Free Grace

Spurgeon takes God's blunt declaration — "Not for your sakes do I this" — and preaches it as a comprehensive statement that every act of God's saving work, from the eternal election before creation, through Christ's death, the Spirit's calling, the believer's preservation, and final entry into heaven, has its motive entirely within God's own love and not in anything humanity has done, felt, deserved, or could ever contribute. He illustrates this with force, comparing sinners to a condemned criminal who has not only committed every possible offense but keeps adding new crimes and corrupting others, yet is still offered mercy by a compassionate sovereign — making it undeniable that if such a person is spared, the reason must lie entirely in the sovereign's heart and nowhere in the criminal's character. He draws two practical conclusions: first, that this doctrine should permanently destroy all pride in the believer, who received grace that was undeserved, unasked-for, and once actively rejected; and second, that it is the most welcoming possible gospel for the worst of sinners, since the very absence of merit in the sinner is no barrier when God explicitly says the reason for saving is not in the sinner at all — so they are urged to come exactly as they are with nothing to offer.Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on January 9th, 1859.