Produced by Keith G. Richardson
_Sovereign Grace_
Its Source, Its Nature and Its Effects
By D. L. Moody
_"By Grace are ye saved."--Ephesians ii. 8_
With Three Gospel Dialogues
Chicago New York Toronto
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY
London and Edinburgh
_Copyrighted 1891 by Fleming H. Revell Company._
PREFATORY NOTE.
IN the exercise of his high calling, the faithful ambassador of
Christ must not scruple to declare the whole counsel of
God--"rightly dividing the word of truth," to all classes of hearers.
He must warn the openly wicked man that if he persists in his evil
courses, the just judgments of God will inevitably overtake him; he
must unmask the hypocrite; he must utter no uncertain protest
against the crooked and devious ways of the self-seeker and the
time-server. But if he enters into the Spirit of his Master, no part
of his public work will be more congenial or delightful than the
proclamation of the full, free, and sovereign grace of God,
manifested towards sinful men in the gift of His Eternal Son, to be
the Saviour of the world. It has been my happy privilege in years
past to tell out, as best I could, this wonderful story of redeeming
grace. The following pages record the addresses I have given on the
various aspects of this great subject. I pray God that in their
printed form they may serve to deepen in the mind of the reader the
appreciation of this grace, at once so infinite and so undeserved.
The chapter entitled "A Chime of Gospel Bells," though not strictly
flowing out of the general subject, is in perfect harmony with it;
every note in the chime is intended to ring out the gracious
invitation to "Come" to the God of all grace and be blessed. The
Dialogues which form the latter part of the book were heard with
much interest and profit at some of the London meetings; I think the
perusal of them will be helpful in removing many of the hindrances
that prevent anxious inquirers from accepting without delay the
salvation that God in His grace has provided for the sinful children
of men.
CONTENTS.
The Fountain of Grace
Saved by Grace Alone
Possessing, and "Working Out"
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
Law and Grace
Grace for Living
Grace for Service
"A Chime of Gospel Bells"
GOSPEL DIALOGUES:
I. What It Is to be a Child of God
II. How to Become a Christian
III. What It Is to be Converted
"Grace! 'tis a charming sound,
Harmonious to the ear;
Heaven with the echo shall resound,
And all the earth shall hear.
'Twas grace that wrote my name
In life's eternal book;
'Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb,
Who all my sorrows took.
Grace taught my wandering feet
To tread the heavenly road;
And new supplies each hour I meet,
While pressing on to God.
Oh let that grace inspire
My soul with strength divine.
May all my prayers to Thee aspire,
And all my days be Thine."
_Dr. Doddridge._
SOVEREIGN GRACE
CHAPTER I.
THE FOUNTAIN OF GRACE.
THERE are some words with which we have been familiar from our
infancy up, and probably there are few words in the English language
that are so often used as this word "GRACE." Many of you at your
table "say grace" three times a day. You seldom go into a church
without hearing the word mentioned. You seldom read any part of the
New Testament, especially the Epistles, without meeting the word.
There is probably not a word in the language so little understood.
There are a great many who have received the grace of God into their
heart, but who, if they should be asked what the word means would be
troubled, and confused, and unable to tell. I experienced the grace
of God a good many years before I really knew the true meaning of
the word.
Now, grace means unmerited mercy--undeserved favor. If men were to
wake up to the fact, they would not be talking about their own
worthiness when we ask them to come to Christ. When the truth dawns
upon them that Christ came to save the unworthy, then they will
accept salvation. Peter calls God "the God of all grace."
Men talk about grace, but, as a rule, they know very little about
it. Let a business man go to one of your bankers to borrow a few
hundred dollars for sixty or ninety days; if he is well able to pay,
the banker will perhaps lend him the money if he can get another
responsible man to sign the note with him. They give what they call
three days' grace after the sixty or ninety days have expired; but
they will make the borrower pay interest on the money during these
three days, and if he does not return principal and interest at the
appointed time, they will sell his goods; they will perhaps turn him
out of his house, and take the last piece of furniture in his
possession. That is not grace at all; but that fairly illustrates
man's idea of it. Grace not only frees you from payment of the
interest, but of the principal also.
ITS SOURCE.
In the Gospel by John we read, "The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth . . . For the law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Now you know
that for many years men were constantly trying to find the source of
the Nile. The river of grace has been flowing through this dark
earth for six thousand years, and we certainly ought to be more
anxious to find out its source than to discover the source of the
Nile. I think if you will read your Bible carefully you will find
that this wonderful river of grace comes right from the very heart
of God.
I remember being in Texas a few years ago, in a place where the
country was very dry and parched. In that dry country there is a
beautiful river that springs right out of the ground. It flows
along; and on both sides of the river you find life and vegetation.
Grace flows like that river; and you can trace its source right up
to the very heart of God. You may say that its highest manifestation
was seen when God gave the Son of His bosom to save this lost world.
"Not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the
offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the
gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto
many."
A FREE GIFT.
Notice, it is the free gift of God. "Grace be unto you, and peace,
from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God
always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by
Jesus Christ." Paul wrote fourteen Epistles; and every one of them
is closed with a prayer for grace. Paul calls it "The free gift of
God." Thousands have been kept out of the kingdom of God because
they do not realize what this free gift is. They think they must do
something to merit salvation.
The first promise given to fallen man was a promise of grace. God
never promised Adam anything when He put him in Eden. God never
entered into a covenant with him as He did with Abraham. God told
him "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die;" but when this came to pass then God came and gave him a
gracious promise. He dealt in grace with him. As he left the Garden
of Eden he could say to Eve, "Well, God does love us, though He has
driven us out." There was no sign that Adam recognized his lost
condition. As far as we know there was no cry for mercy or pardon,
no confession of sin. Yet we find that God dealt in grace with him.
God sought Adam out that he might bestow His grace upon him. He met
Adam in his lost and ruined condition, and the first thing He did
was to proclaim the promise of a coming Saviour.
For six thousand years, God has been trying to teach the world this
great and glorious truth--that He wants to deal with man in love and
in grace. It runs right through the Bible; all along you find this
stream of grace flowing. The very last promise in the closing
chapter of Revelation, like the first promise in Eden, is a promise
of grace: "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
So the whole revelation, and the whole history of man is encircled
with grace, the free favor of God.
Some years ago when I was speaking on this subject, a friend sent me
the following: "By the grace of God I am what I am!" This is the
believer's eternal confession. Grace found him a rebel--it leaves
him a son. Grace found him wandering at the gates of hell--it leads
him through the gates of heaven. Grace devised the scheme of
Redemption: Justice never would; Reason never could. And it is grace
which carries out that scheme. No sinner would ever have sought his
God but 'by grace.' The thickets of Eden would have proved Adam's
grave, had not grace called him out. Saul would have lived and died
the haughty self-righteous persecutor had not grace laid him low.
The thief would have continued breathing out his blasphemies, had
not grace arrested his tongue and tuned it for glory.
"'Out of the knottiest timber,' says Rutherford, 'He can make
vessels of mercy for service in the high palace of glory.'"
"'I came, I saw, I conquered,' says Toplady, 'may be inscribed by
the Saviour on every monument of grace.' 'I came to the sinner; I
looked upon him; and with a look of omnipotent love, I conquered.'"
My friend, we would have been this day wandering stars, to whom is
reserved the blackness of darkness--Christless--hopeless
--portionless--had not grace invited us, and grace constrained us.
RESTRAINING GRACE.
It is grace which, at this moment, keeps us. We have often been a
Peter--forsaking our Lord, but brought back to him again. Why not a
Demas or a Judas? 'I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.'
Is not this our own comment and reflection on life's retrospect?
'Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.'
Oh, let us seek to realize our continual dependence on this grace
every moment! 'More grace! more grace!' should be our continual cry.
But the infinite supply is commensurate with the infinite need. The
treasury of grace, though always emptying is always full: the key of
prayer which opens it is always at hand: and the almighty Almoner of
the blessings of grace is always waiting to the gracious. The
recorded promise never can be canceled or reversed--'My grace is
sufficient for thee.'
Let us seek to dwell much on this inexhaustible theme. The grace of
God is the source of minor temporal as well as of higher spiritual
blessings.
It accounts for the crumb of daily bread as well as for the crown of
eternal glory. But even in regard to earthly mercies, never forget
the channel of grace through Christ Jesus. It is sweet thus to
connect every (even the smallest and humblest) token of providential
bounty with Calvary's Cross--to have the common blessings of life
stamped with the print of the nails; it makes them doubly precious
to think this flows from Jesus. Let others be contented with the
uncovenanted mercies of God. Be it ours to say as the children of
grace and heirs of glory--'Our Father which art in heaven, give us
this day our daily bread.' Nay, reposing in the all-sufficiency in
all things, promised by 'the God of all grace.'