IT'S FREE!

Ro 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the FREE GIFT. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the GIFT by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Ro 5:16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the GIFT: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the FREE GIFT is of many offences unto justification.
Ro 5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of GRACE and of the GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Ro 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the FREE GIFT came upon all men unto justification of life.

I want to write today about how free our salvation is. I want to write today about how Jesus did it all and how free the gift really is! I want to write about the wisdom of God, in saving people by a method that seems like foolishness to the world. Whole denominations are deceived into thinking that they will add their own offering of good works to God's free gift. Oh how foolish! God, through His infinite wisdom, conceived of a plan that would seem foolish to the wise. He conceived of a plan that was so genius, that it would not only fool the rich, it would fool the wise, the proud, the noble and the mighty. God sent His Son Jesus, to live the life we failed to live and be the substitute for our sin, with His very life and blood. It took God's only Son to die on a cross, so that we might have eternal life and be spared certain damnation. God looked on Jesus on the cross, and His justice and wrath was satisfied. Christ's blood, that was to pay for all sin, flowed to the ground. "How vile!", the noble of the world say. "Blood to pay for our sin?!! God's Son to die in our place?! Why we aren't that bad. We haven't sinned that much, we are actually pretty righteous, see how others respect our person?" Do you see how wise God was?! All God wanted was for people to believe that He actually did what He did! God set forth Jesus for all to see and proclaimed the job, FINISHED! He did it all Himself! God made it so easy, that the wise ones wouldn't get it! He made it so base, so despised, that the proud, wouldn't accept it! He made it so weak, that the mighty couldn't grab a hold of it! Then God, in His infinite wisdom, used the foolishness of preaching to send out the message of the gospel, so that those that would hear, and believe, would be saved. I marvel at the simplicity and the awesome wisdom of Almighty God!

1Co 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: (SAVED, BORN AGAIN)
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

Why did God do it this way?

1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

So no one could glory in His presence. So nobody could stand before His throne and be proud and say to Him, "I did it, you owe me". How foolish it is to think that one can add anything to God's free gift! How foolish it is to think that one could add works of righteousness to God's grace! It is free! Completely free! There is never any work of righteousness you need to do to be saved. Not now and not ever. If you did have to, than it would no longer be free, would it? That would make God a liar.

Ga 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have BELIEVED in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: FOR BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW SHALL NO FLESH BE JUSTIFIED.

What is meant by, "works of the law"? That would be anything you would do, as in an act or good deed".

What Jesus did, is the grounds for our salvation, and faith, or believing is the condition. There is no act or good deed here to do. There is no twelve step program. Just turn, or repent to to God and believe that Jesus did all that was necessary for us to get into heaven. That is as easy as it gets. Believing is the easiest thing you will ever do. All you are doing is taking hold of the promise of God trusting it to be true, and nothing glorifies Him more than that. What does Paul say to those that try to get right with God by doing good works?

Gal 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

If a person can get righteous by doing what he ought to do, Christ died for nothing. If a person can work their way to heaven, then Christ died for nothing. The righteousness we need, comes to us by believing. When we believe on the Lord Jesus, God imputes to our account all of Christ's righteousness.

Here is where many people are deceived. They say it can't possibly be this easy. Just believing doesn't sound like it would have any practical effect at all. So they don't believe. People that say, "It is free, but...", don't really believe. Once a person really believes, they stop "butting", Jesus and their grace, and just go on and believe that it is all of grace. They start believing that Jesus did it all, and that they did nothing. Then they go and rejoice and rest in His finished work. It is selfishness and pride, that prevents people from believing with all their heart. God wants people that give up on themselves and admit that there is nothing we can do to be saved. He wants a people that are without hope in themselves or in this world, and have nothing to offer God, either from their soul or as a work of righteousness in order to get right with Him. People that are without hope in themselves, and have no confidence in how they have lived, and come with a childlike faith. A people that believe whatever He says, even when it is far outside of their reality. A people that when He says, "Jump" (when there is no reason to), they jump. When He says, "duck", they duck. Simply because He is trustworthy. This is perhaps the most marvelous verse in all of scripture...

Ro 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

To the person that doesn't try to work for salvation, but simply believes in God, his faith is counted for righteousness. Aren't you amazed that God takes on the name, "Him that justifies the ungodly"? You might have thought that salvation is only for the religious, the repentant and the church goers. But here it says that God justifies the UNGODLY. You must be an ungodly sinner in order to be justified (innocent of all charges), and you must "work not"! That sounds like FREE to me!