THERE is nothing more natural to us than the thought of meriting God’s favor by some goodness of our own. That God should be favorable toward us, when there is nothing in us to win His favor, is entirely outside the reckonings of the unrenewed mind.
A little girl once said to her uncle, during a conversation about the conversion of the dying thief, “I should think, uncle, the reason God saved one thief and didn’t save the other, was, that the thief He saved hadn’t stolen quite so much as the other.” She couldn’t imagine anyone getting the blessing without there being some redeeming feature in his case. And in this thought she was by no means alone, for multitudes of professing Christians in the present day think the same. Yet it is plainly stated otherwise in the Holy Scriptures. God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:88But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)). “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:55Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5)). “For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8, 98For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8‑9)).
It is the custom in most of the herring-fishing stations in Shetland to pay the coopers, who make barrels for the salted fish, a certain rate of wages per week whether the fishing is good or bad. Three or four years since, those coasts were so infested with the destructive dog-fish that the herring season was a complete blank. Still the coopers had to be paid according to contract, fish or no fish. One of these coopers said to the writer, “I feel thoroughly ashamed to go and draw my wages week by week, for I know I have not earned them.” He knew that when the merchant engaged him, he expected that there would be something done by him to merit the weekly wage, or he would not have hired him.
Not so with God. He knew that we should have nothing wherewith to merit that which He so richly held out to us. Therefore it is that the gospel which proclaims these blessings―the gospel sent “to every creature which is under heaven”―is called the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:2424But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24)). Thus could the chief of sinners testify, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first [the very nation that crucified His beloved Sony, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:1616For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)). Yes; salvation is entirely of grace, without a single merit on our side. We must be saved through Another’s deserving’s or forever reap our own.