SOVEREIGN GRACE
by D.L. Moody
CHAPTER 2.
SAVED BY GRACE ALONE
(13)
I WANT to call your special attention to the fact that we are saved by grace
alone, not by works and grace. A great many people think that they can be saved by
works. Others think that salvation may be attained by works and grace together. They need
to have their eyes opened to see that the gift of God is free and apart from works. "
For 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). Many people would
put it thus: "For by your works are ye saved,–or by your tears, or your prayers,
or your fastings, or your trials, or your good resolutions, or your money! " But Paul
tells us plainly that it is "not of works, lest any man should boast." If we
could be saved by works, then of course Christ's mission to this world was a mistake.
There was no need for Him to come.
What had Paul ever done that could merit salvation? Up to the time that Christ called
him he had done everything be could against Christ and against Christianity. He was in the
very act of going to Damascus to cast into prison every Christian he could find. If he had
not been stopped. many of them would probably have been put to death. It was Paul, you (14) remember, who cheered on the mob that stoned Stephen,
Yet we find that when Christ met him He dealt in grace with him. No apostle says so much
against salvation by works before the cross, as Paul; and none says so much about
works after the cross. He put works in their right place. I have very little
sympathy with any man who has been redeemed by the precious blood of the Son of God, and
who has not got the spirit of work. If we are children of God we ought not to have a lazy
drop of blood in our veins. If a man tells me that he has been saved, and does not desire
to work for the honor of God, I doubt his salvation. Laziness belongs to the old creation,
not to the new. In all my experience I never knew a lazy man to be converted–never. I
have more hope of the salvation of drunkards, and thieves, and harlots, than of a lazy
man.
WHAT THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES SAY.
I find some people have accused me of teaching heresy, because I say salvation is all
of grace. I remember once, a clergyman said I was teaching false doctrine because I said
salvation was all of grace. He said that works had as much to do with our salvation as
grace. At that time I had never read the Thirty-Nine Articles; if I had I should
have been ready to meet him. I got the Prayer Book, and looked through the Thirty-Nine
Articles; and I found, to my amazement, that they put it a good deal stronger than I had
done.
Let us hear what they say—
"XI. Of the Justification of Man.. We are accounted righteous before God,
only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own (13) works or
deservings: Wherefore, that we are justified
by Faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort."
"XII. Of Good Works. Albeit that Good Works, which are the fruits of Faith,
and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's
judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out
necessarily of a true and lively Faith; in so much that by them a lively Faith may be as
evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit."
"XIII. Of Works Before Justification. Works done before the grace of
Christ, and the-inspiration of His Spirit, are not pleasant to God; for as much as they
spring not of faith in Jesus Christ, neither do they make men meet to receive grace, or
(as the school-authors say) deserve grace of congruity: yea rather, for that they are not
done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not but they have the
nature of sin."
That is stronger than I ever put it. These Articles say of works before justification
that "they have the nature of sin." I never called them sin! So you see this is
not any new doctrine that we are preaching. When the church and the world wake up to the
fact that works before salvation go for nought, then–and not till then, I
believe–men will come flocking into the kingdom of God by hundreds. WE WORK FROM THE
CROSS, NOT TO IT. WE WORK BECAUSE WE ARE SAVED, NOT IN ORDER TO BE SAVED. WE WORK
FROM SALVATION, NOT UP TO IT. SALVATION IS THE GIFT OF GOD.
(16) You have heard the Prayer Book; NOW HEAR
PAUL; "Abraham believed God; and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to
him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, -but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness" (Romans 4:3-5). Notice what the Apostle says: "To him that
worketh not." That is plain language, is it not? I may perhaps startle some of you by
saying that many of you have been kept out of the kingdom of God by your good works.
Nevertheless it is true. If you put works in the place of faith, they become a snare to
you. It is "to him that worketh not, but believeth."
I freely admit salvation is worth working for; it is worth a man's going round the
world on his hands and knees, climbing its mountains, crossing its valleys, swimming its
rivers, going through all manner of hardship in order to attain it. But we do not get it
in that way. Paul went through all the trials and hardships he had to endure, because by
the grace of God resting on him he was enabled to do so.
PENANCE FOR SIN.
Would you insult the Almighty by offering Him the fruits of this frail body to atone
for sin? Supposing your Queen were to send me a magnificent present, and I said to the
royal messenger: "I certainly should not like to accept this from Her Majesty without
giving her something in return." Suppose I should send her a penny! How would the
Queen feel, if I were to insult her in that way? And what have we that we can offer to God
in return for His free gift of salvation? Less (17)
than nothing. We must come and take salvation in God's way.
There is no merit in taking a gift. If a beggar comes to my house, and asks for bread
to eat, and I give him a loaf of bread, there is no merit in his taking the bread. So if
you experience the favor of God, you have to take it as a beggar. Some one has said :
" If you come to God as a prince, you go away as beggar: if you come as a beggar; you
go away as a prince." It is to the needy that God opens the wardrobe of heaven, and
brings out the robe of righteousness.
Paul says again: "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" (Romans 11:6). Paul is reasoning in this way: that if I work for a gift or
attempt to give money for it, it ceases to be a gift. The only way to get a gift is to
take it as a gift.
An old man got up in one of our meetings and said, "I have been forty-two
years learning three things." I pricked up my ears at that; I thought that if I could
find out in about three minutes what a man had taken forty-two years to learn, I
should like to do it. The first thing he said he had learned was that he could do nothing
towards his own salvation. " Well," said I to myself, "that is worth
learning." The second thing he had found out was that God did not require him to do
anything. Well, that was worth finding out too. And the third thing was that the Lord
Jesus Christ had done it all, that salvation was finished, and that all he had to do was
to take it. Dear friends, let us learn this lesson; (18)
let us give up our struggling and striving, and accept salvation at once.
A FREE PARDON.
I was preaching in the Southern States a few years ago; and the minister called my
attention to one of the elders in his Church. He said: " When the civil war broke
out, that man was in one of the far Southern States, and he enlisted into the Southern
army. He was selected by the Southern General as a spy, and sent to spy out the Northern
army. As you know, armies have no mercy on spies, if they can catch them. This man was
caught. He was tried by court-martial, and ordered to be shot. While he was in the
guard-room, previous to the time of execution, the Northern soldiers used to bring him his
rations. Every time they came to his cell he would call Abraham Lincoln by every vile
epithet he could think of. It seemed as though be " lay awake nights"
trying to study such names. At last the soldiers got so angry that they said they would be
glad when the bullet went through his heart. Some of them even said they would like to put
a bullet through him; and if they were not obliged by military order to feed him, they
would let him starve in the prison. They thought that was what he deserved for talking so
unjustly of Lincoln.
One day while he was in the prison, waiting to be led out to execution, a Northern
officer came to the cell. The prisoner, full of rage, thought his time was come to be
shot. The officer opened the prison door, and handed him a free pardon from Abraham
Lincoln! He told him he was at liberty; he could go to his wife and children! The man who
had before been so full of bitterness, and malice, and rage, suddenly quieted down, and
said, "What! has Abraham Lincoln pardoned me? For what? I never said a good word
about him." The officer said, "If you had what you deserved you would be shot.
But some one interceded for you at Washington and obtained your pardon; you are now at
liberty." The minister, as he told me, said that this act of undeserved
kindness quite broke the man's heart and led to his conversion. Said the minister,
"You let any man speak one word against Abraham Lincoln now in the hearing of that
man, and see what will happen. There is not a man in all the Republic of America, I
believe, who has a kinder feeling towards our late President than he."
Now that is grace. The min did not deserve a pardon. But this is exactly what
grace is: undeserved mercy. You may have been a rebel against God up to this very
hour; but if you acknowledge your rebellion, and are willing to take the mercy that God
offers, you can have it freely. It is there for every soul on the face of the earth.
"The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared." Thank God
for that! Salvation by grace is for all men. If we are lost, it will not be because God
has not provided a Saviour, but because we spurn the gift of God–because we dash the
cup of salvation from us.
What says Christ" You remember that when He was on earth, they came to Him and
asked what they should do to work the works of God. He had been telling them to labor not
for the bread that perisheth, but for the meat that endureth unto everlasting life. (20) Then they asked Him, "What shall we do that we may work
the works of God?" (John 6:28). What did Jesus tell them to do? Did He tell them to
go and feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit the widow and the fatherless in
their affliction ? Perhaps you may say that, according to Scripture, is "pure and
undefiled religion." Granted; but something comes before that. That is all right and
necessary in its place. But when these men wanted to know what they had to do to inherit
eternal life, Jesus said: "THIS IS THE WORK OF GOD, THAT YE BELIEVE ON HIM WHOM HE
HATH SENT" (John 6:29).
YOU CAN BELIEVE.
A friend lately called my attention to the fact that God has put the offer of salvation
in such a way that the whole world can lay hold of it. All men can believe. A lame man
might not perhaps be able to visit the sick; but he can believe. A blind man by reason of
his infirmity cannot do many things; but he can believe. A deaf man can believe. A dying
man can believe. God has put salvation so simply that the young and the old, the wise and
the foolish, the rich and the poor, can all believe if they will.
Do you think that Christ would have come down from heaven, would have gone to
Gethsemane and to Golgotha, would have suffered as He did, if man could have worked his
way up to heaven"–if he could have merited salvation by his own efforts? I think
if you give five minutes' consideration to this question you will see, that if man could
have saved himself Christ need not have suffered it all. Remember, too, what Christ says -
" He that climbeth up some other way, (21) the
same is a thief and a robber" (John 10:1). He has marked out the way to God. He has
opened up a new and shining way, and He wants us to take-His way.- Certainly the attempt
to work our way up to heaven is " climbing up some other way," is it not? If
ever a man did succeed in working his way into heaven we should never hear the last of it!
I have got so terribly sick of these so-called "self-made men." There are some
men whom you cannot approach without hearing them blow their trumpet, saying, " I am
a self-made man. I came here a poor man ten years ago; and now I am rich." It
is all I-I-I! They go on boasting, and telling what wonderful beings they are! There is
one thing that is excluded from the kingdom of heaven; and that is boasting. If you and I
ever get there it will be by the sovereign grace of God. There will be no credit due to
ourselves.
Saved by grace alone!
This is all my plea:
Jesus died for all mankind,
And Jesus died for me."
Chapter 3: Possessing, and
"Working Out."
Back to Table of Contents and Preface
Return to Index
on Salvation Doctrine
email