Do we EARN salvation by our faith?

We are offered a gift, and we either accept or fail to accept the gift. As renown biblical scholar Gleason Archer affirms: 

“This response of assent bears no resemblance to a work of merit; it is simply the act of a beggar who reaches up his empty hand to receive a gift from his benefactor. Such an act has nothing to do with merit; it does nothing to make the begger more deserving than another beggar who keeps his hand folded in his lap.“ (Archer, Gleason, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, p. 394).