Good morning, good to see everyone
here this morning. As Winston mentioned, our pastor's
away and preaching in Almonte, First Baptist Church of Almonte,
Michigan. So be in prayer for him and for me as I try to stand
in and as was mentioned earlier, for traveling mercies upon his
return. The title of today's message
is The Cost of Free Grace, The Cost of Free Grace. A primary
text is found in Romans 3, if you want to be turning there.
Most who profess to be of the Christian faith would agree with
this statement, salvation is by grace, as the Bible asserts. But I find that the quote-unquote
gospel doctrine, to which many adhere, actually denies their
own assertion that salvation is by grace. exposing an absence
of the vital understanding of what grace really means. And
one way this is manifested is in their ignorance of, or in
their disinterest in, or at least maybe perhaps their lack of focus
on the cost of free grace. Now think with me just a moment
about that title, the cost of free grace. If something is truly
free, is there a cost associated with it? Well, sure, if someone
gives me a gift and you happen to see it and ask me what it
cost me, I'd say, well, not a thing, because it was truly free to
me. But there was a cost. Someone
paid their own hard-earned money to buy, at some cost, what I
received as a gift for free. In thinking about this, I remembered
how many years ago, many, many years ago, I was taking a freshman
basic economics course. And I walked into class on the
first day of class in this packed auditorium, and the professor
came in with his back to the room, and he started writing
this word that didn't really look like a word at all on the
board. He spelled the word T-A-N-S-T-A-A-F-L, and then he dramatically spun
around, and in this booming voice, he yelled out, TANSTAFL. He added,
if you don't remember anything from my course, never forget
this word. He went on to explain that his word was actually an
acronym for there ain't no such thing as a free lunch, TANSTAFL. And I probably didn't remember
anything else from that course, but that stuck with me for some
reason. Because it's true that which is totally free to one
party, it always costs someone else. In our own country here,
we see an entitlement mindset among a growing number in our
population that would seem to ignore this fundamental fact
that what may be provided to some by our government cost others
their hard-earned money in the form of taxes, for example. I
guess unless we just keep printing money, which we seem predisposed
to do until it's worthless. As Margaret Thatcher famously
said, she said the trouble with socialism is that sooner or later
you run out of other people's money. And yet, I think it's
just all of our natural tendency to put that simple fact that
nothing is truly free out of our minds so as to not deal with
the cost. I think those of us who've raised
teenagers, and particularly if we were too indulgent, we know
that things we provided for them, after a while, they kind of just
come to expect it, almost like it's owed to them. And I'm sure
we did the same thing as teenagers. No offense, teenagers. But if any of us get something
for free for long enough, we're going to naturally come to expect
it, almost like it's owed to us. And I introduce today's message
this way because I believe there's some parallels with man's natural
but his mistaken view regarding salvation by grace and what it's
about. And I think it's exposed or evidenced
in part by a failure to focus on, some cases even acknowledge
the cost, the cost of the free salvation by grace for all who
are saved, who shall inherit heaven's glory. And so today
I want us to consider that, the cost of free grace. And I'll
do so by beginning with my text in Romans 3.24. I plan to look
at a lot of scripture today. But I selected Romans 3.24 as
my primary text because in this one verse we see emphasized both
the freeness of salvation by grace as well as, secondly, the
cost. As it reads, being justified
freely by His grace and then the cost through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. So I want us to consider some
key words found in this verse. First, the word justified. to
be justified is to be declared not guilty, but righteous in
God's sight. And so we get a better grasp
of this. Let's look at this verse in its
broader context by starting back in verse 20, where we read, therefore
by the deeds of the law, that's your law keeping, akin to your
meeting a condition or requirement in order to be justified or saved.
Well, he says, therefore by the deeds of the law, there shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. for by the law is the
knowledge of sin." So here the judge of all declares through
the Apostle Paul that by your law keeping, whatever law or
requirement that you presume will find you saved, heaven bound. Some that may be their acceptance
of Jesus, some decision they made at some time, a profession
of faith. Some it's just a sincere religious
interest. and resolve, and to some it's
just a belief in a higher power. Perhaps, as it was for me once,
it's their faith in something. But listen to what this verse
is telling us. It's saying, by your whatever, by my whatever,
by their whatever, not one soul's going to be justified in his
sight. Well, then how are sinners justified in God's sight? Verse
21. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, without your law keeping, being
witnessed by the law, the law itself and the prophets. Even
the righteousness of God which is by faith or the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ unto all is proclaimed, preached unto all. and upon all
them that believe." It's put upon, imputed or credited to
the account of all them that believe. There's no difference
among them. So presuming to justify ourselves
by our meeting a condition, something we think we do that others fail
to do that find us being saved as a result, Well, that may cause
others to view us as saved, but we're not justified, not in God's
sight, according to his word, because there is no difference. Verse 23, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Our pastor's been talking
a lot lately about that word sin, how it means to miss the
mark. And here he says, we've all missed
the mark, we've come short. We know that in Acts 17, 31,
we're told the standard by which God's going to judge us all.
There we see that we must have a righteousness equal to that,
the perfection that was rendered by the Son of Glory as He walked
on this earth in His perfect obedience unto death. And as
sinners, fallen in Adam, we fall way short of that. So the only
way we can possess the righteousness we need is by having His very
righteousness put upon us, imputed or credited to us, undeserving
in and of ourselves, but found as eternally blessed objects
of God's sovereign mercy and grace. So our text, verse 24,
so being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation."
That's that sin-bearing, justice-satisfying sacrifice of himself, whereby
God's wrath that would otherwise be due unto the sins that he
bore, they're poured out on him. So his wrath is appeased, justice
is satisfied. "...whom God hath set forth to
be a propitiation through faith in his blood, in his doing and
dying." There's the cost of free grace. to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, see, even the Old Testament saints who lived before the cross,
to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might
be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Justified. So again, to be justified
is to be righteous, not guilty in God's sight. Now look at verse
24 again. It reads, being justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. So let's
look at that key word, grace. I know this is basic to many
of you, but I find in our day that, and I know myself in my
past religious experience, in my spiritual blindness, I use
these same words. And we're gonna be looking at
a lot of different words today that describe our redemption
in Jesus Christ and how we're saved by grace. Use these same
words, but my doctrine denied the very meaning of most of them,
so I think it's worth our time to go back to basics a little
bit. As you know, grace speaks of
the unmerited favor of God. It's God's favor toward a people
who do not earn or do not merit that favor for themselves. Some
of you might have heard a local radio commercial that recently
aired in our area where a car dealership advertised free gasoline
for one full year, but with the purchase of a car. Now they advertised
it as free, and it was in that sense, but only if you buy a
car. And isn't that how much of today's
so-called Christianity would characterize eternal salvation?
They read Romans 3.24, they know it says that we're justified
freely. They'll say, so salvation from
God, it's free, but only if you do your part. So you gotta buy
the car, so to speak. Well, Romans 3.24 in and of itself
refutes any notion or excuse for misunderstanding it that
way. When it kind of doubles down, if you'll think about it,
it adds, it says we're justified freely, unless you mistake what
I mean by that, he says by his grace. By his grace means that
you offer or add nothing. See, grace always presupposes
unworthiness in its objects. God, as we read, justifies the
ungodly. So to be an object of God's grace
is to receive eternal salvation that we absolutely do nothing
to earn, that we do not deserve if judged on anything that proceeds
from us, our own merit. See, it's not based on anything
we do nor anything we refrain from doing. So that means it's
not at all a condition or requirement met by the saved sinner whatsoever.
You know, we often quote Ephesians 2, 8, and 9. which kind of doubles
down in the same way, if you'll think about it, as Romans 3.24. As it reads, for by grace are
you saved through faith, but look, lest you misunderstand
grace, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. It's not of work, see, lest any
man should boast. So to be justified freely by
His grace is to be declared righteous, not guilty before God's holy
justice, but not based upon any price we pay, any condition or
requirement we meet or add to the mix. So we don't buy the
car, so to speak, to get the free gasoline. It's just not
due to anything we do, not even partially. As Romans 11 teaches,
If there's any element of works, if it be of works, it's not of
grace. If it's of grace, it's not of works. They're opposites,
mutually exclusive, cannot coexist. So if there's any condition you,
the sinner, meet, even if you give great credit to God and
Jesus Christ for what he did on the cross, but the real difference
maker is what you do with that, your response to it. Well, in
Romans 11, he's saying that's of works and it's no longer of
grace. God makes it clear, salvation's
by grace. Grace is salvation conditioned
on Jesus Christ alone, with no contribution from the sinner.
As we read, all sin, so as to fall short. There's no difference
among us. Yeah, sure, there's differences
in that there are some, there's some real bad characters in this
world. And some of you are certainly
more moral than them. And there are some sins that
are certainly worse in our eyes. But when it comes to God's standard,
there is no difference. We all fall terribly short. So to imagine salvation's condition
really in any way, to any degree on us, even if it's your act
of faith. If it's something you think that
proceeds from you, that distinguishes you from the loss, it has a causal
role in your salvation, well, clearly this passage tells us
that's a denial of God's way of justification. There's another
key word found in scripture that describes what those who are
saved are given in Christ, that supports this, reaffirms this
truth that our justification, our very salvation, is truly
a free grace. And that's this word inherit,
or inheritance. And here's a few examples. In
the Ephesians 1 passage, which Jacob, not Jacob, Jason read
earlier, we find that word multiple times. But just consider verse
11 where Paul wrote to these believers and he was speaking
of Christ saying, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. A sovereign
grace, isn't it? That's the only kind of grace
there really is. Have you obtained an inheritance? There's nothing
you can do to earn an inheritance. Someone else earns what is inherited. There's nothing you can even
do to put yourself in a position to be an heir. Did you have any
say so in determining what family you would be born into, your
earthly family? Well, likewise to be a spiritual
heir, you eventually must be born into God's family just as
Christ told Nicodemus. You must be born again, born
again of the Spirit of God. And as John 1.13 teaches so plainly,
it says those who are saved, we're born again. But it says,
but not of blood, not our physical heritage, nor the will of the
flesh, nor by the will of man, but of God. See, it's really
not your free will decision for Jesus. Now see, as that verse
makes clear, the true children of God, they're born of God.
And we're told in Romans 8, 17, and if children, then heirs.
Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Joint heirs with
Christ. Can you imagine what heaven must
be like if it's what could be purchased, paid for by that infinitely
valuable blood of Jesus Christ? In Galatians 3.13, Paul was speaking
to Gentile believers of Christ's redemptive word. And he says
in that verse how Christ was made a curse for them, and then
saying in verse 14, so that the blessing of Abraham might come
on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus. Now clearly the blessing
of Abraham must be speaking of salvation itself because it's
that which would come through the Savior, through Jesus Christ. And then in verse 18, he again
describes this blessing as an inheritance, saying, for if the
inheritance be of the law, in other words, if you got to buy
the car, so to speak, something you must do, there's no more
promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. So that confirms
what we know to be true of an inheritance. If it's an inheritance,
it's not any deeds we do. We didn't earn that. Someone
else did. Salvation is freely by His grace.
In Matthew 25, Christ was speaking about His second coming, and
when He would come in returning glory, He would sit His King
upon His throne of judgment. It says there He would separate
the sheep from the goat, the sheep referring to those chosen
in Christ Jesus from before the world began unto salvation, His
elect, and the goats referring to everyone else. And he says
in that passage that he would set the sheep on his right hand
and the goats on the left. And then in verse 34 he adds,
then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come
ye blessed of my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. And then just one
more, we see God using that same word through Peter in 1 Peter
1 beginning in verse 3 where he wrote to believers, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again, given us life in the
new birth. unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead," listen, "...to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away," we
won't be able to blow away and spend this inheritance from now
through all eternity, "...reserved in heaven for you, you who are
kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to
be revealed in the last time." You know, in that last phrase,
you see that faith is not something we do in order to be saved. It's
the revelation of God of how we've been saved. And I love
to hear my inheritance in Jesus Christ. So seeing that our eternal
salvation is truly an inheritance, then clearly, as the Bible likewise
asserts, it's truly a free grace. But at what cost? The cost of
free grace. Well, our text verse tells us,
saying it's through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Cost
of free grace is the redeeming work of Christ. Now, there are
so many verses, I won't try to read all these, that describe
saved sinners as those who are redeemed by his shed blood, by
his death, setting that forth as the cost of salvation by God's
free grace. But let's just look at one, as
believers were told in 1 Peter 1, verses 18 and 19. For as much as ye know that ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but you're redeemed with what? With the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Redemption. The Greek word that's translated
redemption is one that means deliverance. And when it pertains
to our salvation, we're delivered from sin and Satan. We're delivered
at the cross of Calvary as justice is satisfied for those who come
to know God in saving faith. We're delivered by faith as we're
translated out of darkness into the kingdom of his light. And
we're ultimately delivered into heaven's glory, as we'll see
that word redemption being used in another passage in a moment.
Redemption is a deliverance. It speaks and has the connotation
of the release by the full payment of a ransom price. So something
or someone is redeemed when it's bought back or paid off. And
such is the case for those who are redeemed by Christ. As we
saw from the Ephesians 1 passage, God chose a people in Jesus Christ
from before the world began. And they, God's elect, the sheep,
listen, along with every other son and daughter of Adam, the
goats as well, they fell with Adam into sin and death when
he sinned in the garden as their federal head and representative
of all humanity. We know that's why we all come
into this world needing spiritual life, as spiritually dead sinners. But the sheep, having been set
apart in Jesus Christ their substitute, their surety, their representative,
as that Ephesians 1 passage said, they've been accepted by God
in the beloved, in Jesus Christ, and that from all eternity. You
see, they never fell out of Christ. And that eternal acceptance,
it was by virtue of the God-covenanted, as Winston read, that everlasting
covenant of grace, it's unconditioned, see, on those blessed in that
covenant. That acceptance was by virtue
of that God-covenanted, absolutely necessary, God-purposed, and
therefore certain to take place in time, redemption at Calvary's
cross. the buying back before the justice
of God of His own adopted children who had been chosen from all
eternity to be holy and without blame before Him. See, in order that they would
be acceptable to Him, that they could enter into the presence
of a holy God, all consistent with the just character of God. Now think about that. How can
a sinner, that's a lawbreaker, how can he be found not guilty,
righteous in God's sight? Well, it's all based upon God
having imputed or charged the demerit or the guilt of all their
sins to Christ so that he could bear the just penalty due unto
them. And then God likewise having imputed or accounted unto each
and every one of those whose sins he bore, the very merit
of his satisfaction that he made to God's law and justice by his
obedience unto death on the cross. That's his very righteousness.
We quote often 2 Corinthians 5.21, for he made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And that cross work, that's redemption.
And as we saw in Romans 3, all of that is so that God's chief
design in all things might be realized, that he might receive
all glory. He'd be glorified, worshipped as he is, as just,
justice being served, and justifier, thereby able to rightly declare
his children righteous. Reminds me, as we read in Isaiah
45, God speaking through the prophet says, look unto me, all
ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth. I think it's the order. If I'm God, he says, there's
none else like me. And he describes himself right
there in that passage, what's distinctive when he says, a just
God and a savior. I've borrowed this phrase that
I like from others in the past, but I'll repeat it as well. And
that says that redemption is not a mere attempt made, but
it's a price paid. And it speaks of a price that's
paid in full. No balance remaining due. Nothing
left to be done. If there's anything left to be
done, it hasn't been redeemed. It's a price paid to God the
Father, whose justice is offended. It's His law that's broken. It's
Him against whom all sins are committed, according to the Bible.
So it's paid to a God whom the Bible says will not clear the
guilty. He will not dispense with his
justice in order to show his mercy and grace. It must be satisfied. In Revelations 5-9, Christ is
said to redeem men unto God by his blood. So we see from that
that one, the redemption price is clearly his shed blood, his
death. and two, that it's a payment
paid unto God. And we can know it was totally
sufficient to pay the debt in full because Christ arose from
the grave. As we, as our bulletin verse,
Romans 5 21 asserts, just as sin demands death, righteousness
established demands life. He died for sins imputed, and
he arose because righteousness had been established. He arose
victorious over sin and death, and it gives us assurance that
God's justice was fully satisfied by his shed blood. By that everlasting
righteousness, he established which demanded he live, and oh,
what a wonderful news, demands spiritual life and everlasting
life for each and every one for whom that payment was made. Now
I want to spend a few minutes further emphasizing this cost
of salvation by grace by looking at a few other key words found
in scripture that describe Christ's work of redemption. And again,
I think it's imported as basic as it is to some of you, I know,
but in light of the fact that so many in our day believe that
Jesus Christ redeemed everyone and And they believe that, as
we see, by the virtue of believing he died for everyone. If he did
die for everyone, he redeemed everyone, because they were redeemed
by his blood. But to be redeemed, we know,
is to belong to God. We're going to look at some verses
in a moment that show that. And most realize that not everyone
is saved. The Bible, it doesn't take the
eyes of faith to read the Bible and know that it's clear that
most, it indicates most shall perish. So instead, most adopt
or embrace the popular doctrine of our day that requires more
than what they call redemption for their justification or salvation
before God. They wouldn't say it this way,
but their doctrine screams it out, that His redeeming blood
is just not enough for them. And I don't look down on these
folks. I'm going to tell you, because I used to be right there. They imagine they must do their
part or find some distinction within themselves or something
that proceeds from them to make the real difference in their
own salvation. And listen, that eternally tragic
assumption if we persist therein. I beg sinners to think about
it. It's not to be taken lightly.
See, for example, in order to believe that doctrine of a universal
atonement, that Christ died for each and every one, you have
to completely deny what the Scripture teaches as it pertains to redemption,
even what the word means and what other biblical words mean
and teach us concerning A factual, vicarious, listen, saving work
of Jesus Christ and his obedience unto death on the cross. When
he cried out on the cross, it is finished. It really was. Redemption
was done. Here's a word to consider. Ransom. Redemption most definitely speaks
of a price or a ransom being paid. Christ himself referred
to it as a ransom in Matthew 20, 28, when he said, even as
the Son of Man came," and he goes on to say, "...to give his
life a ransom for many." Now, what kind of God would exact
the ransom price of the precious blood of his own dear Son for
the sins of someone and then turn around and send that someone
or any one of them to hell because of their sins? Sins which Christ
had already allegedly Paid for? For which, he says, he gave his
life as a ransom? Well, as you see, it doesn't
say Christ gave his life a ransom for all. It says he gave his
life a ransom for many. I've noted already, redemption
speaks of a purchase, of being bought. And the Bible describes
those who are redeemed by using those very words. Acts 20, 28,
Paul told the elders of the church at Ephesus to feed the church
of God which he hath purchased with his own blood, that they
were bought with a price, no less than the blood of the God-man,
Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20,
God through Paul said to believers, what, know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have
of God, and listen to this, and ye are not your own, for ye are
bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's." Paul says that those
for whom Christ died are not their own. He bought them. Dare
any believe that his precious blood was insufficient payment
to fully take possession of all whom he bought? In the next chapter,
1 Corinthians 7, verses 22 and 23, Paul says, For he that is
called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's free man. Likewise,
also he that is called being free is Christ's servant. Look at verse 23, ye are bought
with a price, be not ye the servants of man. Who's bought with a price? In other words, for whom did
Christ die? All who are called in the Lord
to be servants of Christ, not all without exception. Again,
recall from our reading in Ephesians 1 where Paul, he spoke of redeemed
sinners there. who in their generation had come
to belief of the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ,
saying, in whom, in Christ, also after that ye believed, ye were
sealed, sealed with Christ, with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance, there's that word again, inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
his glory." That's the redemption there into heaven's eternal glory. Now this is good news if you've
received God-given faith by the power of the Holy Spirit so as
to cause you to look to Jesus Christ and his righteousness
alone for all salvation. Because it's akin, that fact
is akin, that God-given faith is earnest to you. Like earnest
money put on a house to state our good intention to fulfill
the contract, only this one can't be broken. This is God's earnest.
God whose every intention is fulfilled. So as to assure you
of inheritance in heaven's eternal glory. And who receives that? He calls them his purchased possession. I like being bought. You hear
people talk about he's a bought man or he's a bought woman. I'm
going to tell you when it comes to this, I like being bought. This
is good news. And if it includes you, you were
redeemed or bought by his own blood. So don't imagine that
even one person for whom Jesus died, described as his purchased
possession now, how could they possibly perish? They're his.
Well, I introduced this message by noting how we're prone to
forget sometimes that things which are free to us really do
have an associated cost to someone. And you know, on the other hand,
too, think of this. If you pay anything, then whatever is being
acquired thereby, you can no longer rightly construe it as
being free to you. Bill. related to me a story of
how acquaintance of his had given a friend or relative a real expensive
shotgun, willingly so. But the one receiving the gift
kept offering to pay for it. And when he refused to take payment,
he responded and insisted, well, let me just give you $1. And
the guy was somewhat insulted. He insisted he take $1 for a
shotgun that was worth thousands of dollars. And he said apparently
the guy wanted to be able to say he bought the gun or at least
feel better about himself and having insisted on giving him
something. Well, isn't that how most view
salvation? They know the Bible says we're
justified freely and yet by nature we insist that we pay something. We imagine there's got to be
something I can do to be saved. We many, as I once did as well,
speak at length of God's mercy and his grace and then turn around
and naturally resist the truth that unwilling to concede, we
really are at God's mercy. We really are in desperate need
for God to do something for us that we cannot do for ourselves.
And there's good news. If he makes you that mercy beggar,
then you have that earnest we spoke of earlier. So what some
call grace is not a free gift from God. It's not if they imagine
they do something to acquire it or to appropriate it for themselves. Some would object, as I probably
once would have. I thought I had a high regard
for Jesus Christ and the cross work of Christ, although I understood
it not. I would have said, well, no,
no, you don't understand. I think Jesus Christ paid it all. I sing
the hymn, Jesus paid it all. And I sing it sincerely. My doctrine
denied it. But in my spiritual blindness,
I didn't know. And so I would add, but, you
know, but, there's always that but. You gotta believe to be
saved. And it is true, all who are saved
shall believe, but not in order to be saved. To get that backwards
is tragic. So I'd say, yeah, but you've
got to do your part and believe. Think about that. It's like,
take my dollar, right? Think of the insult to God when
it costs the blood of his dear son. That's not blood bought, but
God-given faith in Christ. That's faith in faith. And I
pray God will deliver you as he has so many of us here from
that. In essence, you see, that's to
imagine you made the final payment to make the real difference.
That's not grace. Think about it. That kind of
thinking has God be a debtor to you. Having such low thoughts
of his death and in ignorance of what it truly accomplished
is to approach God as if he now owes you. You've done your part. You paid your dollar, so to speak.
Now give me salvation, God. But consider what Romans 4, 4
and 5 says. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith, or in this context, that which his faith looks to
is counted for righteousness. See, no one is saved because
they believe. will only believe as a result
of having been saved by the redeeming blood of Christ. And all for
whom he died, all whom he redeemed, they will believe in each successive
generation without fail. Christ said, all that you've
given me, they'll come to me, and I will not cast them out.
See, like most in religion, In my former spiritual blindness,
I want you to know I was sincere. So I'm not doubting the sincerity
of the folks that I'm referring to as being tragically wrong
this morning. Now, I was sincere. I thought
I believed salvation by grace. I had memorized Ephesians 2,
8, and 9. And in spiritual blindness, I
obviously didn't know, have any clue what it was saying. See,
but I found out I was wrong. And there's an evil associated
with that wrong. And I pray God would grant men and women repentance
from that. You see, this is what my thoughts
were akin to. I presumed the little dollar
I gave, my believing that it made the real difference. Think
of that. Just like that dollar was stacked
up against that thousands of dollars worth of shotgun, I dared
to stack my feeble faith up in rivalry with the real cost, the
precious blood of Christ. And I still imagine salvation's
by works, and God says he won't have it. Well, I hope that God
might use this message to call someone to see that just as there
ain't no such thing as a free lunch, that salvation by the
free and sovereign grace of Jesus Christ likewise came at a cost,
and oh, what a cost, no less than that infinitely valuable,
precious blood of the God-man mediator of Jesus Christ. If
you think about it, Don't insist salvation's conditioned
on you one second longer, someone you may be of that persuasion.
What could be better than this? To be justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. I normally don't read a prayer,
but I had this in mind in keeping with today's message, that I'd
like our closing prayer this morning to mirror part of Paul's
prayer and desire for the believers at Colossae, as he recorded in
Colossians chapter 1. So, as we're about to pray, listen,
and if God has so blessed you as described by these words,
then rejoice with me, because it's calls for rejoicing, as
we now go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we give thanks
unto you, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of your dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. Amen.