What Is It That Saves a Soul?

— continued —

If, then, we be asked what it is which saves a soul, we answer that it is not works of righteousness which we have done or can do; nor the use of our free-will, which is only free to choose and love evil; nor closing in with offered grace, to do which we have no natural power; nor watchfulness, prayer, and fasting; nor self-denial, austerity, and outward sanctification; nor any duties and forms nor, in a word, any one thing singly, or multitude of things collectively, which depend on the natural wisdom and strength of man. Nor, again, is it head knowledge, nor firm conviction of truth in the judgment, nor such workings of natural conscience as compel us to assent to a free grace salvation, nor a life outwardly consistent with the gospel, nor membership in a gospel church, nor natural attachment to the children and to the ministers of God, nor zeal for experimental religion, nor sacrifices made to support truth. Nor, again, does salvation consist in doubts and fears, tribulations, temptations, workings of inward corruption, legal terrors, fits of gloomy despondency and heartrending despair. All these things “accompany salvation,” and are to be found in all the heirs of glory; but some of them or all may equally be found in hypocrites, apostates, and reprobates.

Nor, again, does salvation consist in desires, for “the sluggard desireth, and hath not”; nor in tears, for Esau “cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry” (Genesis 27:34); nor in merely seeking, for “many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24); nor in wishing, for “it is not of him that willeth”; nor in running, for “it is not of him that runneth,” and though “in a race run all, one alone receiveth the prize.” Neither does salvation consist in outward gifts, as preaching and praying, as a man may “taste of the heavenly gift,” and yet “his end be to be burned” (Hebrews 6:4, 8); whilst Saul prophesied, Judas preached, and the sons of Sceva adjured devils by the name of Jesus. Nor does it consist in natural faith, as Simon Magus believed, and was baptized (Acts 8:13); nor in natural hope, as there is “the hope of the hypocrite that shall perish”; nor in natural comforts, as there is “a walking in sparks of our own kindling”; nor in vain confidence, as “the fool rageth, and is confident” (Proverbs 14:16); nor in talking about religion, for “a prating fool shall fall”; nor in being thought well of by others, as Paul once thought well of Demas (Philemon 24), “who loved this present world” (2 Timothy 4:10); nor in the children of God feeling a union with us, as David took sweet counsel with Ahithophel, and walked to the house of God in his company (Psalm 55:14).

To sum up the whole, salvation does not consist in anything of the flesh, that is, in anything earthly, human, and natural, as “the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63); neither “they which are the children of the flesh are the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed” (Romans 9:8). Thus, no man can deliver his own soul, nor give to God a ransom for himself, or his brother (Psalm 49:7); but all “flesh is grass,” fit only to be cut down by the mower, and to be cast into the oven (Matthew 6:30).

We come, then, to this conclusion, to which God sooner or later brings every elect soul, that those who are saved are saved because God will save them, that “He hath mercy on whom He will have mercy,” and on them alone (Romans 9:15); that He saves them not from any foreseen goodness in them, but of His own distinguishing, sovereign grace; that He loves them freely, eternally, and unchangeably; and that they are redeemed, justified, quickened, sanctified, preserved, and glorified, only because they are the objects of the undeserved love of a Triune Jehovah.

Here, then, is the answer to the question, “What is it which saves a soul?”

1. Having an interest in the electing choice of God the Father, in the redeeming blood and justifying righteousness of God the Son, and in the quickening, sanctifying operations of God the Holy Ghost. That is the inheritance sealed to the elect as eternally theirs, by “a covenant ordered in all things and sure.” This is salvation outwardly, and he that has neither part nor lot in this salvation will perish in his sins under the tremendous wrath of a just and holy God. But there is,

... that salvation is in the blood and righteousness of Christ alone...

2. The salvation inwardly, which consists in the manifestation of Jesus to the soul, whereby electing love, atoning blood, justifying righteousness, and an eternal inheritance beyond the skies are sealed home upon the soul, and made personal, individual realities. To this inward enjoyment of salvation all the children of God are predestinated, and none of them die without a greater or less share of it. Some of them, indeed, are now being plunged into the terror of the law, others doubting and fearing, others cutting themselves off as hypocrites, others groaning beneath the weight of sin, others overcome by the power of their lusts, others harassed by the devil, others fainting by reason of the way, and all engaged in a terrible conflict with the old man of sin. Some, again, are cut to the heart on account of their backslidings, others abhorring themselves in dust and ashes, others buffeted with the sorest temptations, others filled with rebellion and fretfulness, others entangled in Satan’s snares, and others sitting in stubborn silence, or well-nigh swallowed up with despondency. Some have never found their Savior, and others have lost Him; some have never felt pardon and deliverance, and others have been “again entangled in the yoke of bondage”; some are shut up, and others cannot come forth; some are hoping against hope, and others doubting against evidences; some are “plagued all the day long, and chastened every morning”; and others are fearing they are bastards, because “the rod of God is not upon them.”

But as all the family of God have a common interest in the salvation that is external, so do they all agree in this point with respect to the salvation that is internal, that it must be a supernatural religion, a manifested Savior, a revealed righteousness, a sprinkled conscience, a sealed pardon, a shed-abroad love, an enjoyed redemption, that alone will satisfy or save. And thus all their strippings, emptying, chastisements, temptations, conflicts, sorrows, sighs, groans, and tears; all their doubts, fears, terrors, quaking, gloom, and despondency; all their views of the justice of God in a holy law; all their ups and downs, changes, vicissitudes, guilt, condemnation, and bitter feelings of anguish on account of sin; in a word, all their experience of the depths of a desperately wicked heart — all, all serve in the hands of the blessed Spirit to bring them to this point, that salvation is in the blood and righteousness of Christ alone, and that this salvation must be revealed to them, and in them, to deliver them from the flames of hell.

— to be continued —

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