FREEDOM IS NOT FREE This week, on July 4th, our country will celebrate our nation’s independence. There will be parades, picnics, and family gatherings to watch fireworks and we will enjoy a day off work. At this time, I hope we will all remember the widely used phrase “Freedom is not free” and give thanks for the many freedoms our Lord has given this great nation, and remember those who gave their lives in defense of those freedoms.
The phrase “Freedom is not free” can be applied to a far greater freedom: freedom from sin and condemnation in our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation in Christ is FREE! It is without any cost to the sinner. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:24). As a matter of fact, salvation MUST be free. If a sinner tries to pay even the smallest amount to contribute to the redemption cost, Christ shall profit you nothing (Gal 5:2)
But my friends, never forget that salvation is not a free item offered at an early bird white sale. If God Almighty will save a sinner, the redemption price must be paid in full! The justice of God and the holiness of God must be satisfied or there can be no genuine salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself, shed His blood, and gave His life to pay the ransom for His elect. Yes, salvation is free to the sinner, but oh the great cost paid by our Savior! Salvation is free because the Lord Jesus Christ paid the debt of His elect in full. Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe. Thank God for His unspeakable gift!
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Here is the great difference between the law and the gospel. The law demands everything, but gives nothing. The gospel demands nothing, but gives everything!
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“Lord, make me to know my end and the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am.” Psalm 39:4
When we, by God’s grace, are wise enough to face death, judgment, and eternity, things are seen in their proper light. All these fine ideas of fame, fortune, friends, and so-called importance, melt like the frost before the sun. Death reveals the truth, blows away the chaff, shuts a man’s mouth, and opens the book. Death takes no notice of what I thought nor of what others thought of me, but only what God thinks! “Oh, that I might win Christ and be found in Him!”
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What we call the “Doctrines of Grace” - Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and the Perseverance of the Saints, are true! This is the clear teaching of Scripture. It is also true that the doctrines of Grace are very much like the clothes we wear. They take the warmth of the person wearing them. If the person wearing them is warm…they are too. If the person wearing them is cold and lifeless….they are too!
Pastor Todd Nibert
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