of God–therefore it is of faith that it might be by
Grace!

III. Now, thirdly, there is A FURTHER REASON for faith and Grace being
the Lord's chosen method of salvation–"To the end that the promise
might be sure to all the seed." Look at this, dear Friends, very
carefully. Salvation was made to be of faith and not of works that the
promise might be sure to all the seed, for first, it could not have
been sure to us Gentiles by the Law, because in a certain sense we were
not under the Law of Moses at all. Turn to the text and you find that
it runs thus–"Sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the
Law, but to that, also, which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the
father of us all."

That is to say, the Jew, receiving the seal of circumcision and coming
under the ceremonial Law, eating its Passover and presenting its
sacrifices, might possibly have been reached by a legal method. But we
who are Gentiles would have been altogether shut out. As to the
Covenant according to the flesh, we are aliens and have never come
under its bonds or participated in its privileges and, therefore, Grace
chooses to bless us by faith in order that the Gentile may partake of
the blessing of the Covenant as well as the Jew.

But there is a still wider reason–it is of faith because the other
method has failed, already, in every case. We have all broken the Law
and so have put ourselves beyond the power of ever receiving blessing
as a reward of merit. Failure at the outset has ruined our future
prospects–and from now on–by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be
justified. What remains, then, if we are to be saved at all, but that
it should be of faith? This door, alone, is open! Let us bless God that
no man can shut it!

Again, it is of faith that it might be sure. Now, under the system of
works nothing is sure. Suppose, my dear Brothers and Sisters, you were
under a Covenant of salvation by works and you had fulfilled those
works up till now, yet you would not be sure. Are you 70 years of age
and have you kept your standing till now? Well, you have done a great
deal more than father Adam did, for though he was a perfect man without
any natural corruption, I do not suppose that he kept his first estate
for a day. But after all you have done for these long years you may
lose everything before you have finished your next meal! If your
standing depends upon your own works, you are not safe and can never be
safe till you are out of this present life, for you might sin and that
one offense against the conditions would destroy the Covenant!

"When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity,
he shall even die thereby." But see the excellence of salvation by
Grace–when you reach the ground of faith in the promises, you are upon
terra firma and your soul is no longer in jeopardy. Here is a sure
foundation, for the Divine promise cannot fail! If my salvation depends
upon

the Lord and is received by me on the ground that the Lord has decreed
it, promised it in Covenant and ensured it to me by the blood of Jesus
Christ, then it is so mine that neither life nor death nor Satan nor
the world shall ever rob me of it! If I live to the age of Methuselah,
my faith will have the same promises to rest upon–and clinging there
she will defy the lapse of years to change her immutable security.

The promise would not be sure to one of the seed by any other means
than that of Grace through faith, but now it is sure to all the seed.
Moreover, if the promise had been made to works, there are some of the
seed to whom, most evidently, it never could come. One of the seed of
Abraham hung dying upon a cross and within an hour or two his bones
were broken that he might the more quickly die and be buried. Now, if
salvation to that poor dying thief must come by works, how can he be
saved? His hands and feet are fastened up and he is in the very grip of
Death–what can he do? The promise would not have been sure to him, my
Brothers and Sisters, if there had been any active condition! But he
believed, cast a saving eye upon the Lord Jesus and said, "Lord,
remember me," and the promise was most sure to him, for the answer
was–"Today shall you be with Me in Paradise"!

Many a chosen one of God is brought into such a condition that nothing
is possible to him except faith, but Grace has made the act of
believing divinely possible. Well was it for those bitten by serpents
that all that was asked of them was a look, for this was possible even
when the hot venom made the blood boil and scalded all the frame with
fever! Faith is possible to the blind, the lame, the deaf, the dumb!
Faith is possible to the almost-idiot, the desponding and the guilty!
Faith can be possessed by babes and by the extremely aged, by the
illiterate as well as by the instructed! It is well chosen as the cup
to convey the living water, for it is not too heavy for the weak, nor
too huge for the little, nor too small for the full-grown.

Now, Brothers and Sisters, I have done when I have said just this. I
will ask you who have believed in Christ, one question–you who are
resting in the promise of God, you who are depending upon the finished
work of Him who was delivered for your offenses–how do you feel? Are
you rejoicing in your unquestionable safety? As I have turned this
matter over and thought upon it, my soul has dwelt in perfect peace! I
cannot conceive anything that God Himself could give to the Believer
which would make him more safe than the work of Christ has made him.
God cannot lie! Are you not sure of this? He must keep His promises!
Are you not certain of this? What more do you need? As a little child
believes its father's words without any question, even so should we
rest on the bare, naked promise of Jehovah! And in so doing we become
conscious of a peace that passes all understanding, which keeps our
hearts and minds by Christ Jesus.

I dare not say otherwise, nor be silent, for I am conscious of being
able to say–"therefore being justified by faith, I have peace with
God." In that place of the soul, much love springs up and inward unity
to God and conformity to Christ. Faith believes her God and trusts Him
for time and eternity, for little things and great things, for body and
for soul and this leads on to still higher results! O blessed God, what
a union of desire, heart and aim exists between You and the soul that
trusts You! How are we brought into harmony with Your mind and
purposes! How is our heart made to delight in You! How completely is
our soul "bound up in the bundle of life with the soul of the Lord our
God"!

We grow up into Him in all things who is our Head, our Life, our All. I
charge you, dear children of God, "as you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk in Him." Live in His peace and abound in it more and
more. Do not be afraid of being too peaceful, "rejoice in the Lord
always, and again I say rejoice." When you have to condemn yourself for
shortcomings, yet do not question the promises of the Lord! When sin
overcomes you, confess the fault, but do not doubt the pardon which
Jesus still gives you! When sharp temptations and severe trials arise
from different quarters, do not suffer them to carry you by storm–let
not the stronghold and castle of your spirit be captured–"let not your
heart be troubled." Stagger not at the promise through unbelief, but
hold to it whether you walk in the sunshine or in Egyptian darkness.
That which the Lord has promised He is able, also, to perform. Do not
doubt it! Lean hard on the faithful promise and when you feel sad at
heart, lean harder and harder still, for, "faithful is He that has
promised, who, also, will do it."

Last of all, you sinners here this morning who have heard all about
this salvation by trusting–I charge you do not rest till you have
trusted the Lord Jesus Christ and rested in the great promises of God.
Here is one–"I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their
sins and their iniquities will I remember no more forever." Here is
another which is very cheering–"Whoever calls upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved." Call upon Him in prayer and then say, "Lord, I
have called, and You have said I shall be saved." Here is another
gracious word–"He that believes and is

baptized shall be saved." Attend you to these two commands and then
say, "Lord, I have Your Word for it that I shall be saved, and I hold
You to it." Believe God, Sinner!

Oh that He would give you Grace this morning, by His Holy Spirit, to
say, "How can I do otherwise than believe Him? I dare not doubt Him." O
poor tried Soul, believe in Jesus so as to trust your guilty soul with
Him. The more guilty you feel yourself to be, the more is it in your
power to glorify God by believing that He can forgive and renew such a
guilty one as you are! If you lie buried like a fossil in the lowest
stratum of sin, yet He can quarry for you and fetch you up out of the
horrible pit–and make your dry, petrified heart live! Do you believe
this? "If you can believe, all things are possible to him that
believes."

Trust the promise that He makes to every Believer that He will save
him! Hold to it, for it is not a vain thing! It is your life! "But what
if I obtain no joy or peace?" Still, believe the promise, and joy and
peace will come. "But what if I see no signs?" Ask for no signs! Be
willing to trust God's Word without any other guarantee but His
truthful Character and you will thus give Him glory. "Blessed are they
that have not seen and yet have believed." Believe that Jehovah cannot
lie and as He has promised to forgive all who believe in Jesus, hang on
to that Word and you shall be saved!

Sinners, I have set before you the way of salvation as simply as I can,
will you have it or not? May the Spirit of God sweetly lead you to say,
"Have it? Yes, that I will." Then go in peace and rejoice from now on
and forever! God bless you. Amen.
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