SALVATION BY FAITH

Preached at
St. Mary’s Oxford, Before the University,
June 11, 1738

By grace are ye saved through faith.–Eph. 2:8.

     “Now, that we fall not short of the grace of God, it concerns us carefully to inquire,--
1.  What faith it is through which we are saved.
2.  What is the salvation which is through faith.
3.  How we may answer some objections.

I.  What faith is, through which we are saved.
     1.  Not barely the faith of a Heathen.
     2.  Not the faith of a devil.
     3.  Not barely the faith of the Apostles while Christ was on earth.
     4.  Faith: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart                that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
     5.  This acknowledges His death as the only sufficient means of redeeming man from death                  eternal, and His resurrection as the restoration of us all to life and immortality.  “A                        closing with Him” 

II.  What salvation it is, which is through this faith.
     1.  It is present, actually attained, on earth.  “Ye are saved–“
     2.  Ye are saved from sin.
     3.  Ye are saved from the guilt of all past sin.
     4.  Being saved from sin, they are saved from fear.
     5.  Saved from the power of sin, as well as the guilt of it.
     6.  He that is, by faith, born of God sinneth not by any habitual sin, by any wilful sin, by any 
          sinful desire, nor by infirmities.
     7.  The salvation through faith in this world is salvation from sin and the consequences of sin.

III To answer objections
     1.  We preach a faith that is productive of all good works and holiness.
     2.   We do not make the law void, but establish it.
     3.  This doctrine may accidentally lead to pride; therefore, be warned.
     4.  If this doctrine encourages sin in some, their blood is on their own heads.
     5.  Will this drive men to despair?  Yes, of the sufficiency of their own works.
     6.  This doctrine is the only comfort.
     7.  This doctrine is the only foundation that can be laid.

     8.  Never so seasonable as now.
     9.  For this reason the adversary rages.
   10.  “Now, thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ; to                   whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost be blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and                       thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, for ever and ever.  Amen.