By grace are ye saved through faith (Eph. 2:8).
This is one of the great texts in the Evangelical Revival. A mighty watchword of Martin Luther, John Wesley, and Spurgeon. In the text note three words, still the marrow of the Gospel for those of us who believe.
I. Grace, “the free, unmerited favor of God.” Through Christ and his Cross the favor of God now comes to us, one by one, cancels the debt of sin, imputes the righteousness of God, and progressively imparts that righteousness. Through grace the Spirit also sanctifies. This grace now is flowing like a river. To this grace any person in need may now turn with eagerness, and never turn in vain.
II. Saved. Salvation has to do with the present as well as with the future. Salvation means to be delivered from the sins of the flesh and of the mind. Salvation from strong drink, and from greed for gain. Salvation also from pride, the subtlest of sins; from jealousy and all the canker it brings from gossip and the evil it entails. Have you this quality of life?
III. Faith. Faith in Christ means to believe him and to trust him. It is the venture of your whole personality in trusting the One who is worthy. Are you conscious of your need, your weakness, the pressure of your sins, and your inability alone to grapple with them? Do you feel the need of the One whom you can trust?
To such felt needs the Gospel speaks of your being saved through faith. The real end of faith is to unite the person who believes with the Person on whom he believes. Only as by faith you are united with Him can you have the quality of life that is the hallmark of heaven.
This is the glad, good news that the evangelists carried everywhere in the first century, and that their true followers have echoed in all the centuries since. In the eighteenth century our Wesleyan fathers sounded it with tremendous power. In an age when people had lost all hope, the spokesman for God came with the burning message that he was there and that he was kind; that by his free grace men could be lifted into the fullness of life, if only they trusted in Christ.
This is still the heart of the Gospel. I sound it again, and with jubilation. Again I offer you this Gospel: “By grace are ye saved through faith.”
Evangelical Sermons of Our Day, ed. by Andrew W. Blackwood, Channel Press, Manhasset, New York, 1959.
