Chapter 21: The Way of Salvation Under this covenant of grace, our own works, or anything that we do, or can do, as works of law, have no more to do with our salvation, than if we had never existed. I wish your minds to separate entirely between salvation by works, and salvation by grace. Our salvation by grace is founded on a reason entirely separate from and out of ourselves. Before, it depended on ourselves. Now we receive salvation, as a free gift, solely on account of Jesus
Christ. He is the sole author, ground, and reason of our salvation. Whether we love God or do not love God so far as it is a ground of our salvation, is of no account. The whole is entirely a matter of grace, through Jesus Christ. You will not understand me as saying that there is no necessity for love to God or good works. I know that "without holiness no man shall see the Lord." But the necessity of holiness is not at all on this ground. Our own holiness does not enter at all into the ground or reason for our acceptance and salvation. We are not going to be indebted to Christ for a while, until we are sanctified, and all the rest of the time stand in our own righteousness. But however perfect and holy we may become, in this life, or to all eternity, Jesus Christ will for ever be the sole reason in the universe why we are not in hell. Because, however holy we may become, it will be forever true that we have sinned, and in the eye of justice, nothing in us, short of our eternal damnation can satisfy the law. But now, Jesus Christ has undertaken to help, and he forever remains the sole ground of our salvation.
According to this plan, we have the benefit of his obedience to the law, just as if he had obeyed for us. Not that he did obey for us, in the distinction from himself, but we have the benefits of his obedience, by the gift of grace, the same as if he had done so.
I meant to dwell on the idea of Christ as our "Light," and our "Life," and our "Strength."
But I perceive there is not time tonight. I wish to touch a little on this question, "How does faith put us in possession of Christ, in all these relations?"
Faith in Christ puts us in possession of Christ, as the sum and substance of the blessings of the gospel. Christ was the very blessing promised in the Abrahamic covenant. And throughout the scriptures he is held forth as the sum and substance of all God's favors to man. He is "the Bread of Life," "the Water of Life," "our Strength," "our All," The gospel has taxed all the powers of language to describe the vast variety of his relations, and to show that faith is to put believers in possession of Jesus Christ, in all these relations.
The manner in which faith puts the mind in possession of all these blessings is this: It annihilates all those things that stand in the way of our intercourse with Christ. He says,
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Here is a door, an obstacle to our intercourse with Christ, something that stands in the way. Take the particular of wisdom.
Why do we not receive Christ as our wisdom? Because we depend on our own wisdom, and think we have ourselves some available knowledge of the things of God, and as long as we depend on this we keep the door shut. That is the door. Now, let us just throw this all away,