Salvation by faith

“ Faith is salvation; Jesus Christ hangs there on the cross as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent. The moment a man believes on Him he is saved from sin. How? Through some magical virtue in the cross, in the Body hanging there, in the blood poured out, or in the man's mental act of faith? Never, never. That Christ hanging there is the living embodiment of faith in God: His life, His death, are the incarnate declaration that all sin is error, that all sin is an outrage, that men erred and went wrong when they disobeyed God. ”

“ All, that God has revealed for the salvation of the world—our justification, our sanctification, our new birth, our heaven, our all—yes, all these important and heavenly changes are summed up, and embraced in our immortal resurrection, will actually take place through death; and while in this world we can embrace them, only by faith.
The scriptures declare that "we walk by faith and, not by sight." Paul says, "the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." ”

“ By salvation I mean, not barely deliverance from hell, or going to heaven, but a present deliverance from sin, a restoration of the soul to its primitive health, its original purity; a recovery of the Divine nature; the renewal of our souls after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness, in justice, mercy, and truth. This implies all holy and heavenly tempers, and by consequence, all holiness of conversation.
“Faith is the sole condition of this salvation. Without faith we cannot thus be saved; for we cannot rightly serve God unless we love Him. ”

“ May the eternal spirit give us such views of Christ, as shall cause us to long for the time.
We are poor sinners, guilty, and hell-deserving, condemned by a holy law, and exposed to a thousand miseries in this world; and in our fallen nature, to the woe of perdition. Christ is the Saviour of the lost; he was from all eternity raised up, and voluntarily offered himself to become the Saviour of his church. Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified—and for their sakes I sanctify myself. Set apart, separated, for his peoples’ salvation. Glory be to his dear name: he is God and man ”

“ By evangelical sentiments, we understand, among others, a belief in the guilty and lost condition of all men without a Saviour; the Supreme Deity, Incarnation and Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the only Saviour of the world; the necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, repentance, faith and holy obedience in order to salvation; the immortality of the soul; and the retributions of the judgment in the eternal punishment of the wicked, and salvation of the righteous. ”

“ On the other hand, the salvation is to be wrought out by us. To have faith in the Son of God in exercise and prevalence; to have heart and life formed to childlike love of God, and to the fulfilment of His will; to carry this out against the flesh and the world and the devil,—all this is a great career of endeavour and attainment. ”

“ This faith would give love unmeasured to your Creator, and fill your soul with joy unspeakable and full of glory. "Faith works by love, purifies the heart and overcomes the world."
Reader, do you not love the Lord for his wonderful goodness to his children? What glorious hopes are here! "and he that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure"—you now see why the gospel rings with the word faith from one end to the other.
The world previous to the coming of Jesus Christ had no knowledge of immortality through a resurrection, into the kingdom of God. ”

“ It is, like everything else connected with salvation, something divinely given, supernaturally initiated, a work of God, an opus operatum—"Mit unserer Macht ist nichts gethan"—and therefore "faith" and "reason" belong in totally different compartments of the human being. Nor, furthermore, when he is absorbed with his system, is salvation ever synonymous for him with an inwardly-transformed and spiritually-renewed self. ”

“ But as long as we retain our faith in him, we draw water out of the wells of salvation. Leaning on our Beloved, even Christ in us the hope of glory, who dwelleth in our hearts by faith, who likewise is ever interceding for us at the right hand of God, we receive help from him to think, and speak, and act what is acceptable in his sight. ”

“ We are commanded to keep ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life; but he has promised to keep us by his power through faith unto salvation. We know that the beginning of the work of grace in the heart, is to be ascribed to the immediate operations of his power; and it is to be viewed as the commencement of a continued series of operations, which will ultimately issue in the salvation of the soul. ”

“ It has been demonstrated that the teaching and atonement of God the Saviour would draw to him, by faith, the affections of the human heart. We will now inquire what particular effect that faith in Christ which works by love has upon the moral disposition, the conscience, the imagination, and the life of believers. Would faith in Christ, as a Divine, suffering Saviour, quicken, and regulate, and harmonize the moral powers of the soul? ”

“ But this present enjoyment is not the reality, but an antepast of that reality; because "we walk by faith and not by sight." It is immaterial whether the scripture speaks of pardon, of justification; of sanctification, of redemption, of regeneration, or baptism "with the Holy Spirit and with fire," it simply means that those facts in the divine counsels unchangeably exist, and will burst upon the whole groaning creation in the resurrection world, while the believer only enjoys them in this state of being through faith, which baptizes him into the spirit of Christ. ”

“ Salvation is by the regeneration of the spirit and not by the self-righteous deeds of the flesh. You are justified by faith and fellowshipped by grace, not by fear and the self-denial of the flesh, albeit the Father’s children who have been born of the spirit are ever and always masters of the self and all that pertains to the desires of the flesh. When you know that you are saved by faith, you have real peace with God. ”

“ Those who have been kept faithful in great trials for the time past have reason to hope that the same grace will be sufficient to help them still to live by faith, till they receive the end of their faith and patience, even the salvation of their souls. If we live by faith, and die in faith, our souls will be safe for ever. ”

“ But what is the faith which is properly saving? what brings eternal salvation to all those that keep it to the end? It is such a divine conviction of God and the things of God as even in its infant state enables everyone that possesses it to fear God and work righteousness. ”

“ So there is nothing arbitrary in the way of salvation, as some shallow thinkers seem to propose, and there is no reason in the question, 'Why does God make salvation depend upon faith?' God could not but make salvation depend upon faith, because there is no other possible way by which the blessings which are gathered together into that one great pregnant word 'salvation' could find their way into a man's heart but through the channel of his trust. ”

“ Wherefore we say that whatever Christ then did, both living and dying, was of great benefit to the salvation of all who have believed and now do, and who hereafter shall believe in Him. But the way to come to that faith is to receive and obey the manifestation of His Divine Light and grace in their conscience, which leads men to believe and value, and not disown or undervalue Christ as the common sacrifice and Mediator. ”

“ Salvation is promised to us Christians on the terms of faith, obedience, and repentence. I shall therefore endeavour to shew how, in the short interval between this moment and death, we may exert faith, perform obedience, and excercise repentence, in a manner which our heavenly Father may, in his infinite mercy, vouch safe to accept.
1. Faith is the foundation of all Christian virtue. It is that without which it is impossible to please God. I shall therefore consider, first, how Faith is to be particularly exerted by us in our present state. ”

“ Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. ”

“ In our greatest distresses we shall see no reason to despair of salvation if by faith we eye God as the God of our salvation, who is able to save the weakest upon their humble petition, and willing to save the worst upon their true repentance. And, if we depend on God as the God of our salvation, we must wait for him, and for his salvation, in his own way and his own time. Let us now see what the church is here taught to expect and promise herself from God, even when things are brought to the last extremity. ”

“ God puts out His hand, and we lay hold of it. It is not the outstretched hand from earth, but the down-stretched hand from heaven that makes the tottering man stand. So, dear friends, let us understand that salvation does not come as the reward of faith, but that the salvation is [Pg 175] in the faith, because faith is the channel by which all God's salvation pours into us. ”

“ Now, from this sincere will of God for the salvation of all men, it follows as a necessary consequence that He gives to all men such helps of His grace as are sufficient, if they make good use of them, to bring them both to the knowledge of the truth, and to salvation ”

“ We believe that repentance and faith are sacred duties, and also inseparable graces, wrought in our souls by the regenerating Spirit of God; whereby being deeply convinced of our guilt, danger, and helplessness, and of the way of salvation by Christ, we turn to God with unfeigned contrition, confession, and supplication for mercy; at the same time heartily receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King, and relying on him alone as the only and all-sufficient Saviour. ”

“ First, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
The World:—Do you believe that good works must accompany faith in order for men to obtain salvation?
Latter-day Saints:—We do. We maintain that belief alone is not sufficient to bring salvation to any man. "Faith without works is dead." Faith is the first principle of the Gospel of Christ: it is the foundation upon which every other principle and ordinance rests. ”

“ An Inquiry, Whether Salvation Can Be Had Without True Faith, and out of the Communion of the Church of Christ Introduction and State of the Question There is nothing in which the great Apostle of the Gentiles seems more to glory than in his ardent zeal for the salvation of souls, and in the sincerity of his heart in delivering to the world the sacred truths of eternity pure and uncorrupted. ”

“ Salvation through faith (that is to say, that there is no other way to this filial relationship to God save through the practice of life taught by Christ) becomes transformed into the belief that there is a miraculous way of atoning for all sin ”

“ Hence a right faith in Christ is an incomparable treasure, carrying with it universal salvation and preserving from all evil, as it is said, "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; ”

“ True Christianity consists solely in pure faith, love, and a holy life. This holiness of life springs from true repentance, sorrow, and self-knowledge; so that a man not only more and more feels his failings and imperfections, but amends them also, and, in this order, partakes of the righteousness and holiness of Christ by faith. 1 Cor. 1:30.
2. But in order to regulate the grand work of salvation with the better order and care, thou oughtest now to walk in a submissive and filial fear of God, guarding against all that would gratify the flesh. “All things are lawful,” says the apostle, ”

“ Faith, faith, faith in ourselves, faith, faith in God — this is the secret of greatness. If you have faith in all the three hundred and thirty millions of your mythological gods, and in all the gods which foreigners have now and again introduced into your midst, and still have no faith in yourselves, there is no salvation for you. ”

“ Nay, do they not in reality deny Him and His holiness almost as much as Atheists do, who preach that the one great salvation which He has sent into the world is a salvation from punishment—a keeping out of hell and getting into heaven—instead of a salvation from sin, from the power and love of sin, through the love of God in Christ? ”

“ I told you this morning what I believe that salvation was,—to know God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. To know God’s likeness, God’s character, what God has shown of His own character, what He has done for us. To know His boundless love, and mercy, and knowing that, to trust in Him utterly, and submit to Him utterly, and obey Him utterly, sure that He loves us, that His will to us is goodwill, that His commandments must be life. To know God, and therefore to love Him and to serve Him, that is salvation. ”

“ Do we find where Jesus ever said one word about the Garden of Eden, the fall of Adam, original sin, total depravity, vicarious atonement, the mode of baptism, the Trinity, the possession of the Holy Spirit, or any form of ecclesiastical organization or church polity?
Salvation, and Jesus so taught, pertains to this life exclusively. It simply means to save this life,—not from physical death, nor hell hereafter,—but to its proper function, use and purpose, according to the will of God, as revealed in nature and human experience. ”