The word free is simple enough to
understand, but seldom illustrated in this world, and certainly
not in any case when a price is attached to it, such as we
see in marketing ploys such as buy one, get one free. Sadly,
the modern concept of gospel preaching, which makes salvation
a free offer, yet requires men to pay for it by exercising faith
by the power of their own free will, is as completely deceptive
as any of these marketing campaigns which use the word free. If something
is truly free, then no price at all is ever expected or demanded. The justification which is procured
by Jesus Christ in His death on Calvary's cross is indeed
free for those for whom it was purchased. Nothing at all is
required of them to possess it. It is given without money and
without price to those whom the Lord has justified with His blood. There are no ifs, ands, or buts
which are associated with the free grace of God, which is manifested
in the gift of faith to those who are made thirsty by the work
of His Spirit. Even the desire of the righteous
is freely given to them as the Spirit works in them both to
will and to do of His good pleasure. Faith is not an activity of the
flesh of men, which God recognizes and then upon that basis bestows
justification upon those who thus believe. Rather, the gift
of faith which causes men to believe and call upon the Lord
is simply the manifestation of the work of God in those whom
he has predestined to believe, as we read in Acts 13.48. And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. The work of justification is
a work which is completely performed by Jesus Christ. He has purchased
that justification by the shedding of His blood as the substitute
of those people which He loved with an everlasting love. The
scripture simply says, being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. When the Lord
says something is free, then nothing needs to be nor can be
added to it. The natural man believes that
he can, and therefore must, bring some sort of activity of his
flesh before the Lord, even as Cain brought his own offering
unto the Lord. Thus, by comparing himself with
others, using what he considers to be faith as the measure, he
believes he can gauge his relative acceptance with God. Therefore,
it is no surprise that such men will fight against the preaching
of free grace, and seek to overturn it by preaching a message which
purports to be salvation by grace, but in reality is one which confuses
free with some requirement which is to be added by men. Just like
the buy one and get one free offers, they tell us that if
you will bring your faith to heaven's marketplace, then you
can get free justification along with many other benefits. They
call this free grace, but in reality it is neither free nor
grace. Grace by its very nature is free,
and free cannot include any conditions or requirements. As Isaiah declared
unto those who are thirsty, Come without money or price, and buy
wine and milk. So too does our Lord declare,
Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. The preaching of the gospel is
not an offer with conditions attached to it, which if a man
fulfill, he can reap its benefits. The true preaching of the gospel
is, rather, the declaration of what Jesus Christ has completely
performed in procuring the eternal redemption of unworthy sinners. The pouring out of the blood
of Christ has completely satisfied the claims of the justice demanded
by the broken law. If that payment is made in full,
then there can remain nothing left undone. for those who are
its benefactors. This is free justification and
is truly a delightful message for those who feel their own
just condemnation according to the present work of the Holy
Ghost in them. Now, if Christ has already obtained
this redemption for His people, it is clearly theirs. They could
not possibly do anything to gain that which He has already purchased.
Thus we are sure that it is therefore freely given without price of
any kind. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at 4the4 at winstream.net.