SALVATION BY GRACE

"By grace are you saved. " Ephes. 2:13

Awful would have been the condition of fallen man, had he been left to work out his deliverance by the Covenant of works. The command- 'Do this, and live,' as well as the threatening- 'Transgress and die,' would have fast barred the door of hope against him. If his conformity to the divine law had been the only way of escape, despair would have made him its prey, and his doleful cry would have been: Farewell glory and happiness; farewell heaven forever!

But, blessed be God, adored be his grace– he has not left us in this hopeless, helpless, and undone condition. By his Gospel he has revealed Himself to us as a just God and a Savior; just, and yet the justifier of all who believe in Jesus. A way of escape is now opened to us through the Cross of Christ. A city of refuge is prepared to receive every trembling sinner who is pursued by the avenger of blood. Lord! I feel more and more that I am a sinner; yes, the chief of sinners. Every day brings fresh proof of my corruption, and lays me in the dust before you. My just deserving is everlasting burning; nothing less than this do I deserve; nothing more than this can I ever merit. Lord, my name is sinner; my nature is depravity; my heart is sin itself. What, then, can I hope for, when I thus contemplate myself, but repulsion from your presence, when I appear before You seated on your throne of Justice, surrounded by ten thousand tines ten thousand pure and happy spirits. These angelic beings will acknowledge the justice of that sentence which frowns me into hell. Oh! my God, and is this indeed my dreadful state by nature? Alas! it is.

But on this darkened cloud, whose bosom is filled with elements of destruction, shines the rainbow of mercy. In the midst of the earthquake, the whirlwind, and the fire, I hear a still small voice, speaking accents of grace, and, bidding me not to fear, only to believe. Oh! my soul, can this be true? Does mercy rejoice against judgment. Can God be gracious to the vilest of the vile, and yet remain unsullied in his holiness, uninjured in his justice? Can he receive sinners, and yet manifest his hatred against sin? Well may angels desire to look into these things.

Admire, O my soul, with never-ceasing delight, the glories of sovereign grace, the riches of redeeming love, the transcendent mercy of Almighty God! A Savior is provided for you, suited to your every need. In Him, you have Wisdom, for your ignorance; Strength, for your weakness; Pardon, for your sin; Righteousness, for your guilt; Holiness, for your pollution; Redemption, for your bondage; Light, for your darkness; Life in God, for your death in sin; Hope of glory, for your dread of hell. All this, and much, much more is Jesus to you, if you can believe in Him!

What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits- how shall I show forth all his praise? O my soul, give God the Father, the glory of your whole salvation, who thus freely devised this amazing plan of saving rebels from the wrath to come. Give God the Son, the glory of your whole salvation, who so willingly submitted to meet in your nature, the wrath of incensed Justice, who so patiently sustained for you its accumulated vengeance, who so graciously turned it away, though it burned against you to the lowest hell. Give God the Holy Spirit, the glory of your whole salvation, who with such wonderful forbearance has, for years, been striving with you to draw your fugitive affections from forbidden objects, and place them on the precious Jesus; by whose almighty power, you have in some degree been brought to cleave unto, to love, rely upon, and trust in the ever-adored Savior as your only sacrifice for sin, your only justifying righteousness, your only Hope of glory. Oh! blessed Trinity in Unity, accept the praises of a poor unworthy sinner! Inflame my love, that I may praise you better both in lip, and heart, and life, until I am translated to that world of joy where praise will be unceasing and eternal.

Come, O Spirit of all grace and truth, come into my heart and take up your abode there. Oh! come and dwell in me, unworthy as I am of such a Guest. Make me willing, I humbly beseech you, to welcome your approach, to receive you with joy and gladness. Come into my heart, O Pledge of eternal blessings. Fill me with light and love. Cause the fruits of righteousness to abound in me, as a living branch in the true Vine. Come, and manifest yourself to my soul, You, who are the Seal of everlasting salvation. Let me bear the impress of your holy nature. Be the inward Witness, testifying to my conscience that I am a child of God, enabling me to cry, Abba, Father.

From first to last salvation is all of grace, whether I consider the love of the Father in devising, the love of the Son in executing, or the love of the Spirit in applying, its blessings to my heart. How wonderful is the work of the Holy Spirit on the soul. His operations are remarkably declared by our Lord when about to leave his disciples. To them, he would be a COMFORTER; to the world, a CONVINCER of sin. Meditate, O my soul, on these two characters of the divine Spirit, and adore that grace which so wonderfully seeks out the lost sinners of mankind.

Before the promised Comforter could be given, it was expedient that Christ should go away, that he should be offered up as a sacrifice for sin, that he should triumph over the powers of darkness; that he should ascend to the Father. This blessed purchase of his blood is now poured out on the sons of men, and works in mercy upon his Church and on the world.

To the world he is the CONVINCER OF SIN. "When he comes," said Jesus, "he will reprove the world of sin," "because they believe not on me." All other sins are included in the sin of unbelief. It is the root from where spring all those poisonous branches which have shed their hateful influence through every age. The fruit of this tree is death. All the miseries which have deluged the earth, sprang from unbelief. Eve disbelieved the word of her Creator, and fell. All her children have trodden in her steps, and with her, have fallen into depths of woe. How pathetic is the cry of David "Out of the depths have I cried unto you, O Lord." The Bible is full of the vials of wrath, poured out upon an apostate world, because of unbelief. The history of nations, is but the history of human crimes, and of human miseries, because of unbelief. All the sorrows of time, all the agonies of eternity, may be traced to the sin of unbelief. Great, then, is the work of the Spirit, to convince the world of sin, because, said the Savior, they believe not on me.

When I look around me and contemplate the great mass of mankind, unbelief appears like a mighty ocean overspreading the human race. Pagans, Mohammedans, Jews, are all alike wrapped in the darkness of unbelief! That portion of the world, nominally Christian, is also covered with this blinding evil. Thousands, who have been baptized in the name of Christ, remain destitute of the Spirit of Christ. Baptized infidels, baptized profligates, scandalize the Christian name, and form a stumbling-block to Jews and Gentiles. Thousands who profess that they know God, in works deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work, reprobate.

The world is their idol; at its shrine they devote themselves. Present pleasures, present honors, present profits, are the things they covet, the things for which they toil, the things for which they expend their time, their talents, their all. The future is hidden behind the thick mists of unbelief. They neither see, nor long for, the pleasures which are at God's right hand; for the honor which comes from God only; for the riches of his grace and glory. Oh! how great, how merciful is the work of the Spirit, when by his power, he enlightens the mind, touches the conscience, awakens the fears, and melts the heart of the worldling, convincing him of sin, of the deadly sin of UNBELIEF, in rejecting, despising, or neglecting, the Savior of the World.

When unbelief is removed from the heart, the next operation of the Spirit is to reveal to the sinner, (now enlightened to perceive his danger) where HELP is to be found. He displays to him, in all its glory, that Righteousness which Christ wrought out for him by his obedience unto death, and arrayed in which, as in a garment of salvation, he can stand before the throne of Justice, accepted in the beloved. He then makes known to him for his encouragement and joy of faith, the triumphs of the Savior, his victory over death and hell, and how the prince of this world is judged and overcome.

Such are the manifestations of the Spirit as promised by our Lord to the world: "And when he comes, he will convince the world of its sin, and of God's righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world's sin is unbelief in me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the prince of this world has already been judged." Oh adorable Redeemer, pity a world sunk in unbelief and sin. Stretch forth your almighty arm. Rescue the perishing millions of mankind from sinking into the fiery abyss of hell. Manifest yourself as in the days of old, when thousands on the day of Pentecost were cut to the heart, crying out, Men and brethren, what shall we do? who, gladly receiving the word preached by your Apostle, confessing their sins, and professing their faith in you, were baptized in your name, and added to your Church.

Now, let me meditate on those operations of the Spirit promised to the true disciples of Jesus. To them, the Holy Spirit is a COMFORTER. Delightful visitant! None but those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, who have found rest in believing, whose souls repose on the bosom of their beloved Savior, can comprehend the felicity contained in this endearing name- the Comforter. Oh that my heart may daily enjoy the consoling influences of this celestial Guest, in fulfillment of that promise- "He dwells with you, and shall be in you."

He is also the Spirit of TRUTH. "When he is come, he will guide you into all truth." The Spirit guides us into the truth of all the promises, and of all the prophecies, which, centering in Christ, receive their full accomplishment in Him, for Christ is Himself the Truth, and to know Him, is to know the truth. What a blessing, in the midst of abounding errors, to have such an unerring Guide.

The Spirit is the GLORIFIER OF JESUS. "He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you." The Spirit glorifies Christ, when he reveals him to us in all the glory of his nature, as God manifest in the flesh; in the glory of his character, as our Mediator, Advocate, and Friend; in the glory of his offices, as our Prophet, Priest, and King; in the glory of his work, as our Redeemer and Savior of the world. Oh that I may have grace to glorify him by receiving him into my heart by faith; by casting the burden of my sins upon him; by delighting to hold communion with him; by living wholly to him, who lived and died for me. Thrice happy they, who from the inward working of the Spirit, can say with Paul: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."

How free was the Savior's grace to the woman of Samaria: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water."
"Jesus, the gift divine I know,
The gift divine I ask of thee;
That living water now bestow–
Your Spirit and yourself, on me;
Oh, Lord, of life the fountain art
Now let me find you in my heart.
Oh, let me drink, and thirst no more,
For drops of finite happiness;
Spring up, O Well, in heavenly power,
In streams of pure, perennial peace;
In joy, that none can take away,
In life, which shall forever stay.
Father! on me the grace bestow,
Unblameable before your sight,
Where all the streams of mercy flow,
Mercy, your own supreme delight;
To me, for Jesus' sake, impart,
And plant your nature in my heart."