Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3408
“Not of works lest any man should boast” Ephesians 2:9.
THIS is very plain. There is no mistaking the sense. We are saved by Grace and not by our own doings. A reason is assigned. If we were saved by our own doings, it would be natural and certain that we would boast. It is well that the Apostle is so very explicit here and elsewhere upon this Doctrine, for men will fall against and blunt the edge of his statement. Self-righteousness is the natural religion of every degraded heart. Only the Spirit of God can make a man really receive and acknowledge the Truth of God. The Apostle seems determined that if any reject it, it shall not be for lack of clearness in his statement as a teacher. He does not beat about the bush, or go round about, or mince matters—he comes at once to the point, “By Grace are you saved”—and then he gives the negative, the backstroke of the sword, “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” This is the old controversy of Christianity from the very beginning. The first heavy fire of the Gospel ordinance was directed against the Judaizers. They said salvation was by ceremonies and the works of the Law of God. In all sorts of shapes and ways, sometimes straightforwardly and sometimes cunningly, they tried to get into the Christian Church the idea that the works of men could have some merit in them and contribute in some degree to their salvation! The Apostle was a very sturdy opponent of this subtle innovation. His Epistle to the Romans, his Epistle to the Galatians, his Epistle to the Ephesians and, indeed, all his writings seem like so many cannons dragged to the front and discharging red-hot shot against the very idea of salvation by the works of the Law. “By the works of the Law there shall no flesh living be justified,” he says, “for by the Law is the knowledge of sin.”
Further down in the history of the Christian Church this old conflict was renewed very vehemently by Martin Luther and his brother Reformers against the Church of Rome. You must not think that the great point of difference between the Protestants and Romanists is whether we shall obey that respectable old gentleman at Rome or not! Or whether we shall have our ministers dressed in blue and scarlet and fine linen—or in common broadcloth, like ourselves. Those trifles may become important as ostensible signs of profession, but they are not the main point at issue. They are merely the husk of the controversy! The real battle between the Papists and the Protestants turns on this—are men saved by works, or are they saved by Grace? All the Reformers that ever tried to reform the Church of Rome by interfering with her mummeries and her monasteries, her priests and their vestments, her holy days and celebrations, and I do not know what besides, were all just fiddling away with a wasted force at some of the external branches of that horrible old upas tree! But when Luther came fresh from the cell with that Light of God still beaming from his eyes, “We are justified by faith,” then it was that the axe was laid at the root of this tree! There is nothing needed to bring down popery but the constant promulgation of this one Truth of God—“It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy,” for salvation is not of man, neither by man—it is of the Lord and it is given to as many as believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all their hearts! In fact, this is the standing controversy, today, before which all other controversies dwindle into insignificance. The outside world still has it that they will be saved by their own doings. The host of God’s elect, stripped of their own righteousness and made to put on the righteousness of Christ, stand, each man, with his sword upon his side and his shield in his hand, defensive for this one Truth of God, this vital Truth of God, the all-important Truth of the Gospel!
For this, Brothers and Sisters, we ought, every one of us, to be prepared to shed our blood! To obliterate or to disguise this Truth were to put out the lamp that illuminates this dark world! Take away the only ointment that can healearth’s wounds! To destroy the only medicine that will ever cure the diseases of humanity—“Justified by faith, saved by Grace, not of works, lest any man should boast.”
A GREAT NEGATIVE—“Not of works.” Now, Brothers and Sisters, it must not be of works because that way has been tried and has proved a complete failure. Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden under circumstances peculiarly conducive to his happiness. The Law of God which was to test him was remarkably simple. It contained but one command, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” Adam was not, as we are, corrupt—his constitution had no tendency to sin. He was pure and perfect with well balanced judgment and without bias one way or the other. He had never sinned—he need not ever to have sinned! It seems to me, he had nothing to gain by sin. His paradise was as perfect as it could be! God had been pleased to give him everything necessary to make him abundantly happy. But under these circumstances—the most favorable in which humanity was ever placed—the way of acceptance before God by works broke lamentably down!