"Meet me in heaven!"These are the concluding words from Charles Spurgeon in his timeless classic, All of Grace. Spurgeon outlines God's plan of salvation in a clear and concise way, pointing out the futility of relying upon one's own works for self-righteousness.
Instead, we need something more; we need grace. And it is the free grace expressed throughout Scripture that gives us a warm and thankful heart for God's mercy and love.Salvation, after all, is God's free gift to all who seek it. It is, All of Grace!
The wisdom of God devised the plan; the power of God executes in us the work of salvation; the immutability of God preserves and carries it on— in fact, all the attributes of God are magnified in the salvation of a sinner: but at the same time the text is most accurate, since grace is the fountain-head of salvation, and is most conspicuous throughout.
Grace is to be seen in our election; for “there is a remnant according to the election of grace, and if by grace then it is no more of works.”
Grace is manifestly revealed in our redemption, for ye know therein the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is utterly inconceivable that any soul could have deserved to be redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. The mere thought is abhorrent to every holy mind.
Our calling is also of grace, too, for “He hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
By grace also we are justified; for over and over again the apostle insists upon this grand and fundamental truth. We are not justified before God by works in any measure or in any degree, but by faith alone; and the apostle tells us “it is of faith, that it might be by grace.”
We see a golden thread of grace running through the whole of the Christian’s history, from his election before all worlds, even to his admission to the heaven of rest.
Grace, all along, “reigns through righteousness unto eternal life,” and “where sin aboundeth, grace doth much more abound.” There is no point in the history of a saved soul upon which you can put your finger and say, “In this instance he is saved by his own deservings.”
