Nothing Cheap about Grace

A dear brother and my accountability partner, Rev Ted Keller of Whispering Hope Chapel (Transport for Christ, International) in Columbia, SC recently sent me one of his sermons. Transport for Christ is a ministry for the trucking industry. I was a volunteer chaplain there for three years. It is a wonderful ministry. They take trailers and convert them to chapels. They are strategiclly placed all over the country and in Canada and Russia. Each Chaplain is a commissioned missionary to the trucking industry that raises his own support. http://transportforchrist.org/

Nothing Cheap About Grace" 1 Peter 1:17-1:21 200234.serNothing Cheap About Grace:" BREBC Sept. 1, 2002 a.m.

Subject: SalvationTheme: The Cost of SalvationPassage: 1 Peter 1: 17 - 21

1 Peter 1:17-21 (NIV)
17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Who doesn’t like to get something that is free? But we have become pretty sceptical. When we see something that is free, we tend to look behind the scenes and ask, o.k. but what will this really cost? My brother won a prize of a few hundred square feet of free carpet. But by the time they bought the amount needed to finish the job, plus other renovations it required it cost a great deal of money which they had never intended to spend.We love to emphasize that salvation is a free gift, provided by the grace of God. Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God,”Yes, dear ones, salvation is a free gift provided by grace, but as the sermon title says, there is “Nothing Cheap About Grace”. Grace is “God’s Redemption At Christ’s Expense”. This morning I want you to see The Cost of our Salvation: and I want you to consider the infinite cost of your redemption. Let me show you1. The Need for Redemption2. The Cost of Redemption3. The Plan for Redemption4. The Result of Redemption1. The Need for Redemption a. What is redemption anyway?The word redemption comes from the word redeem, and we are all familiar with redeeming something. It means to buy back, to pay the price of. If you and I had ever gotten into financial difficulty and had to pawn something of value, we would have the opportunity to redeem it when we had the money - we could buy it back by paying the cost plus the interest.The word redeem means "to release on receipt of a ransom, to liberate by a payment; to deliver from evils of every kind, internal and external." Several thoughts come into play here. We were born as slaves of sin. Our sin brought us under the curse of the law. And all the time that we were so sure that we were completely free to do our own thing, we didn’t realize that we were bound up under the vain lifestyle of our forefathers. The word means vain, useless, of no purpose. In other words, life lived without God, no matter how productive, still lacks purpose, because it is only for the here and now, and won’t bring benefit for eternity. And we didn’t know it. We had no idea what our true condition was. We didn’t have a clue about how enslaved we were, nor how impossible it was for us to escape ending up in hell.And so God set out to buy us back out of the slave market of sin; to set us free from our empty lifestyle, and to take us out from under judgement.2. The Cost of our Redemption: v. 19How are we going to be set free from this slavery to sin? We can’t escape just by an act of our own will. We are so sure that we can do it ourselves. If we need to overcome any addiction, we are so sure that we can lick it by just making up our minds, by exercising our will power. But even if we can succeed in stopping these bad habits, that still won’t gain favour with God. It still won’t earn our salvation becausea. Your corruptible nature cannot enter the eternal world.b. Nor can you be redeemed by any other substance. “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold” Money, good works, self sacrifice, nothing we can offer can purchase eternal life.Many years ago, the president of a uranium mining company in Northern Ontario was said to have given 2 million dollars to the church. Do you think that purchased his entrance into heaven? Not for even one minute. Corruptible substances have no purchasing power in the eternal world. God is not impressed with gold, or silver or any other substance. 1 Peter 1:18 “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold, that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers;” (New International Version)c. Only the blood of Jesus is sufficient to purchase the redemption of any human soul. “...but with the precious blood of Jesus, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”- why blood? Blood speaks of the giving of the life. Without blood, the body cannot function. Without blood, oxygen and nutrients cannot reach your body. Without blood, your brain will not function. Without blood, you die.Blood represents the whole life of the being. So when blood is poured out as a sacrifice, it is the giving of the life. That is why God allowed the sacrifice of lambs and goats and bullocks in the Old Testament times. The blood of those animals was poured out on the altar as an atoning sacrifice to cover the sin of the person who was offering the sacrifice. But the offering had to be perfect: Exodus 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take [it] out from the sheep, or from the goats: - the lamb could not be a blind animal or lame animal or sick animal that had no value anyway. To atone for sin, it required your best.But, you know, don’t you, that the blood of an animal can never really pay for the sins of a human being. Throughout the centuries, millions of animals were slaughtered in sacrifice, but even the blood of millions of animals could never atone for the sin of even one human being. It was all temporary. These sacrifices were a stop gap measure until a sufficient sacrifice could be given.And the only sufficient sacrifice was the blood of a man. But not just any man - my life given for you wouldn’t pay for your sin. I can’t even pay for my own sin.No, not just any man - it would have to be a perfect man - a man who had never sinned. But the Bible shows that there is no such man - that every human being is born with a sinful nature.Not just any man - but the God- man.And so the Bible clearly shows that the life of Jesus Christ did not begin at conception as yours did, but that His is an eternal existence, together with God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit, that his coming to this earth was voluntary, in response to the will of His Father, and that He became a true human being but without the slightest taint of sin. As man, He lived a pure and spotless life, and so He was able to offer up His life as an all sufficient sacrifice. His precious blood was poured out on the cross, and that blood was sufficient to cover the sin of every person who would ever trust Him - all those people from Old Testament times who offered their lambs, and all the millions who believe on Him right to the end, until He comes again to receive us to Himself.Dear ones, this is the cost of your salvation. It includes his suffering the rejection of men; it includes all of the physical suffering of the cross; all of the mental and emotional and spiritual suffering of taking upon Himself the sin of the world as though He were guilty. It includes His suffering the rejection of His Father, and His suffering the full equivalent of hell for you, so that you would never have to face the reality of hell for yourself.Because of His sacrifice, salvation is offered to you as a free gift. You can’t buy it. You can’t pay for it. All you can do is to receive it as a free gift of God’s grace. But grace is not cheap! It has been provided on the basis of the infinite cost of His death for you.And so it is called the precious blood: most precious; of great price; held in honour, especially dear, and Jesus could say in Matthew 26:28 “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. And Paul could urge Pastors to take care of the church which he has purchased with his own blood.”- the precious blood of Jesus Christ which is beyond valuation.3. The Plan for RedemptionNow was this all an afterthought on the part of God? Did God get caught by surprise by Satan’s temptation and by man’s fall?Never. Look at verse 20 “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you..” Let’s put that in simple English: “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”Do you hear what this says? It says that before man ever sinned; yes before man was ever created; yes, before God ever even carried out the creation of the earth and the universe, before any part of it, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit had already agreed upon a plan. Included in that plan was the creation of all that we see and know. Included in that plan was the creation of mankind. Included in that plan was the full knowledge of sin and its consequences; and included in that plan, before one thing was ever made, was the plan for Christ’s death as an atoning sacrifice. In fact, other scriptures show that before the foundation of the world God foreknew you, and planned for your salvation.Can you understand that? I can’t. But I believe it because God has revealed it through His prophets and apostles.4. The Result of Redemption1 Peter 1:21 “who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”Oh, dear ones, let us now ask God if it was worth it. In Isaiah 53 we are told that “He will see the result of the suffering of his soul and shall be satisfied” What that means is that Jesus Christ looking down from the cross, looking in His mind’s eye across the centuries and millennia of time, looking at all of those who would trust in His precious blood, and be saved for eternity, was satisfied. He felt that it was worth it.This is how you were saved, dear one. Through Jesus sacrifice you believed in God who raised him from the dead. This is what he desired. He desired that you would believe Him, that you would trust him, that you would commit your whole life into his hands. Sin could not hold Jesus in the grave, because God the Father accepted his full payment for your sins, and since Jesus was sinless, guiltless, the Father raised him from the dead and gave him again all the glory of heaven, so that your faith and hope might be in God.He considered that your salvation was worth His suffering and death. And God the Father, looking in full satisfaction upon His Son, was satisfied. He could never accept sinners into His holy presence with their sin. There will be nothing sinful or evil in heaven. But because Jesus paid the full price of sin, because His blood covered sin, then God can accept all those who trust Him into His presence for eternity.So Christ was satisfied with the cost of your salvation; and God the Father was satisfied with the cost of your salvation. Tell me, are you satisfied with the cost of your salvation? Have you grasped it? Have you rejoiced in it? Have you responded to it? For if you are a child of God, you will spend eternity glorying in the wonders of your salvation as it says in Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”Yes, in heaven, if you are a true child of God, you will join the multitudes in praise and adoration and worship of Jesus Christ for your salvation. But why wait till heaven. The Lord Jesus didn’t pay the cost of your salvation, just so you could worship Him in heaven, but so that you could live for Him right here on this earth, and right now in the flesh. 1 Corinthians 6:20 “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”Dear ones, are you living in such a way that your life is showing forth the glory of God and the wonder of His grace? Dear friends, I say to you again, after what it cost Jesus to provide for you a full salvation, please value the grace of God. There’s nothing cheap about grace. Amen. Now, there may be someone hearing or reading this message who has never really trusted Christ as your Saviour and Lord. You are interested; you are able to understand that it was what Christ did on the cross that provides salvation for you, but you have never really known how to respond. And so you are not sure if you truly belong to Him or not.If that is the case, let me lead you in a simple prayer. In your heart, pray with me:Dear Father, I come to you to receive your son Jesus Christ as my own Saviour and Lord. I thank you for sending Jesus from heaven to earth to die for my sin. I acknowledge that I do not deserve your favour. I thank you that the Lord Jesus did die on the cross for me. I thank you that he paid the full penalty of all my sin and guilt. I thank you for accepting His sacrifice, and raising him from the dead. I ask you now to forgive all of my sin, and give me eternal life. Come into my life, I pray, and live in my life. Give me faith to believe and to trust in your Son Jesus, for ever, so that I may live for you here and that I may go to be with you for all of eternity. In Jesus name,