WE were alone in a railway carriage. I said to him, “What a wonderful statement that is in the 17th of John, ‘This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.’”
“Yes,” he answered, “that was the grand design for which we were created, for which, indeed, we were sent into the world, that we should have that life in heaven.”
“Oh! but why not now? We read,” I replied, “in John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24), ‘He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent life, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.’ That life is possessed by the believer now.”
“To say that it is all by faith,” he said, “would throw open the door for a bad life. We must have good works. Grace is not sufficient of itself.”
“The grace that brings salvation teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. (Titus 2:1212Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (Titus 2:12)). Grace first saves, and then teaches the saved one to lead a life that is godly,” I replied.
“Quite so,” he said again; “but of course none can be saved until he is beyond the possibility of failure, and in heaven. Hence he leads a godly life to that end.”
“Nay,” I said, “the true believer begins with salvation, not yet, of course, in all its fullness, but grace saves him at the start, and qualifies him to do good works as the evidence of his salvation. Supposing you saw me lying helpless and friendless in the gutter, and, moved by pity, you assisted me from my miserable condition, that would be an act of pure grace on your part, and I should be indebted to you for your kindly assistance—an indebtedness which I should seek to acknowledge by showing practical gratitude to you.”
“Just so,” he answered, “and therefore our church teaches, that out of gratitude for the death of the blessed Lord on the cross we should seek to do our duty, and to merit His favor, so as to obtain His grace eventually.”
“But grace is unmerited,” I said. “You fail to distinguish between law and grace. Law demands, but grace bestows; and the difference between you and me is this, that I am working from grace, and you are working for it. How can anyone work for grace?”
Our station was reached, and our talk ended. A sample, thought I, of all, no matter what church, party, sect, or creed they belong to, who know not the grace of God that bringeth salvation. “What is bred in the bone comes out in the flesh,” and it is the essential conviction of the natural mind that, somehow or other, man must work his way to God.
That conviction is false. How could a sinful creature work his way in whole, or in part, to a holy God?
The law was given as a test. It proposed life to the man who could do “these things,” and fulfill without the smallest failure each of its terms. But no man could do them. Hence, “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.”
On the other hand Christianity loudly proclaims, “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:99Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:9)). Our works are not the merit, though we are told to work out our “own salvation with fear and trembling.” Yes, “work it out,” not work it in! Work it out, but not work for it! None could do that but the Son of God, when He died under the judgment of Calvary. To Him be the praise.
1. The grace of God is the spring.
2. The blood of Christ the merit.
3. The Spirit of God the power.
4. The written Word the ground of assurance.
5. Faith the instrument.
6. Works the happy evidence.
7. Heaven the glorious result.
And wherefore all this? “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”
Happy the man who knows “the grace of God that bringeth salvation.”
J. W. S.