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44 - The Scripture Way of Salvation - Sermons on Several Occasions · Sacred Texts Archive

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The scripture way of salvation. Ye are saved through faith Ephesians two eight.
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Nothing can be more intricate, complex, and hard to be understood than religion
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as it has been often described. And this is not only true concerning the
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religion of the Heathens, even many of the wisest of them, but concerning
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the religion of those also who were in some sense Christians yea, and men
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of great name in the Christian world, men who seem to be pillars thereof.
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Yet how easy to be understood, how plain and simple a thing is
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the genuine religion of Jesus Christ, provided only that we take it in its
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native form, just as it is described in the Oracles of God. It
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is exactly suited by the wise creator and governor of the world to the weak
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understanding and narrow capacity of man in his presence state. How observable is this
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both with regard to the end it proposes and the means to attain that end.
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The end is, in one word, salvation. The means to attain
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it faith. It is easily discerned that these two little words, I mean,
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faith and salvation include the substance of all the Bible. The marril as
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it were of the whole scripture. So much the more should we take all
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possible care to avoid all mistake concerning them, and to form a true and
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accurate judgment concerning both the one and the other. Let us then seriously inquire
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what is salvation? What is that faith whereby we are saved? And how
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are we saved by it? And first let us inquire what is salvation?
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The salvation which is here spoken of is not what is frequently understood by that
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word, the going to heaven eternal happiness. It is not the soul's going
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to paradise termed by our Lord Abraham's bosom. It is not a blessing which
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lies on the other side death, or, as we usually speak, in
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the other world. The very words of the text itself puts this beyond all
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questions. Ye are saved. It is not something at a distance. It
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is a present thing, a blessing which, through the free mercy of God
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you are now in possession of. Nay, the words may be rendered,
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and that with equal propriety ye have been saved, so that the salvation which
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is here spoken of might be extended to the entire work of God from the
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first dawning of grace in the soul till it is consummated in glory. If
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we take this in its utmost extent, it will include all that is wrought
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in the soul by what is frequently termed natural conscience, but more properly preventing
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grace, All the drawings of the Father, the desires after God, which,
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if we yield to them, increase more and more. All that light,
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wherewith the Son of God enlighteneth everyone that cometh into the world, showing
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every man to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
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his God. All the convictions which his Spirit, from time to time works
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in every child of man, although it is true the generality of men stifle
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them as soon as possible, and after a while forget or at least deny
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that they ever had them at all. But we are at present concerned only
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with that salvation which the Apostle is directly speaking of, and this consists of
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two general parts, justification and sanctification. Justification is another word for pardon.
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It is the forgiveness of all our sins, and what is necessarily implied therein
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our acceptance with God, the price, whereby this hath been pro cured for
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us. Commonly termed the meratorious cause of our justification is the blood and righteousness
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of Christ, or, to express it a little more clearly, all that
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Christ hath done and suffered for us till he poured out his soul for the
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transgressors. The immediate effects of justification are the peace of God, a peace
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that passeth all understanding and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, with
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joy unspeakable and full of glory. And at the same time that we are
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justified, yea, in that very moment, sanctification begins. In that instant
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we are born again, born from above, born of the Spirit. There
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is a real as well as a relative change. We are inwardly renewed by
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the power of God. We feel the love of God shed abroad in our
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heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given on to us, producing love
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to all mankind and more especially to the children of God, expelling the love
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of the world, the love of pleasure, of ease, of honor,
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of money, together with pride, anger, self, will, and every
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other evil temper, in a word, changing the earthly, sensual, devilish
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mind into the mind which was in Christ. Jesus. How naturally do those
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who experience such a change imagine that all sin is gone, that it is
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utterly rooted out of their heart and has no more any place therein? How
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easily do they draw that inference? I feel no sin, therefore I have
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none. It does not stir, therefore it does not exist. It has
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no motion, therefore it has no being. But it is seldom long before
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they are undeceived, finding sin was only suspended, not destroyed. Temptations return,
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and sin revives, showing it was but stunned before, not dead.
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They now feel two principles in themselves, plainly contrary to each other, the
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flesh lusting against the spirit, nature opposing the grace of God. They cannot
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deny that, although they still feel power to believe in Christ and to love
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God, and although His Spirit still witnesses with their spirits that they are children
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of God, yet they feel in themselves sometimes pride or self will, sometimes
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anger, or unbelief. They find one or more of these, frequently stirring
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in their heart, though not conquering, yet perhaps thrusting sore at them,
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that they may fall, But the Lord is their help. How exactly did
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Macarius fourteen hundred years ago. Describe the present experience of the children of God.
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The unskillful or unexperienced. When grace operates presently, imagine they have no
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more sin, whereas they that have discretion cannot deny that even we who have
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the grace of God may be molested. For we have often had instances of
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some among the brethren who have experienced such grace as to affirm that they had
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no sin in them. And yet after all, when they thought themselves entirely
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freed from it, the corruption that lurked within was stirred up anew, and
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they were well nigh burned up. From the time of our being born again,
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the gradual work of sanctification takes place. We are enabled by the spirit
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to mortify the deeds of the body of our evil nature. And as we
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are more and more dead to sin, we are more and more alive to
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God. We so on from grace to grace, while we are careful to
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abstain from all appearance of evil, and are zealous of good works, as
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we have opportunity doing good to all men. While we walk in all His
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ordinances blameless, therein worshiping Him in spirit and in truth, while we take
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up our cross and deny ourselves every pleasure that does not lead us to God.
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It is thus that we wait for our entire sanctification, for a full
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salvation from our sins, from pride, self, will anger, unbelief,
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or, as the Apostle expresses it, go on to perfection. But what
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is perfection? The word has various senses. Here it means perfect love.
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It is love excluding sin, love feeling the heart, taking up the whole
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capacity of the soul. It is love rejoicing evermore, praying without ceasing,
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in everything, giving thanks. But what is faith through which we are saved?
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This is the second point to be considered. Faith in general is defined
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by the Apostle a pragmaton elecchaus ou blepomenum, an evidence, a divine evidence.
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In conviction, the word means both of things not seen, not visible,
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not perceivable, either by or by any other of the external senses.
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It implies both a supernatural evidence of God and of the things of God,
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a kind of spiritual light exhibited to the soul, and a supernatural sight or
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perception thereof. Accordingly, the scripture speaks of God's giving, sometimes light,
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sometimes a power of discerning it. So, Saint Paul, God who commanded
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light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give us
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the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
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Christ. And elsewhere. The same apostle speaks of the eyes of our understanding
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being opened by this twofold operation of the Holy Spirit. Having the eyes of
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our soul both open and enlightened, we see the things which the natural eye
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hath not seen, neither the year heard. We have a prospect of the
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invisible things of God. We see the spiritual world, which is all around
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about us, and yet no more discerned by our natural faculty than if it
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had no being. And we see the eternal world piercing through the veil which
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hangs between time and eternity, clouds and darkness. Then rest upon it no
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more, but we already see the glory which shall be revealed. Taking the
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word in a more particular sense, faith is a divine evidence in conviction,
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not only that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, but
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also that Christ loved me and gave himself for me. It is by this
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faith whether we term it the essence, or rather a property thereof that we
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receive Christ, that we receive him in all his offices as our prophet,
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priest and king. It is by this that he is made of God unto
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us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. But is this the faith of
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assurance or faith of adherents? This scripture mentions no such distinction. The apostle
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says, there is one faith and one hope of our calling, one Christian
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saving faith, as there is one Lord in whom we believe, and one
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God and Father of us all. And it is certain this faith necessarily implies
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an assurance, which is here only another word for evidence, it being hard
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to tell the difference between them. That Christ loved me and gave himself for
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me. For he that believeth with the true living faith, hath the witness
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in himself, the spirit, witnesseth with his spirit that he is a child
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of God, because he is a son God, hath sent forth the spirit
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of his son into his heart, crying abba Father, giving him an assurance
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that he is soul and a childlike confidence in him. But let it be
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observed that in the very nature of the thing, the assurance goes before the
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confidence. For a man cannot have a childlike confidence in God till he knows
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he is a child of God. Therefore, confidence, trust, reliance,
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adherents, or whatever else it be called, is not the first, as
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some have supposed, but the second branch or act of faith. It is
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by this faith we are saved, justified, and sanctified, taking that word
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in its highest sense. But how are we justified and sanctified by faith?
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This is our third head of inquiry. And this being the main point in
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question, and a point of no ordinary importance, it will not be improper
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to give it a more distinct and particular consideration. And first, how are
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we justified by faith? In what sense is this to be understood? I
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answer? Faith is the condition and the only condition of justification. It is
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the condition. None is justified but he that believes. Without faith, no
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man is justified, and it is the only condition. This alone is sufficient
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for justification. Every One that believes is justified, whatever else he has or
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has not. In other words, no man is justified till he believes.
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Every man, when he believes, is justified. But does not God command
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us to repent? Also yea, and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance,
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to cease, for instance, from doing evil and learn to do well.
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And is not both the one and the other of the utmost necessity,
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insomuch that if we willingly neglect either, we cannot reasonably expect to be justified
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at all. But if this be so, how can it be said that
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faith is the only condition of justification. God does undoubtedly command us both to
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repent and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, which if we willingly neglect,
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we cannot reasonably expect to be justified at all. Therefore, both repentance
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and fruits meet for repentance are in some sense sense necessary to justification. But
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they are not necessary in the same sense with faith, nor in the same
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degree, not in the same degree. For those fruits are only necessary conditionally
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if there be time and opportunity for them. Otherwise a man may be justified
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without them, as was the thief upon the cross, if we may call
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him so. For a late writer has discovered that he was no thief,
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but a very honest and respectable person. But he cannot be justified without faith.
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This is impossible. Likewise, let a man have ever so much repentance
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or ever, so many of the fruits meet for repentance. Yet all this
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does not at all avail. He is not justified till he believes, but
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the moment he believes, with or without those fruits, yea, with more
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or less repentance, he is justified. Not in the same sense. For
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repentance and its fruits are only remotely necessary necessary in order to faith. Whereas
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faith is immediately necessary to justification. It remains that faith is the only condition
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which is immediately and approximately necessary to justification. But do you believe we are
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sanctified by faith? We know you believe that we are justified by faith,
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But do not you believe and accordingly teach that we are sanctified by our works?
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So it has been roundly and vehemently affirmed that these five and twenty years.
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But I have constantly declared just the contrary, and that in all manner
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of ways, I have continually testified, in private and in public, that
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we are sanctified as well as justified by faith. And indeed that one of
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those great truths does exceedingly illustrate the other. Exactly as we are justified by
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faith, so we are sanctified by faith. Faith is the condition and the
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only condition of sanctification, exactly as it is of justification. It is the
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condition. None is sanctified, but he that believes. Without faith, no
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man is sanctified, And it is the only condition. This alone is sufficient
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for sanctification. Every One that believes is sanctified, whatever else he has or
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has not. In other words, no man is sanctified till he believes.
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Every man, when he believes, is sanctified. But is there not a
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repentance consequent upon, as well as a repentance previous to justification. And is
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it not incumbent on all that are justified to be zealous of good works?
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Yea? Are not these so necessary that if a man willingly neglect him,
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he cannot reasonably expect that he shall ever be sanctified in the full sense that
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is perfected in love? Nay, can he grow at all in grace in
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the loving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? Yea? Can he retain the
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grace which God has already given him? Can he continue in the faith which
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he has received? Or in the favor of God? Do not you yourself
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allow all this and continually assert it? But if this be so, how
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can it be said that faith is the only condition of sanctification. I do
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allow all this and continually maintain it as the truth of God. I allow
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there is a repentance consequent upon as well as a repentance previous two justification.
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It is incumbent on all that are justified to be zealous of good works.
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And they are so necessary that if a man willingly neglect them, he cannot
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reasonably expect that he shall ever be sanctified. He cannot grow in grace in
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the image of God, the mind which was in Christ Jesus. Nay,
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he cannot retain the grace he has received. He cannot continue in faith or
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in the favor of God. What is the inference we must draw here from?
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Why that both repentance rightly understood, and the practice of all good works
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works of piety, as well as works of mercy, now properly so called,
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since they spring from faith, are in some sense necessary to sanctification.
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I say repentance rightly understood, for this must not be confounded with the former
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repentance. The repentance consequent upon justification is widely different from that which is anticidant
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to it. This implies no guilt, no sense of condemnation, no consciousness
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of the wrath of God. It does not suppose any doubt of the favor
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of God, or any fear that hath torment. It is properly a conviction
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brought by the Holy Ghost of the sin which still remains in our heart,
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of the Phronima sarcos, the carnal mind, which does still remain as our
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Church, speaks even in them that are regenerate, although it does no longer
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reign, it has not now dominion over them. It is a conviction of
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our proneness to evil, of an heart bent to backsliding, of the still
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continuing tendency of the flesh to lust against the spirit. Unless we continually watch
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and pray, it lusteth to pride, sometimes to anger, sometimes to love
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of the world, love of ease, love of honor, or love of
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pleasure, more than of God. It is a conviction of the tendency of
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our heart to self will, to atheism or idolatry, and above all to
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unbelief, whereby, in a thousand ways and under a thousand pretenses, we
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are ever departing more or less from the Living God. With this conviction of
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the sin remaining in our hearts. There is joined a clear conviction of the
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sin remaining in our lives, still cleaving to all our words and actions.
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In the best of these, we now discern a mixture of evil, either
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in the spirit, the matter, or the manner of them, something that
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could not endure the righteous judgment of God. Where he extremed to mark what
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is done amiss, where we least suspected it, we find a taint of
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pride or self will, of unbelief or idolatry, so that we are now
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more ashamed of our best duties than formerly of our worst sins. And hence
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we cannot but feel that these are so far from having anything meritorious in them,
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yea, so far from being able to stand in the sight of the
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divine justice, that for those also we should be guilty before God, were
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it not for the blood of the Covenant. Experience shows that, together with
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this conviction of sin remaining in our hearts and cleaving to all our words and
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actions, as well as the guilt which on account thereof we should incur were
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we not continually sprinkled with the atoning blood, one thing more is implied in
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this repentance, namely a conviction of our helplessness, of our utter inability to
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think one good thought or to form one good desire, and much more,
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to speak one word, to write, or to perform one good action.
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But through His free, almighty grace, first preventing us and then accompanying us
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every moment. But what good works are those the practice of which you affirm
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to be necessary to sanctification. First all works of piety, such as public
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prayer, family prayer, and praying in our closet, receiving the supper of
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the Lord, searching the scriptures by hearing, reading, meditating, and using
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such a measure of fasting or abstinence as our bodily health allows. Secondly,
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all works of mercy, whether they relate to the bodies or souls of men,
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such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, entertaining the stranger,
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visiting those that are in prison or sick or variously afflicted, such as the
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Endeavoring to instruct the ignorant, to awaken the stupid sinner, to quicken the
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lukewarm, to confirm the wavering, to comfort the feeble minded, to succor
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the tempted, or contribute in any manner to the saving of souls from death.
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This is the repentance, and these the fruits eat for repentance, which
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are necessary to full sanctification. This is the way wherein God hath appointed his
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children to wait for complete salvation. Hence may appear the extreme mischievousness of that
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seemingly innocent opinion that there is no sin in a believer, that all sin
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is destroyed root and branch. The moment a man is justified. By totally
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preventing that repentance, it quite blocks up the way to sanctification. There is
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no place for repentance in him who believes there is no sin, either in
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his life or heart. Consequently, there is no place for his being perfected
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in love, to which that repentance is indispensably necessary. Hence, it may
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likewise appear that there is no possible danger in thus expecting full salvation. For
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suppose we were mistaken, Suppose no such blessing ever was or can be attained,
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Yet we lose nothing. Nay, that very expectation quickens us in using
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all the teal us which God has given us, yea, in improving them
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all, so that when our Lord cometh, he will receive his own with
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increase but to return. Though it be allowed that both this repentance and its
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fruits are necessary to full salvation, yet they are not necessary, either in
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the same sense with faith, or in the same degree. Not in the
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same degree. For these fruits are only necessary conditionally if there be time and
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opportunity for them. Otherwise a man may be sanctified without them, but he
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cannot be sanctified without faith. Likewise, let a man have ever so much
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of this repentance, or ever so many good works, Yet all this does
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not at all avail. He is not sanctified till he believes. But the
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moment he believes, with or without those fruits, yea, with more or
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less of this repentance, he is sanctified, not in the same sense.
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For this repentance and these fruits are only remotely necessary, necessary in order to
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the continuance of his faith, as well as the increase of it. Whereas
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faith is immediately and directly necessary to sanctification, it remains that faith is the
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only condition which is immediately and proximately necessary to sanctification. But what is that
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faith? Whereby we are sanctified save from sin and perfected in love. It
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is a divine evidence in conviction. First, that God hath promised it in
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the Holy Scripture. Till we are thoroughly satisfied of this, there is no
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moving one step further, And one would imagine there needed not one word more
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to satisfy a reasonable man of this than the ancient promise. Then will I
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circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord, thy
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God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
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thy mind. How clearly does this express the being perfected in love? How
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strongly imply the being saved from all sin? For as long as love takes
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up the whole heart, what room is there for sin? Therein it is
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a divine evidence in conviction. Secondly, that what God hath promised he is
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able to perform. Admitting therefore that with men it is impossible to bring a
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clean thing out of an unclean, to purify the heart from all sin,
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and to till it with all holiness, yet this creates no difficulty in the
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case, seeing with God all things are possible. And surely no one ever
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imagine it was possible to any power less than that of the Almighty. But
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if God speaks, it shall be done, God saith, let there be
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light, and there is light. It is thirdly a divine evidence and conviction
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that He is able and willing to do it now, and why not is
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not a moment to him the same as a thousand years. He cannot want
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more time to accomplish whatever it is his will, and he cannot want or
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stay for any more worthiness or fitness in the persons he is pleased to honor.
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We may therefore boldly say, at any point of time, now is
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the day of salvation. Today, if you will hear his voice, harden
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not your hearts. Behold, all things are now ready. Come on to
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the marriage to this confidence that God is both able and willing to sanctify us.
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Now there needs to be added one thing more, a divine evidence and
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conviction that He do with it in that hour. It is done. God
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says to the inmost soul, according to thy faith, be it unto thee.
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Then the soul is pure from every spot of sin. It is clean
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from all unrighteousness. The believer then experiences the deep meaning of those solemn words.
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If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we
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have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son
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clensest Us from all sin. But does God work this great work in the
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soul gradually or instantaneously? Perhaps it may be gradually wrought in some I mean
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in this sense, they do not advert to the particular moment wherein sin ceases
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to be. But it is infinitely desirable, were it the will of God
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that it should be done instantaneously, that the Lord should destroy sin by the
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breath of his mouth in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
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And so he generally does, a plain fact of which there is evidence enough
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to satisfy any unprejudiced person. Thou therefore, look for it every moment,
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look for it in the way above described, and all those good works whereunto
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thou art created a you in Christ Jesus. There in then no danger.
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You can be no worse if you are no better for that expectation. For
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were you to be disappointed of your hope, still you lose nothing. But
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you shall not be disappointed of your hope. It will come and will not
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tarry. Look for it then, every day, every hour, every moment,
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why not this hour, this moment. Certainly you may look for it
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now if you believe it is by faith, and by this token you may
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surely know whether you seek it by faith or by works. If by works
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you want something to be done first before you are sanctified, you think I
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must first be or do thus or thus, then you are seeking it by
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works onto this day. If you seek it by faith, you may expect
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it as you are, and expect it now. It is of importance to
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observe that there is an inseparable connection between these three points, expected by faith,
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expected as you are, and expect it now. To deny one of
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them is to deny them all. To allow one is to allow them all.
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Do you believe we are sanctified by faith? Be true then to your
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principle, and look for this blessing just as you are, neither better nor
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worse as a poor sinner that has still nothing to pay, nothing to plead.
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But Christ died. And if you look for it as you are,
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then expect it. Now stay for nothing? Why should you? Christ is
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ready, and he is all you want. He is waiting for you.
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He is at the door. Let your inmost soul cry out, come in
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come in thou heavenly guest, Nor hence again remove, but sup with me,
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and let the feast be everlasting love. End of Section forty four