The following sermon by Charles Spurgeon explains that salvation is a gift
from God through His grace. It is not bought. It is not earned. It is given
freely to all who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/

---

All Of Grace
by C.H. Surgeon

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God." - Ephesians 2:8

Of the things which I have spoken unto you these many years, this is the
sum:. Within the circle of these words my theology is contained, so far as
it
refers to the salvation of men. I rejoice also to remember that these of my
family who were ministers of Christ before me preached this doctrine, and
none other. My father, who is still able to bear his personal testimony for
his Lord, knows no other doctrine, neither did his father before him.
I am led to remember this by the fact that a somewhat singular
circumstance, recorded in my memory, connects this text with myself and
my grandfather. It is now long years ago. I was announced to preach in a
certain country town in the Eastern Counties. It does not often happen to
me to be behind time, for I feel that punctuality is one of those little
virtues
which may prevent great sins. But we have no control over railway delays,
and breakdowns; and so it happened that I reached the appointed place
considerably behind the time. Like sensible people, they had begun their
worship, and had proceeded as far as the sermon. As I neared the chapel, I
perceived that someone was in the pulpit preaching, and who should the
preacher be but my dear and venerable grandfather! He saw me as I came
in at the front door and made my way up the aisle, and at once he said,
"Here comes my grandson! He may preach the gospel better than I can, but
he cannot preach a better gospel; can you, Charles?" As I made my way
through the throng, I answered, "You can preach better than I can. Pray go
on." But he would not agree to that. I must take the sermon, and so I did,
going on with the subject there and then, just where he left off. "There,"
said he, "I was preaching on 'For by grace are ye saved.' I have been
setting forth the source and fountain-head of salvation; and I am now
showing them the channel of it, through faith. Now you take it up, and go
on." I am so much at home with these glorious truths that I could not feel
any difficulty in taking from my grandfather the thread of his discourse,
and
joining my thread to it, so as to continue without a break. Our agreement
in the things of God made it easy for us to be joint-preachers of the same
discourse. I went on with "through faith," and then I proceeded to the next
point, "and that not of yourselves." Upon this I was explaining the
weakness and inability of human nature, and the certainty that salvation
could not be of ourselves, when I had my goat-tail pulled, and my
wellbeloved
grandsire took his turn again. "When I spoke of our depraved
human nature," the good old man said, "I know most about that, dear
friends"; and so he took up the parable, and for the next five minutes set
forth a solemn and humbling description of our lost estate, the depravity of
our nature, and the spiritual death under which we were found. When he
had said his say in a very gracious manner, his grandson was allowed to go
on again, to the dear old man's great delight; for now and then he would
say, in a gentle tone, "Good! Good!" Once he said, "Tell them that again,
Charles." and, of course, I did tell them that again. It was a happy
exercise
to me to take my share in bearing witness to truths of such vital
importance, which are so deeply impressed upon my heart. While
announcing this text I seem to hear that dear voice, which has been so long
lost to earth, saying to me, "TELL THEM THAT AGAIN." I am not
contradicting the testimony of forefathers who are now with God. If my
grandfather could return to earth, he would find me where he left me,
steadfast in the faith, and true to that form of doctrine which was once
delivered to the saints.

I shall handle the text briefly, by way of making a few statements. The
first
statement is clearly contained in the text: -

I. THERE IS PRESENT SALVATION.

The apostle says, "Ye are saved." Not "ye shall be," or "ye may be"; but
"ye are saved." He says not, "Ye are partly saved," nor "in the way to
being saved," nor "hopeful of salvation"; but "by grace are ye saved." Let
us be as clear on this point as he was, and let us never rest till we know
that we are saved. At this moment we are either saved or unsaved. That is
clear. To which class do we belong? I hope that, by the witness of the Holy
Ghost, we may be so assured of our safety as to sing, "The Lord is my
strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." Upon this I will not
linger, but pass on to note the next point.

II. A PRESENT SALVATION MUST BE THROUGH GRACE.

If we can say of any man, or of any set of people, "Ye are saved," we shall
have to preface it with the words "by grace." There is no other present
salvation except that which begins and ends with grace. As far as I know, I
do not think that anyone in the wide world pretends to preach or to
possess a present salvation, except those who believe salvation to be all of
grace. No one in the Church of Rome claims to be now saved -
completely and eternally saved. Such a profession would be heretical.
Some few Catholics may hope to enter heaven when they die, but the most
of them have the miserable prospect of purgatory before their eyes. We see
constant requests for prayers for departed souls, and this would not be if
those souls were saved, and glorified with their Savior. Masses for the
repose of the soul indicate the incompleteness of the salvation which Rome
has to offer. Well may it be so, since Papal salvation is by works, and even
if salvation by good works were possible, no man can ever be sure that he
has performed enough of them to secure his salvation.

Among those who dwell around us, we find many who are as altogether
strangers to the doctrine of grace, and those never dream of present
salvation. Possibly they trust that they may be saved when they die; they
half hope that, after years of watchful holiness, they may, perhaps, be
saved
at last; but, to be saved now, and to know that they are saved, is quite
beyond them, and they think it presumption.

There can be no present salvation unless it be upon this footing - "By
grace are ye saved." It is a very singular thing that no one has risen up to
preach a present salvation by works. I suppose it would be too absurd. The
works being unfinished, the salvation would be incomplete; or, the
salvation being complete, the main motive of the legalist would be gone.
Salvation must be by grace. If man be lost by sin, how can he be saved
except through the grace of God!? If he has sinned, he is condemned; and
how can he, of himself, reverse that condemnation? Suppose that he should
keep the law all the rest of his life, he will then only have done what he
was
always bound to have done, and he will still be an unprofitable servant.
What is to become of the past? How can old sins be blotted out? How can
the old ruin be retrieved? According to Scripture, and according to
common-sense, salvation can only be through the free favor of God.
Salvation in the present tense must be by the free favor of God. Persons
may contend for salvation by works, but you will not hear anyone support
his own argument by saying, "I am myself saved by what I have done."
That would be a superfluity of naughtiness to which few men would go.
Pride could hardly compass itself about with such extravagant boasting.
No, if we are saved, it must be by the free favor of God. No one professes
to be an example of the opposite view.

Salvation to be complete must be by free favor. The saints, when they
come to die, never conclude their lives by hoping in their good works.
Those who have lived the most holy and useful lives invariably look to free
grace in their final moments. I have stood by the bedside of a godly man
who reposed any confidence whatever in his own prayers, or repentance,
or religiousness. I have heard eminently holy men quoting in death the
words, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." In fact, the
nearer men come to heaven, and the more prepared they are for it, the
more simple is their trust in the merit of the Lord Jesus, and the more
intensely do they abhor all trust in themselves. If this be the case in our
last
moments, when the conflict is almost over, much more ought we to feel it
to be so while we are in the thick of the fight. If a man be completely
saved
in this present time of warfare, how can it be except by grace. While he has
to mourn over sin that dwelleth in him, while he has to confess innumerable
shortcomings and transgressions, while sin is mixed with all he does, how
can he believe that he is completely saved except it be by the free favor of
God?

Paul speaks of this salvation as belonging to the Ephesians, "By grace are
ye saved." The Ephesians had been given to curious arts and works of
divination. They had thus made a covenant with the powers of darkness.
Now if such as these were saved, it must be by grace alone. So is it with us
also: our original condition and character render it certain that, if saved
at
all,, we must owe it to the free favor of God. I know it is so in my own
case; and I believe the same rule holds good in the rest of believers. This
is
clear enough, and so I advance to the next observation: -

III. PRESENT SALVATION BY GRACE MUST BE THROUGH FAITH.

A present salvation must be through grace, and salvation by grace must be
through faith. You cannot get a hold of salvation by grace by any other
means than by faith. This live coal from off the altar needs the golden
tongs
of faith with which to carry it. I suppose that it might have been possible,
if
God had so willed it, that salvation might have been through works, and
yet by grace; for if Adam had perfectly obeyed the law of God, still he
would only have done what he was bound to do, and so, if God should
have rewarded him, the reward itself must have been according to grace,
since the Creator owes nothing to the creature. This would have been a
very difficult system to work, while the object of it was perfect; but in
our
case it would not work at all. Salvation in our case means deliverance from
guilt and ruin, and this could not have been laid hold of by a measure of
good works, since we are not in a condition to perform any. Suppose I had
to preach that you as sinners must do certain works, and then you would
be saved; and suppose that you could perform them; such a salvation
would not then have been seen to be altogether of grace; it would have
soon appeared to be of debt. Apprehended in such a fashion, it would have
come to you in some measure as the reward of work done, and its whole
aspect would have been changed. Salvation by grace can only be gripped
by the hand of faith: the attempt to lay hold upon it by the doing of
certain
acts of law would cause the grace to evaporate. "Therefore, it is of faith
that it might be by grace." "If by grace, then is it no more of works:
otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more
grace: otherwise work is no more work."

Some try to lay hold upon salvation by grace through the use of
ceremonies; it will not do. You are christened, confirmed, and caused to
receive "the holy sacrament" from priestly hands, or you are baptized, join
the church, sit at the Lord's table: does this bring you salvation? I ask
you,
"Have you salvation?" You dare not say "yes." If you did claim salvation
of a sort, yet I am sure it would not be in your minds salvation by grace.
Again, you cannot lay hold upon salvation by grace through your feelings.
The hand of faith is constructed for the grasping of a present salvation by
grace, but feeling is not adapted for that end. If you go about to say, "I
must feel that I am saved. I must feel so much sorrow and so much joy, or
else I will not admit that I am saved," you will find that this method will
not answer. As well might you hope to see with your ear, or taste with
your eye, or hear with your nose, as to believe by feeling: it is the wrong
organ. After you have believed, you can enjoy salvation by feeling its
heavenly influences; but to dream of getting a grasp of it by your own
feelings is as foolish as to attempt to bear away the sun-light in the palm
of
your hand, or the breath of heaven between the lashes of your eyes. There
is an essential absurdity in the whole affair.

Moreover, the evidence yielded by feeling is singularly fickle. When your
feelings are peaceful and delightful, they are soon broken in upon, and
becomes restless and melancholy. The most fickle of elements, the most
feeble of creatures, the most contemptible of circumstances, may sink or
raise our spirits: experienced men come to think less and less of their
present emotions as they reflect upon the little reliance which can be
safely
placed upon them. Faith receives the statement of God concerning his way
of gracious pardon, and thus it brings salvation to the man believing; but
feeling, warming under passionate appeals, yielding itself deliriously to a
hope which it dares not examine, whirling round and round in a sort of
dervish dance of excitement which has become necessary for its own
sustaining, is all on a stir, like the troubled sea which cannot rest. From
its
toilings and ragings, feeling is apt to drop to lukewarmness, despondency,
despair, and all the kindred evils. Feelings are a set of cloudy, windy
phenomena which cannot be trusted in reference to the eternal verities of
God. We now go a step further: -

IV. SALVATION BY GRACE, THROUGH FAITH, IS NOT OF OURSELVES.

The salvation, and the faith, and the whole gracious work together, are not
of ourselves.

First, they are not of our former deservings: they are not the reward of
former good endeavors. No unregenerate person has lived so well that God
is bound to give him further grace, and to bestow on him eternal life; else
it
were no longer of grace, but of debt. Salvation is given to us, not earned
by us. Our first life is always a wandering away from God, and our new life
of return to God is always a work of undeserved mercy, wrought upon
those who greatly need, but never deserve it.

It is not of ourselves in the further sense, that it is not out of our
original
excellence. Salvation comes above; it is never evolved from within. Can
eternal life be evolved from the bare ribs of death. Some dare to tell us
that
faith in Christ, and the new birth, are only the development of good things
that lay hidden in us by nature; but in this, like their father, they speak
of
their own. Sirs, if an heir of wrath is left to be developed, he will become
more and more fit for the place prepared for the devil and his angels! You
may take the unregenerate man, and educate him to the highest; but he
remains, and must for over remain, dead in sin, unless a higher power shall
come in to save him from himself. Grace brings into the heart an entirely
foreign element. It does not improve and perpetuate; it kills and makes
alive. There is no continuity between the state of nature and the state of
grace: the one is darkness, and the other is light; the one is death, and
the
other is life. Grace, when it comes unto us, is like a firebrand dropped
into
the sea, where it would certainly be quenched were it not of such a
miraculous quality that it baffles the water-floods, and sets up its reign
of
fire and light even in the depths.

Salvation by grace, through faith, is not of ourselves in the sense of being
the result of our own power. We are bound to view salvation as being as
surely a divine act as creation, or Providence, or resurrection. At every
point of the process of salvation, this word is appropriate - "not of
yourselves." From the first desire after it to the full reception of it by
faith,
it is evermore of the Lord alone, and not of ourselves. The man believes,
but that belief is only one result among many of the implantation of divine
life within the man's soul by God himself.

Even the very will thus to he saved by grace is not of ourselves, but is the
gift of God. There lies the stress of the question. A man ought to believe
in
Jesus: it is his duty to receive him whom God has set forth to be a
propitiation for sins. But man will not believe in Jesus; he prefers
anything
to faith in his Redeemer. Unless the Spirit of God convinces the judgment,
and constrains the will, man has no heart to believe in Jesus unto eternal
life. I ask any saved man to look back upon his own conversion, and
explain how it came about. You turned to Christ, and believed on his
name: these were your own acts and deeds. But what caused you thus to
turn? What sacred force was that which turned you from sin to
righteousness? Do you attribute this singular renewal to the existence of a
something better in you than has been yet discovered in your unconverted
neighbor. No, you confess that you might have been what he now is if it
had not been that there was a potent something which touched the spring
of your will, enlightened your understanding, and guided you to the foot of
the cross. Gratefully we confess the fact; it must be so. Salvation by
grace,
through faith, is not of ourselves, and none of us will dream of taking any
honor to ourselves from our conversion, or from any gracious effort which
has flowed from the first divine cause. Last of all: -

V. "BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED THROUGH FAITH AND THAT NOT OF
OURSELVES: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD."

Salvation may be called Theodora, or God's gift: and each saved soul may
be surnamed Dorothea, which is another form of the same expression.
Multiply your phrases, and expand your expositions; but salvation truly
traced to its well-head is all contained in the gift unspeakable, the free,
unmeasured benison of love.

Salvation is the gift of God, in opposition to a wage. When a man pays
another his wage, he does what is right, and no one dreams of belauding
him for it. But we praise God for salvation because it is not the payment of
debt but the gift of grace. No man enters eternal life on earth, or in
heaven,
as his due: it is the gift of God. We say, "Nothing is freer than a gift."
Salvation is so purely, so absolutely a gift of God, that nothing can be
more
free. God gives it because he chooses to give it, according to that grand
text which has made many a man bite his lip in wrath, "I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion." You are all guilty and condemned, and the Great King
pardons whom he wills from among you. This is his royal prerogative. He
saves in infinite sovereignty of grace.

Salvation is the gift of God: that is to say completely so, in opposition to
the notion of growth. Salvation is not a natural production from within: it
is brought from a foreign zone, and planted within the heart by heavenly
hands. Salvation is in its entirety a gift from God. If thou wilt have it,
there
it is, complete. Wilt thou have it as a perfect gift, "No; I will produce it
in
my own workshop." Thou canst not forge a work so rare and costly, upon
which even Jesus spent his life's blood. Here is a garment without seam,
woven from the top throughout. It will cover thee and make thee glorious.
Wilt thou have it? "No; I will sit at the loom, and I will weave a raiment
of
my own!" Proud fool that thou art! Thou spinnest cobwebs. Thou weavest
a dream. Oh! that thou wouldst freely take what Christ upon the cross
declared to be finished.

It is the gift of God: that is, it is eternally secure in opposition to the
gifts
of men, which soon pass away. "Not as the world giveth, give I unto you,"
says our Lord Jesus. If my Lord Jesus gives you salvation at this moment,
you have it, and you have it for ever. He will never take it back again; and
if he does not take it from you, who can? If he saves you now through
faith, you are saved-so saved that you shall never perish, neither shall any
pluck you out of his hand. May it be so with everyone of us! Amen.

The following sermon by Charles Spurgeon explains that salvation is a gift=
from God through His grace. It is not bought. It is not earned. It is give=

freely to all who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

May God bless,
Carl
my website --http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog --http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/

---

All Of Grace
by C.H. Surgeon

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it i=

the gift of God." - Ephesians 2:8

Of the things which I have spoken unto you these many years, this is the
sum:. Within the circle of these words my theology is contained, so far as=
it
refers to the salvation of men. I rejoice also to remember that these of m=

family who were ministers of Christ before me preached this doctrine, and
none other. My father, who is still able to bear his personal testimony fo=

his Lord, knows no other doctrine, neither did his father before him.
I am led to remember this by the fact that a somewhat singular
circumstance, recorded in my memory, connects this text with myself and
my grandfather. It is now long years ago. I was announced to preach in a
certain country town in the Eastern Counties. It does not often happen to
me to be behind time, for I feel that punctuality is one of those little
virtues
which may prevent great sins. But we have no control over railway delays,
and breakdowns; and so it happened that I reached the appointed place
considerably behind the time. Like sensible people, they had begun their
worship, and had proceeded as far as the sermon. As I neared the chapel, I=
perceived that someone was in the pulpit preaching, and who should the
preacher be but my dear and venerable grandfather! He saw me as I came
in at the front door and made my way up the aisle, and at once he said,
"Here comes my grandson! He may preach the gospel better than I can, but
he cannot preach a better gospel; can you, Charles?" As I made my way
through the throng, I answered, "You can preach better than I can. Pray go=
on." But he would not agree to that. I must take the sermon, and so I did,=
going on with the subject there and then, just where he left off. "There,"=
said he, "I was preaching on 'For by grace are ye saved.' I have been
setting forth the source and fountain-head of salvation; and I am now
showing them the channel of it, through faith. Now you take it up, and go
on." I am so much at home with these glorious truths that I could not feel=
any difficulty in taking from my grandfather the thread of his discourse,
and
joining my thread to it, so as to continue without a break. Our agreement
in the things of God made it easy for us to be joint-preachers of the same=
discourse. I went on with "through faith," and then I proceeded to the nex=

point, "and that not of yourselves." Upon this I was explaining the
weakness and inability of human nature, and the certainty that salvation
could not be of ourselves, when I had my goat-tail pulled, and my
wellbeloved
grandsire took his turn again. "When I spoke of our depraved
human nature," the good old man said, "I know most about that, dear
friends"; and so he took up the parable, and for the next five minutes set=
forth a solemn and humbling description of our lost estate, the depravity =

our nature, and the spiritual death under which we were found. When he
had said his say in a very gracious manner, his grandson was allowed to go=
on again, to the dear old man's great delight; for now and then he would
say, in a gentle tone, "Good! Good!" Once he said, "Tell them that again,
Charles." and, of course, I did tell them that again. It was a happy
exercise
to me to take my share in bearing witness to truths of such vital
importance, which are so deeply impressed upon my heart. While
announcing this text I seem to hear that dear voice, which has been so lon=

lost to earth, saying to me, "TELL THEM THAT AGAIN." I am not
contradicting the testimony of forefathers who are now with God. If my
grandfather could return to earth, he would find me where he left me,
steadfast in the faith, and true to that form of doctrine which was once
delivered to the saints.

I shall handle the text briefly, by way of making a few statements. The
first
statement is clearly contained in the text: -

I. THERE IS PRESENT SALVATION.

The apostle says, "Ye are saved." Not "ye shall be," or "ye may be"; but
"ye are saved." He says not, "Ye are partly saved," nor "in the way to
being saved," nor "hopeful of salvation"; but "by grace are ye saved." Let=
us be as clear on this point as he was, and let us never rest till we know=
that we are saved. At this moment we are either saved or unsaved. That is
clear. To which class do we belong? I hope that, by the witness of the Hol=

Ghost, we may be so assured of our safety as to sing, "The Lord is my
strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." Upon this I will no=

linger, but pass on to note the next point.

II. A PRESENT SALVATION MUST BE THROUGH GRACE.

If we can say of any man, or of any set of people, "Ye are saved," we shal=

have to preface it with the words "by grace." There is no other present
salvation except that which begins and ends with grace. As far as I know, =

do not think that anyone in the wide world pretends to preach or to
possess a present salvation, except those who believe salvation to be all =

grace. No one in the Church of Rome claims to be now saved -
completely and eternally saved. Such a profession would be heretical.
Some few Catholics may hope to enter heaven when they die, but the most
of them have the miserable prospect of purgatory before their eyes. We see=
constant requests for prayers for departed souls, and this would not be if=
those souls were saved, and glorified with their Savior. Masses for the
repose of the soul indicate the incompleteness of the salvation which Rome=
has to offer. Well may it be so, since Papal salvation is by works, and ev=

if salvation by good works were possible, no man can ever be sure that he
has performed enough of them to secure his salvation.

Among those who dwell around us, we find many who are as altogether
strangers to the doctrine of grace, and those never dream of present
salvation. Possibly they trust that they may be saved when they die; they
half hope that, after years of watchful holiness, they may, perhaps, be
saved
at last; but, to be saved now, and to know that they are saved, is quite
beyond them, and they think it presumption.

There can be no present salvation unless it be upon this footing - "By
grace are ye saved." It is a very singular thing that no one has risen up =

preach a present salvation by works. I suppose it would be too absurd. The=
works being unfinished, the salvation would be incomplete; or, the
salvation being complete, the main motive of the legalist would be gone.
Salvation must be by grace. If man be lost by sin, how can he be saved
except through the grace of God!? If he has sinned, he is condemned; and
how can he, of himself, reverse that condemnation? Suppose that he should
keep the law all the rest of his life, he will then only have done what he=
was
always bound to have done, and he will still be an unprofitable servant.
What is to become of the past? How can old sins be blotted out? How can
the old ruin be retrieved? According to Scripture, and according to
common-sense, salvation can only be through the free favor of God.
Salvation in the present tense must be by the free favor of God. Persons
may contend for salvation by works, but you will not hear anyone support
his own argument by saying, "I am myself saved by what I have done."
That would be a superfluity of naughtiness to which few men would go.
Pride could hardly compass itself about with such extravagant boasting.
No, if we are saved, it must be by the free favor of God. No one professes=
to be an example of the opposite view.

Salvation to be complete must be by free favor. The saints, when they
come to die, never conclude their lives by hoping in their good works.
Those who have lived the most holy and useful lives invariably look to fre=

grace in their final moments. I have stood by the bedside of a godly man
who reposed any confidence whatever in his own prayers, or repentance,
or religiousness. I have heard eminently holy men quoting in death the
words, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." In fact, the
nearer men come to heaven, and the more prepared they are for it, the
more simple is their trust in the merit of the Lord Jesus, and the more
intensely do they abhor all trust in themselves. If this be the case in ou=

last
moments, when the conflict is almost over, much more ought we to feel it
to be so while we are in the thick of the fight. If a man be completely
saved
in this present time of warfare, how can it be except by grace. While he h=

to mourn over sin that dwelleth in him, while he has to confess innumerabl=

shortcomings and transgressions, while sin is mixed with all he does, how
can he believe that he is completely saved except it be by the free favor =

God?

Paul speaks of this salvation as belonging to the Ephesians, "By grace are=
ye saved." The Ephesians had been given to curious arts and works of
divination. They had thus made a covenant with the powers of darkness.
Now if such as these were saved, it must be by grace alone. So is it with =

also: our original condition and character render it certain that, if save=

at
all,, we must owe it to the free favor of God. I know it is so in my own
case; and I believe the same rule holds good in the rest of believers. Thi=

is
clear enough, and so I advance to the next observation: -

III. PRESENT SALVATION BY GRACE MUST BE THROUGH FAITH.

A present salvation must be through grace, and salvation by grace must be
through faith. You cannot get a hold of salvation by grace by any other
means than by faith. This live coal from off the altar needs the golden
tongs
of faith with which to carry it. I suppose that it might have been possibl=

if
God had so willed it, that salvation might have been through works, and
yet by grace; for if Adam had perfectly obeyed the law of God, still he
would only have done what he was bound to do, and so, if God should
have rewarded him, the reward itself must have been according to grace,
since the Creator owes nothing to the creature. This would have been a
very difficult system to work, while the object of it was perfect; but in
our
case it would not work at all. Salvation in our case means deliverance fro=

guilt and ruin, and this could not have been laid hold of by a measure of
good works, since we are not in a condition to perform any. Suppose I had
to preach that you as sinners must do certain works, and then you would
be saved; and suppose that you could perform them; such a salvation
would not then have been seen to be altogether of grace; it would have
soon appeared to be of debt. Apprehended in such a fashion, it would have
come to you in some measure as the reward of work done, and its whole
aspect would have been changed. Salvation by grace can only be gripped
by the hand of faith: the attempt to lay hold upon it by the doing of
certain
acts of law would cause the grace to evaporate. "Therefore, it is of faith=
that it might be by grace." "If by grace, then is it no more of works:
otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no mor=

grace: otherwise work is no more work."

Some try to lay hold upon salvation by grace through the use of
ceremonies; it will not do. You are christened, confirmed, and caused to
receive "the holy sacrament" from priestly hands, or you are baptized, joi=

the church, sit at the Lord's table: does this bring you salvation? I ask
you,
"Have you salvation?" You dare not say "yes." If you did claim salvation
of a sort, yet I am sure it would not be in your minds salvation by grace.=
Again, you cannot lay hold upon salvation by grace through your feelings.
The hand of faith is constructed for the grasping of a present salvation b=

grace, but feeling is not adapted for that end. If you go about to say, "I=
must feel that I am saved. I must feel so much sorrow and so much joy, or
else I will not admit that I am saved," you will find that this method wil=

not answer. As well might you hope to see with your ear, or taste with
your eye, or hear with your nose, as to believe by feeling: it is the wron=

organ. After you have believed, you can enjoy salvation by feeling its
heavenly influences; but to dream of getting a grasp of it by your own
feelings is as foolish as to attempt to bear away the sun-light in the pal=

of
your hand, or the breath of heaven between the lashes of your eyes. There
is an essential absurdity in the whole affair.

Moreover, the evidence yielded by feeling is singularly fickle. When your
feelings are peaceful and delightful, they are soon broken in upon, and
becomes restless and melancholy. The most fickle of elements, the most
feeble of creatures, the most contemptible of circumstances, may sink or
raise our spirits: experienced men come to think less and less of their
present emotions as they reflect upon the little reliance which can be
safely
placed upon them. Faith receives the statement of God concerning his way
of gracious pardon, and thus it brings salvation to the man believing; but=
feeling, warming under passionate appeals, yielding itself deliriously to =

hope which it dares not examine, whirling round and round in a sort of
dervish dance of excitement which has become necessary for its own
sustaining, is all on a stir, like the troubled sea which cannot rest. Fro=

its
toilings and ragings, feeling is apt to drop to lukewarmness, despondency,=
despair, and all the kindred evils. Feelings are a set of cloudy, windy
phenomena which cannot be trusted in reference to the eternal verities of
God. We now go a step further: -

IV. SALVATION BY GRACE, THROUGH FAITH, IS NOT OF OURSELVES.

The salvation, and the faith, and the whole gracious work together, are no=

of ourselves.

First, they are not of our former deservings: they are not the reward of
former good endeavors. No unregenerate person has lived so well that God
is bound to give him further grace, and to bestow on him eternal life; els=

it
were no longer of grace, but of debt. Salvation is given to us, not earned=
by us. Our first life is always a wandering away from God, and our new lif=

of return to God is always a work of undeserved mercy, wrought upon
those who greatly need, but never deserve it.

It is not of ourselves in the further sense, that it is not out of our
original
excellence. Salvation comes above; it is never evolved from within. Can
eternal life be evolved from the bare ribs of death. Some dare to tell us
that
faith in Christ, and the new birth, are only the development of good thing=

that lay hidden in us by nature; but in this, like their father, they spea=

of
their own. Sirs, if an heir of wrath is left to be developed, he will beco=

more and more fit for the place prepared for the devil and his angels! You=
may take the unregenerate man, and educate him to the highest; but he
remains, and must for over remain, dead in sin, unless a higher power shal=

come in to save him from himself. Grace brings into the heart an entirely
foreign element. It does not improve and perpetuate; it kills and makes
alive. There is no continuity between the state of nature and the state of=
grace: the one is darkness, and the other is light; the one is death, and
the
other is life. Grace, when it comes unto us, is like a firebrand dropped
into
the sea, where it would certainly be quenched were it not of such a
miraculous quality that it baffles the water-floods, and sets up its reign=
of
fire and light even in the depths.

Salvation by grace, through faith, is not of ourselves in the sense of bei=

the result of our own power. We are bound to view salvation as being as
surely a divine act as creation, or Providence, or resurrection. At every
point of the process of salvation, this word is appropriate - "not of
yourselves." From the first desire after it to the full reception of it by=
faith,
it is evermore of the Lord alone, and not of ourselves. The man believes,
but that belief is only one result among many of the implantation of divin=

life within the man's soul by God himself.

Even the very will thus to he saved by grace is not of ourselves, but is t=

gift of God. There lies the stress of the question. A man ought to believe=
in
Jesus: it is his duty to receive him whom God has set forth to be a
propitiation for sins. But man will not believe in Jesus; he prefers
anything
to faith in his Redeemer. Unless the Spirit of God convinces the judgment,=
and constrains the will, man has no heart to believe in Jesus unto eternal=
life. I ask any saved man to look back upon his own conversion, and
explain how it came about. You turned to Christ, and believed on his
name: these were your own acts and deeds. But what caused you thus to
turn? What sacred force was that which turned you from sin to
righteousness? Do you attribute this singular renewal to the existence of =

something better in you than has been yet discovered in your unconverted
neighbor. No, you confess that you might have been what he now is if it
had not been that there was a potent something which touched the spring
of your will, enlightened your understanding, and guided you to the foot o=

the cross. Gratefully we confess the fact; it must be so. Salvation by
grace,
through faith, is not of ourselves, and none of us will dream of taking an=

honor to ourselves from our conversion, or from any gracious effort which
has flowed from the first divine cause. Last of all: -

V. "BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED THROUGH FAITH AND THAT NOT OF
OURSELVES: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD."

Salvation may be called Theodora, or God's gift: and each saved soul may
be surnamed Dorothea, which is another form of the same expression.
Multiply your phrases, and expand your expositions; but salvation truly
traced to its well-head is all contained in the gift unspeakable, the free=

unmeasured benison of love.

Salvation is the gift of God, in opposition to a wage. When a man pays
another his wage, he does what is right, and no one dreams of belauding
him for it. But we praise God for salvation because it is not the payment =

debt but the gift of grace. No man enters eternal life on earth, or in
heaven,
as his due: it is the gift of God. We say, "Nothing is freer than a gift."=
Salvation is so purely, so absolutely a gift of God, that nothing can be
more
free. God gives it because he chooses to give it, according to that grand
text which has made many a man bite his lip in wrath, "I will have mercy o=

whom I will have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion." You are all guilty and condemned, and the Great King
pardons whom he wills from among you. This is his royal prerogative. He
saves in infinite sovereignty of grace.

Salvation is the gift of God: that is to say completely so, in opposition =

the notion of growth. Salvation is not a natural production from within: i=

is brought from a foreign zone, and planted within the heart by heavenly
hands. Salvation is in its entirety a gift from God. If thou wilt have it,=
there
it is, complete. Wilt thou have it as a perfect gift, "No; I will produce =

in
my own workshop." Thou canst not forge a work so rare and costly, upon
which even Jesus spent his life's blood. Here is a garment without seam,
woven from the top throughout. It will cover thee and make thee glorious.
Wilt thou have it? "No; I will sit at the loom, and I will weave a raiment=
of
my own!" Proud fool that thou art! Thou spinnest cobwebs. Thou weavest
a dream. Oh! that thou wouldst freely take what Christ upon the cross
declared to be finished.

It is the gift of God: that is, it is eternally secure in opposition to th=

gifts
of men, which soon pass away. "Not as the world giveth, give I unto you,"
says our Lord Jesus. If my Lord Jesus gives you salvation at this moment,
you have it, and you have it for ever. He will never take it back again; a=

if he does not take it from you, who can? If he saves you now through
faith, you are saved-so saved that you shall never perish, neither shall a=

pluck you out of his hand. May it be so with everyone of us! Amen.