Think About It

By David Dowell

I'm sure you have heard it said, "Nothing is free." Anyone who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour would have to disagree with that statement. God's Word tell us in Romans 3:24 that we are "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. " Church membership, good deeds, giving money, singing in a choir, being in a preacher's family, or crying tears with emotions will not save our souls. We are simply justified (pardoned cleared from guilt; absolved or acquitted from merited punishment; accepted as righteous on account the merits of the Saviour by the application of Christ's death and atonement for the offender). And how? FREELY! You see, there is something that is free to us. It is the grace of God. ("For by grace are saved through faith; and that not of your selves: it is gift of God Not of works, lest any man should ,boast." Eph. 2:8-9) Though God's grace is free to us, its cost to the Lord Jesus Christ was death, ("For the ,wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord. " Rom. 6:23) A gift, by definition in the dictionary, is a present; any thing bestowed; the property of which is voluntarily is transferred by one to another without compensation; a donation conferred. In its very essence, a gift must free; else it is not a gift.

The passage in Rom. 3:24 ("justified freely by his grace') will mean more to us when we team how the word translated "freely" here is rendered in another part of the Bible. The very same expression is in John 15:25 (.... "They hated me without a cause ") as our Lord quoted Psalm 35:19. Why did men hate him? He went about doing good, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, making the lame walk, and preaching good news to the poor and deliverance to those who were bound. There was no reason at all for them to cry, "Away with him! Crucify him! " You see, they hated him without a cause. They plotted murder. It reminds me of the time Joseph told his jealous brothers ... "ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good " .. (Gen. 50:20). Just as the angry mob had Jesus killed, God used it to accomplish his own intentions far beyond what any one ever imagined. Then He revealed those purposes through the apostle Paul. Jesus gave himself over to his accusers ("The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. " Luke 24:7; "No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. " (John 10:18) to become the offering for sin (Heb. IO).

Christ submitted himself in love. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved,) Eph. 2:4; "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us " Rom. 5:8. Jesus did not deserve to die. He owe no wages for sin; he never did anything wrong, Yet he paid for sin with his own death. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him " 2 Cor 5:21.

So as men hated him without a cause, God has justified believers without a cause except for his own divine love. That is why we can herald the glorious news to all mankind. God's righteousness is conferred upon believers ("Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: " Rom. 3:22) and they are justified freely by his grace. The Lord commissioned his twelve disciples in Matt. 10: 8, 'freely ye have received, freely give. " Since a dispensation of the gospel of grace was committed unto Paul, he desired to "make the gospel of Christ without charge" I Cor 9:18. He also said that he preached the gospel of God freely (2 Cor. 11:7). May each one of us do the same.

This is David Dowell, saying "Think About It!"