By Cecil May, Jr via Preacher Talk
The difference between salvation by works and salvation by grace is the difference between “Hey, look what I’ve done!” and “Look what God has done for me!” We are saved by grace through faith. There are works that demonstrate the reality of our faith (James 2:21- 24), but no works have merit to cancel sins or earn salvation. If they did, we could boast in them.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8- 9). “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God” (Romans 4:2).
I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom. But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer. But this I know with all my heart: His wounds have paid my ransom. “But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).