Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1064
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, August 4, 1872
“By Grace are you saved.” Ephesians 2:8.
OTHER Divine attributes are manifest in salvation. The Wisdom of God devised the plan. The Omnipotence of God executes in us the work of salvation. The Immutability of God preserves and carries it on—in fact, all the attributes of God are magnified in the salvation of a sinner—but at the same time the text is most accurate since Grace is the fountainhead of salvation and is most conspicuous throughout. Grace is to be seen in our election, for, “there is a remnant according to the election of Grace, and if by Grace then it is no more of works.”
Grace is manifestly revealed in our redemption, for you know therein the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is utterly inconceivable that any soul could have deserved to be redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. The mere thought is abhorrent to every holy mind. Our calling is also of Grace, for, “He has saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and Grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
By Grace also are we justified, for over and over again the Apostle insists upon this grand and fundamental Truth of God. We are not justified before God by works in any measure or in any degree, but by faith alone, and the Apostle tells us, “it is of faith, that it might be by Grace.” We see a golden thread of Grace running through the whole of the Christian’s history—from his election before all worlds even to his admission to the Heaven of rest. Grace, all along, “reigns through righteousness unto eternal life,” and, “where sin abounds, Grace does much more abound.” There is no point in the history of a saved soul upon which you can put your finger and say, “In this instance he is saved by his own merit.” Every single blessing which we receive from God comes to us by the channel of free favor, revealed to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Boasting is excluded because merits are excluded. Merit is an unknown word in the Christian Church—it is banished once and for all—and our only shouts over foundation or top stone are, “Grace, Grace unto it!”
Perhaps the Apostle is the more earnest in insisting upon this Truth of God here, and in many other places, because this is a point against which the human heart raises the greatest objection. Every man, by nature, fights against salvation by Grace. Though we have nothing good in ourselves, we all think we have! Though we have all broken the Law and have lost all claim upon Divine regard, yet we are all proud enough to fancy that we are not quite so bad as others—that there are some mitigating circumstances in our offenses and that we can, in some measure, appeal to the justice as well as to the compassion of God.
Hence the Apostle puts it so strongly, “By Grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.” The statement of the text means just this—that we all need saving—saving from our sins and saving from the consequences of them. And that if we are saved it is not because of any works which we have already performed. Who among us, upon looking back at his past life, would dare to say that he deserves salvation?
Neither are we saved on account of any works foreseen which are yet to be performed by us. We have made no bargain with God that we will give Him so much service for so much mercy—neither has He made any Covenant with us of this character. He has freely saved us and if we serve Him in the future, as we trust we shall, with all our heart and soul and strength—even then we shall have no room for glorying because our works are worked in us of the Lord! What have we, then, which we have not received? We are saved not because of any mitigating circumstances with regard to our transgressions, nor because we were excusable on account of our youth, or of our ignorance, or any other cause! We are not saved because there were some good points in our character which ought not to be overlooked, or some hopeful indications of better things in the future!
Ah, no—“By Grace are you saved.” That clear and unqualified statement sweeps away all supposition of any deserving on our part, or any thought of deserving! It is not a case of a prisoner at the bar who pleads, “not guilty,” and who escapes because he is innocent. Far from it, for we are guilty beyond all question! It is not even a case of a prisoner who pleads, “guilty,” but at the same time mentions certain circumstances which render his offense less heinous. Far from it, for our offense is heinous to the last degree and our sin deserves the utmost wrath of God! Ours is the case of a criminal confessing his guilt and owning that he deserves the punishment, offering no extenuation and making no apology, but casting himself upon the absolute mercy of the judge, desiring him, for pity’s sake, to look upon his misery and spare him in compassion.