C.H. Spurgeon – All of Grace

Hence the apostle puts it so strongly, “By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV)

     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 wrought in us of the Lord. What have we even then which we have not received? We are saved, not because of any mitigating circumstances concerning 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 ye 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.

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