The Grace of Christ, or,
Sinners Saved by Unmerited Kindness
William S. Plumer, 1853
"We believe it is through the grace of our
Lord Jesus that we are saved." Acts 15:11
THE TRUE NOTION OF GRACE
The Synod of Dort says that "God owes no man grace. For
how can God become debtor to him, who has nothing to give first, that it
might be recompensed to him again? Nay, what can God owe him, who has
nothing of his own but sin and untruth? Whoever therefore is made partaker
of this kind of grace, ever owes and ever gives thanks to God only." The
term, grace, often occurs in Scripture. Sometimes it means beauty, as in
Proverbs 1:9 and 4:9. But this is never the meaning of the word in the New
Testament. There the generic idea of the term is favor, unmerited
kindness, undeserved love, unbought pity, gift, gratuity.
This grace is variously manifested. The gospel is itself
called grace because it is the fruit and evidence of God's unmerited
goodness. The privilege of preaching the gospel is for the same reason
called grace. And indeed it is a great favor to be allowed to publish the
glad tidings of great joy. No man deserves such honor. Pardon of sin and
acceptance with God, are both often said to be by grace—by undeserved mercy.
The work of purifying the hearts of his people and fitting them for glory is
effected by the grace of God. God does it purely out of pity and love, and
not at all out of regard to any merit of ours. Renewal and sanctification
are rich fruits of mercy. Without God's grace, salvation is absolutely
impossible.
A salvation, which failed to root out sin, and set up the
reign of grace, would no doubt be pleasing to the carnal mind, and would
delight a hypocrite; but could never satisfy the longings of a real child of
God. Sin in its reigning power, no less than in its fearful guilt, must be
destroyed, or it will destroy us. He who fails to gain the victory over
his lusts—fails of heaven. If they be not put down, we labor in vain and
spend our strength for nothing.
Hardly anything is more striking than the obstinate
attachment of men to their own works, and their consequent aversion to the
grace of God. The great mass of unrenewed men, even in Christian assemblies,
have really no idea of ever being saved otherwise than by becoming good, and
that in their own strength. They generally suspect that they are not now
what they ought to be, but they intend to do better hereafter. They seem
very ignorant of the extent, spirituality and holiness of the law; and thus
while conscience does not flame out against them, they rest in the delusion
that they are not very bad, and may easily improve. The very last thing
which a sinner under conviction does, is to give up his self-confidence. He
cleaves to it as if salvation depended upon his good opinion of himself.
Indeed until God's Spirit enlightens his mind, he will not see that
salvation can never be compassed by his own power or merit. So that the very
process, by which a sinner is led to the Savior, is usually one of extreme
sadness. He has less and less, in his own esteem, worthy of honorable
mention before God, until at last he finds out that he is nothing but a
guilty, vile, lost, helpless, perishing sinner.
To a Christian, who knows what is going on in the
sinner's mind, these new views awaken lively hopes that a work of grace is
begun in his heart. But often the sinner himself is almost in despair. He
supposes that his convictions are forerunners of condemnation and rejection,
not of conversion. And when he is led to Christ, and hope springs up in his
mind, none is more surprised at the change in his views than himself. He did
not expect deliverance in that way. He had not yet become good in his own
eyes. He now learns that it is God's plan to save sinners who simply
believe. To him the Gospel is a revelation of mercy. He is charmed with the
method of grace. He gives all honor to the Redeemer, and is willing to be
counted the chief of sinners. He no longer goes about to establish his own
righteousness, which is of the law. His own merits he counts as nothing. He
simply wishes to be found in Christ. His song is of free unmerited grace. He
is no longer wedded to the law, as a means of justification, but he is
married to Christ, who is now all his salvation. He works, indeed, but it is
from love to the Savior. He says, "What I am, I am by the grace of God." He
casts his crown at the Savior's feet. He expects all from the grace of
Christ.
A clergyman once represented the conduct of awakened
sinners towards God's offers of gratuitous salvation thus: A benevolent and
rich man had a very poor neighbor, to whom he sent this message; "I wish to
make you the gift of a farm." The poor man was pleased with the idea of
having a farm, but was too proud at once to receive it as a gift. So he
thought of the matter much and anxiously. His desire to have a home of his
own was daily growing stronger, but his pride was great. At length he
determined to visit him who had made the offer. But a strange delusion about
this time seized him, for he imagined that he had a bag of gold. So he came
with his bag, and said to the rich man, "I have received your message, and
have come to see you. I wish to own the farm, but I wish to pay for it. I
will give you a bag of gold for it." "Let us see your gold," said the owner
of the farm. The poor man opened his bag and looked, and his countenance was
changed, and he said, "Sir, I thought it was gold, but I am sorry to say it
is but silver. I will give you my bag of silver for your farm." "Look again;
I do not think it is even silver," was the solemn but kind reply. The poor
man looked, and as he beheld, his eyes were further opened, and he said,
"How I have been deceived. It is not silver but only copper. Will you sell
me your farm for my bag of copper? You may have it all." "Look again," was
the only reply. The poor man looked, tears stood in his eyes, his delusion
seemed to be gone, and he said, "Alas, I am undone. It is not even copper.
It is but ashes! How poor I am! I wish to own that farm, but I have nothing
to pay. Will you give me the farm?" The rich man replied, "Yes, that was my
first and only offer. Will you accept it on such terms?" With humility but
with eagerness the poor man said, "Yes, and a thousand blessings on you for
your kindness." The fable is easily applied.
Mather has well expressed the difference between grace
and merit in few words; "God was a God to Adam before he fell, but to be a
God to sinners, this is grace. He was a God to Adam in innocency by virtue
of the covenant of works; but he is not a God to any sinner but in the way
of free grace. Now that was the covenant, 'I will be a God to you and your
seed.' Gen. 17:7. Abraham was a sinner and a child of wrath by nature as
well as others; yet God was his God truly. For God to be a God to those who
never sinned, there may be merit; but for God to be a God to those that have
sinned, this is grace indeed. They, that do not think this is grace, need
not argument, but pity and prayer."
The pious John Newton in few words states with great
clearness what grace is: "To bestow gifts upon the miserable is bounty; but
to bestow them upon rebels is grace. The greatness of the gifts contrasted
with the characters of those who receive them, displays the exceeding riches
of the Redeemer's grace. He came to save not the unhappy only, but the
ungodly. He gives pardon, peace, and eternal life to his enemies; whose
minds are so entirely alienated from him that, until he makes them willing,
in the day of his power, their minds are determined against accepting any
favor from him."