God has given 11 steps that that church needs to go through every time it’s in a crisis. Listen to find out what those steps are and which one we’re currently on as a church.

<p>God has given 11 steps that that church needs to go through every time it’s in a crisis. Listen to find out what those steps are and which one we’re currently on as a church.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Freedom Health Ministries

Gabriel Arruda

If Salvation is Free, Then Why Does it Cost Everything?

Please turn in your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 5 and verse 18.

It says, Therefore as by the offenses of 1 judgment came upon all men to condemnation.

Even so by the righteousness of 1 the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

Same book, chapter 3 and verse 24, Romans 3 24.

Freely, by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

It is something that God is giving the most priceless thing and yet he gives it free.

Yet on the other hand, we have some Bible verses that seem to say the exact opposite, don't we?

Let's go to Luke chapter 14, starting in verse 26.

Jesus said, if any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

And whomsoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and count the what?

Count the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it.

So now Jesus is comparing the kingdom of God to these several things and he says in the King James, if you don't hate your father, brother, sister, mother more than me, which means love less.

If you love them more than me, you can't be my disciple.

And he says, yeah, if you don't take up your own cross and follow me, You can't be my disciple either.

And he says, you know what, so think about this.

Eternal life is wonderful, it's worth it.

But if you're serious about this, you need to sit down and count the what?

So on 1 hand we have Jesus saying, listen, it's a free gift.

On the other hand he says, count the cost.

What about the rich young ruler who came to Jesus?

Remember, the rich young ruler almost became the 13th disciple, if you will.

And Jesus said, yeah, you could follow me.

But there was A cost for the rich young ruler.

And Jesus says, whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whomsoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it, Matthew 16, 25.

And we could go on, but we have these scriptures that seem to indicate there's a cost, quite high cost.

And then on the other hand, we have Bible verses saying it's a free gift.

And so, You know, a lot of people would resent this.

Maybe you have gotten into a business deal like this where something was offered free up front.

It's free for those who have a subscription.

But it's free, yeah, for those who have a subscription.

It's like God is offering us something free on the front and then charges us on the back end.

And it seems to be like a bad business deal.

How do we make a, how do we reconcile these 2 concepts we see in Scripture?

And we're going to define 2 very, very important things.

And what we want to understand is, does free mean no effort?

We're having a pretty good winter, but let's say the California water crisis gets really bad.

Let's say it just gets like 10 times worse, and there's hardly any drinking water.

And the Safeway down the street here in South Lake Tahoe puts an ad in the paper, and it says, free bottled water.

We hardly have anything coming out of the tap and it's free.

The moment you read that ad, does a bottle of water just appear on your hand?

But what needs to happen in order for you to get that water?

Well, no, you could actually leave that because it's free, right?

Get your car keys, open your car, get in your car.

You've probably got to press through the crowds because a lot of people are going to be there.

You've got to look for the free gift, right?

And then when you get home, you have to open it and take it in in order to absorb its benefits.

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If Salvation is Free, Then Why Does it Cost Everything?

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