The Price of Salvation

Psalm 116:12-13 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?

¹³ I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.

And of course, the greatest gift, the greatest benefit, He has given us is His Son.

Romans 6:23   For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 6:28-29 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

²⁹ Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Jesus reinforced that message; to serve God we must first accept God’s salvation.  It sounds so simple, yet it has tripped people up forever.  We have such a hard time believing that something so critical to our eternal life is so ‘easy.’  Through the centuries man has tacked on actions and activities that will allow him to ‘earn’ his way into heaven.  The spiritual leaders of the Jews did it; Christian leaders have been doing it since the foundation of the church.  And in doing so, they have corrupted the desire of God for a pure heart from us.  Salvation is free, it cannot be earned, it can only be accepted.

The price of salvation is not cheap; it meant the death of the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ.  But it is free to us.

However, the cup we receive it in is not ‘easy.’  It means that accepting His salvation means we give Him all of our being, all of our heart.  It means that we accept Him as our Lord and with that comes obedience and dedication to Him.  Too many people stop at the free statement.  As Christ carried His cross to Calvary we too have crosses we must bear to serve God.  Even proclaiming we are Christians can bring persecution down on us – not to mention what follows when we point out that others need Christ.  There is a price to pay, not for salvation, but in service to God.

We cannot be saved and not acknowledge God, His Word, His Son, His Holy Spirit and the dominion He has over our lives.  It is not an ‘easy’ life.  There are those that would tell us that to be a Christian means to have perfection in our lives, to never have to worry about finances, to by happy all the time (among other things) and if we aren’t living up to those ‘expectations’ then we are either not true Christians or we are not trying hard enough, bluntly, they are false teachers. 

We but have to read the Gospels to see that Christ told us we would have a difficult time in following Him.  Throughout the New Testament we are told we will need to deal with adversity and the need to look to Him to have help overcoming it.  Christ was humiliated, tortured and killed.  The apostles were imprisoned, tortured and except for John, killed for their stand for Christ; many Christians through the ages have lost their jobs, families, homes and even given up their lives in living for Christ. Lifting up that cup means we accept all God has for us, His Love, His Grace, His Salvation and His rightful place in our hearts and lives.  We are no better than those that have gone before us, particularly Christ.

We must understand that we live in a world that honors sin and hates God.  The world is not perfect, things do happen because sin came into the world.  Things happen to both those that hate God and those that love God as a natural state of this world. Then of course the hatred for God is reflected in the treatment by the world for His Children.  The world doesn’t want to be reminded of their sin, they don’t want to be told that certain activities are against God’s Word.  They deny there is a God so they don’t have to obey His Word and when His children tell them of their sin they not only reject the message and the messenger, but may also attack the messenger.  Too many Christians have difficulty with that, they can’t understand why they are going through such turmoil for Christ.

We have let too many new Christians down by not preparing them for the spiritual battles they will endure.  In America the Christian message has become namby pamby, in fear of either turning people off – or bringing persecution down upon us.  We have made God into a being that has no impact on the lives of His people, and we are suffering the consequences because of it.

God is God.  He doesn’t change.  He loves His people, but just as He did in the Old Testament, He will punish those that go astray and refuse to be obedient to Him.  We must take our role in serving Christ seriously, listen and obey and while we know salvation is free, we must accept service has a price – and be willing to pay that price.

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous