All of Grace/Faith, What Is It?
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By Charles H. Spurgeon
About Conversion
Chapter 8 of the book All of Grace
“By grace are ye saved, through faith...”—Ephesians 2:8
What is this faith concerning which it is said, “By grace are ye saved, through faith”? There are many descriptions of faith; but almost all the definitions I have met with have made me understand it less than I did before I saw them. The Negro said, when he read the chapter, that he would confound it; and it is very likely that he did so, though he meant to expound it. We may explain faith till nobody understands it. I hope I shall not be guilty of that fault. Faith is the simplest of all things, and perhaps because of its simplicity it is the more difficult to explain.
To Know
What is faith? It is made up of three things—knowledge, belief, and trust. Knowledge comes first. “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” (Rom 10:14). I want to be informed of a fact before I can possibly believe it. “Faith cometh by hearing” (Rom 10:17); we must first hear, in order that we may know what is to be believed. “They that know thy name shall put their trust in thee” (Psa 9:10). A measure of knowledge is essential to faith; hence the importance of getting knowledge. “Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live” (Isa 55:3). Such was the word of the ancient prophet, and it is the word of the gospel still. Search the Scriptures and learn what the Holy Spirit teacheth concerning Christ and his salvation. Seek to know God: “For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb 11:6). May the Holy Spirit give you the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord! Know the gospel: know what the good news is, how it talks of free forgiveness, and of change of heart, of adoption into the family of God, and of countless other blessings.
Know especially Christ Jesus the Son of God, the Saviour of men, united to us by his human nature, and yet one with God; and thus able to act as mediator between God and man, able to lay his hand upon both, and to be the connecting link between the sinner and the Judge of all the earth. Endeavour to know more and more of Christ Jesus. Endeavour especially to know the doctrine of the sacrifice of Christ; for the point upon which saving faith mainly fixes itself is this—“God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (2Co 5:19). Know that Jesus was “made a curse for us, as it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal 3:13). Drink deep of the doctrine of the substitutionary work of Christ; for therein lies the sweetest possible comfort to the guilty sons of men, since the Lord “made him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2Co 5:21). Faith begins with knowledge.
