Salvation is by Believing, not by Works

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! – 2 Corinthians 9:15

So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. – Romans 9:16

Over and over again, in God’s Word, we are told that salvation is not of works. Although there are many who cling to the notion of man’s works as a ground of salvation, yet as long as this Book stands, and there are eyes to read it; it will bear witness against the idea of human merit, and it will speak out plainly for the doctrine that men are saved by faith, and not by works. Not once only, but often it is written, “The just shall live by faith;” moreover, we are told, “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace.” The very choice of the way of salvation by believing, rather than by works, is made by God on purpose that He might show that grace is a gift. “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.” Faith is that virtue, that grace, which is chosen to bring us salvation, because it never takes any of the glory to itself. Faith is simply the hand that takes. When the beggar receives alms, he does not bless the hand that takes, but blesses the hand that gives; therefore, we do not praise the faith that receiveth, but the God who giveth the unspeakable gift. Faith is the eye that sees. When we see an object, we delight in the object, rather than in the eye that sees it; therefore, do we glory, not in our faith, but in the salvation which God bestows. Faith is appointed as the porter to open the gate of salvation, because that gate turns upon the hinges of free grace.

Praise for the Gift of Gifts by C. H. Spurgeon

Salvation is Altogether the Gift of God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, salvation, Sovereignty of God

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. – 2 Corinthians 9:15

Paul said, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” Over and over and over again, have we to proclaim that salvation is wholly of grace: not of works nor of wages, but it is the gift of God’s great bounty to undeserving men. Often as we have preached this truth, we shall have to keep on doing so as long as there are men in the world who are self-righteous, and as long as there are minds in the world so slow to grasp the meaning of the word “grace”, that is, “free favour”, and as long as there are memories that find it difficult to retain the idea of salvation being God’s free gift.

The essence of salvation is the gift of God’s Only-begotten Son to die for us, that we might live through Him. I think you will agree with me that it is inconceivable that men should ever have merited that God should give His Only-begotten Son to die for us. To give Christ to us, in any sense, must have been an act of divine charity; but to give Him up to die on yonder cruel and bloody tree, to yield Him up as a sacrifice for sin, must be a free favour, passing the limits of thought. It is not supposable that any man could deserve such love. It is plain that if man’s sins needed a sacrifice, he did not deserve that a sacrifice should be found for him. The fact that his need proves his demerit and his guiltiness. He deserves to die; he may be rescued by Another dying for him; but he certainly cannot claim that the eternal God should take from His bosom His Only-begotten and Well-beloved Son, and put Him to death. The more you look that thought in the face, the more you will reject the idea that, by any possible sorrow, or by any possible labour, or by any possible promise, a man could put himself into the position of deserving to have Christ to die for him. If Christ is to come to save sinners, it must be as a gift, a free gift of God. The argument, to my mind, is conclusive.

Praise for the Gift of Gifts by C. H. Spurgeon

May the Great Lord Save You!

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. – John 3:36

I will let my words drop rapidly without any ornament, and remind you, dear friend, that if you have been a hearer and faith has not come to you, you are, this moment, in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. You believe not in Christ, and you make God a liar, because ye have not believed in His only-begotten Son. The wrath of God abideth on you. You are dead while you live. Without God, without Christ, and strangers to the covenant of promise. My soul pities you—will you not pity yourselves? Hearers only; faithless, graceless, Christless! Christ died, but you have no part in His death. His blood cleanses from sin, but your sin remains upon you. Christ has risen, and He pleads before the throne, —you have no part in that intercession. He is preparing a place for His people, but that place is not for you. Oh, unhappy soul! oh, wretched soul! out of favor with God, at enmity with eternal love, destitute of eternal life! Truly, if Jesus were here, He would weep over you, as He did over Jerusalem, and say, “How often would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.”

Ah, remember, though your present state is terrible it is not all. You will soon die, and you will die without faith. Remember that word of Christ, it is one of the most terrible I know of, “if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” To die in a ditch, to die in prison, to die on the gallows, none of us would desire it; but to die in your sins! O God, it is hell, it is eternal damnation. May the great Lord save you!

Eternal Father, Thou who art mighty to save, let not one among us go down into the pit with a lie in his right hand, refusing to accept the gospel of Thy blessed Son! The Lord save you all, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

How Can I Obtain Faith? by C. H. Spurgeon

Get This Chief Blessing

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. – John 3:36

See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done. – Hebrews 12:16,17

I charge each one of you to buy the Truth of God, and sell it not, to lay up for yourself treasures in Heaven, to get Christ, to get peace and pardon, to get acceptance with God, to get Heaven in the way that this Book tells you to get it! If you only succeed in getting broad acres of fertile fields, they must all be left! If you amass a great store of gold and silver, it must all be left to your heirs who will probably laugh at the thought of the fool who hoarded so much for them to scatter! Do not act so foolishly, but seek to get the chief blessing! May God graciously enable you to get it this very hour!

Remember that if you leave this world without getting this blessing, you will, like Esau, find no place of repentance, though you seek it carefully with tears. Isaac could not take back what he had said, and God will never alter what He has said. There has been spreading in this country and in other lands, also, the idea of universal salvation—and mark you, wherever that doctrine spreads, vice must and will spread as the natural and inevitable consequence! When men are taught to believe in ultimate universal salvation, their immediate and legitimate inference is, “Then we may live as we like and all will be right in the end.” And they will live as they like, but all will not be right in the end! They are ambassadors of the devil who teach that lying doctrine, and they will have to answer for it at the Judgment Bar of God! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

Is It True?

Sherry sermon

You who are King of kings and Lord of lords, we worship You. Before Jehovah’s awful throne we bow with sacred joy.

Sermon Text

Do Search into the Truth

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, salvation

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? – Romans 10:16

With some, hearing does not bring faith, because they hear without any after meditation. There is a great trial going on, as you know, in the Tichborne case. Every juryman, I doubt not, wants to judge righteously. I am sure the sleepy one is not likely to do so, and I am pretty clear that the juryman who is most likely to get at the truth will be the man who, when he gets away from the court, having heard attentively all the time, takes home the notes of the evidence, weighs it, and makes comparisons, and endeavors to sift out the truth. So I would say to you when you hear us preach, sift the sermon afterwards, turn our sermons over, pick holes in them if you like, and find out our mistakes; but oh, do search into the truth, and be not content till you find it. If you want to find Christ, the wisdom of God, you should seek for Him as for silver. You are likely to believe the truth when your mind turns it over and over. Here is a bag, and I am willing to make a man rich, and, therefore, I drop into it pound after pound, but I find that the bag is just as empty as before; the reason is plain, —there are holes in the bag, and the money drops through. Too many hearers are as a bag full of holes, and golden sermons will not bless them because they wilfully forget all. They will never come to faith because they do but look at their face in the glass of the Word and go their way and forget what manner of men they are. Oh, for hearers who only need to know the gospel, and the evidence of it, and then consent thereto, saying, “It is the truth of God, I cannot quarrel with it; I joyfully receive it.” Such are saved souls.

How Can I Obtain Faith? by C. H. Spurgeon

Sleepy and Prejudiced Hearers

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, promises, salvation, the unbelieving life

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. – Romans 10:17,13

Sleepy hearers are not likely to be led to faith. Eutychus may fall from the third loft and be taken up for dead, but he is not likely to become a believer by sleeping, even though Paul should be the preacher. We want attention in order to the real reception of the Word. Oh how pleasant it is to preach to earnest hearers who lean forward to catch every syllable, anxious to know how they can be saved. Wandering hearts lose the benefit of the truth, and vain minds trifle away the privilege of a gospel ministry. Take heed how ye hear, otherwise ye may remain hearers only, and so perish in unbelief.

With many a want of candor is another reason why faith does not come by hearing. If a man hears with a prejudiced heart, making up his mind before hand what he will believe, he is not likely to be convinced, he puts himself as far as he can out of the reach of benefit. When the heart rebels against the Word: when it says, “If this be true, I am living a bad life, and I shall have to give up my pleasures, therefore I will not accept it.” Well then, faith does not come and cannot come by such hearing. Faith comes by hearing when a man does, as it were, give himself up to the Word of God.

When it is the soul that is concerned, I would say to the preacher, “Sir, do not flatter me, do not tell me that which will please but delude me; I do not want your flattery, I do not want your fine words. Sir, tell me what I am, and where I am in the sight of God, and how I can be saved; for it will little satisfy me to wake up in hell and remember that I used to hear a fine orator. I want to be saved in deed and of a truth.”

How Can I Obtain Faith? by C. H. Spurgeon