Revelation 3.5 and "Eternal Security" (Perseverance of the Saints)

“The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” (Revelation 3.5 ESV)

I was once asked how to justify my belief that I could not lose my salvation in light of Revelation 3.5.  I admit, I was not prepared for the question and looked at the verse trying to figure it out myself.  I knew it was not being applied correctly in my friend's question, but I did not know why.  The full context of Biblical teaching supports the security of a Christian's salvation.  However, this verse was troublesome for me.  I decided to research it and the result is my post. 

Taken alone, this verse does seem to imply that one can lose salvation. First I wish to deal with this verse and then to fit the security of salvation into Biblical context.

Revelation 3.5 discusses the one who conquers and says of him, “I will never blot his name out of the book of life.”  Some have said there are two different books mentioned in the Bible that are similar: the book of life and the LAMB’s book of life.   I do not find this to be a strong argument and will not pursue it.  Another view in keeping with the impossibility of losing salvation once received by grace through faith (Ephesians 2.8-10) is that this verse alludes to something that is a possibility, namely that a Christian's name can be blotted out if Jesus here says He will not blot a name out.

I believe there is clarity to be found when looking at this verse with cultural context mixed in.  The meaning becomes much clearer.

In verses four and five Jesus is talking about those in Sardis who are faithful to Him.  He is not talking about those who are unfaithful.  This is for a good reason.

According to Utley,

“I will not erase his name from the book of life” This is a strong DOUBLE NEGATIVE. When citizens died, their names would be erased from the rolls of their city but God will never erase believers from His rolls. 

This metaphorical phrase “the book of life” is also found in Rev. 20:12–15, where two books are mentioned: (1) the book of life which is made up of the names of God’s people (cf. Exod. 32:32; Ps. 69:28; Isa. 4:3; Dan. 12:1; Luke 10:20; Phil. 4:3; Heb. 12:23; Rev 13:8; 17:8; 20:15; 21:27); and (2) the book of deeds or remembrances which records the deeds of both wicked and righteous (cf. Ps. 56:8, 139:16; Isa. 65:6; Mal. 3:16).(1)

Further, according to Wiersbe,

The promise in Revelation 3:5 (“clothed in white raiment”) would have been especially meaningful to people who lived in a city where woolen garments were manufactured. And the statement about the names being blotted out would also be significant to people in the Roman Empire, where citizenship was vitally important (see Acts 22:24–30). 

Is there a warning here that a true believer might lose his salvation? I don’t think so. It would appear that God’s “Book of Life” contains the names of all the living, the wicked as well as the righteous (Ps. 69:28). Revelation 13:8 and 17:8 suggest that the names of the saved are written in the book from the foundation of the world—that is, before they had done anything good or bad. By God’s grace, they have been chosen in Christ before the beginning of time (Eph. 1:4; see also Matt. 25:34). 

Jesus told His disciples to rejoice because their names were “written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). The Greek verb is in the perfect tense, which means it can be translated (as Kenneth Wuest does in his Expanded Translation), “your names have been written in heaven and are on permanent record up there.” It is not likely that Jesus would contradict Himself in this important matter! 

If the names of believers (the elect) are written from the foundation of the world, and if God knows all things, why would He enter the name of somebody who would one day fall and have to be removed from the book? We are enrolled in heaven because we have been born again (Heb. 12:23), and no matter how disobedient a child may be, he or she cannot be “unborn.” 

As unbelievers die, their names are removed from the book; thus, at the final judgment, the book contains only the names of believers (Rev. 20:12–15). It then becomes “the Lamb’s Book of Life” (Rev. 21:27), because only those saved by the Lord Jesus Christ have their names in it. All the others have been blotted out, something God would never do for any true child of God (see Ex. 32:32; Rom. 9:3). It is a book of life, and lost sinners are dead (Eph. 2:1).(2)

The book of life brought out in Revelation is found at the Judgment in chapter 20: “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. ¹³ And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20.12-15 ESV) (3)

The Lamb's Book of life is referred to in Revelation 21.27: "But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life."

Here the book is solely called the “book of life” and only the names of those who are alive in Christ are found in that book.  It was clear in the context of the day since the names of people who died in a city were blotted out of the rolls for their cities.  A Christian’s name cannot be blotted out because he has eternal, forever-lasting, life.  Since a Christian cannot die, his name remains in the book God put together beforehand.

Reading this in a modern culture loses some of the point being made.  This promises believers that they will not die, so their names will not be blotted out.  When the book of life is read their names will be found because they are spiritually alive. Only those found to be spiritually dead will be as those with their names blotted out of the rolls.

*Notice that Jesus already addressed the unfaithful preceding these verses.  He is now directing His statement toward those who are faithful.  This verse (Revelation 3.5) is an encouragement, not a warning.

For Biblical context to support the understanding that salvation is not so fragile that it can be lost, I will look to grace, the blood and promises of the guarantee of an inheritance.

GRACE

I have heard it said that if grace seems fair it is not grace.  This is true.  In our minds if someone acts badly enough they do not deserve grace.  The genocidal mass-murdering rapist who repents does not deserve it and should not be given the opportunity to gain God’s forgiveness.  Hitler should not have been given the opportunity to be forgiven if he repented (there is no evidence that he ever repented and is surely currently paying the penalty for his horrific sin). 

Likewise, the pastor who was saved, served God, fell from the ministry in disgrace and now wallows in self-criticism, a broken family, a destroyed marriage and deep guilt does not deserve God’s grace.  However, this man is covered by grace if he was saved to begin with.  That is so unfair.  However, before you become smug in your Christianity, your salvation is unfair.  You caused a man to die.  It was your fault that Jesus was tortured, mocked, cursed and crucified.  You were guilty, not Him.  That was unfair.

Think of Tom Sawyer.  When Tom took a whipping from his teacher to protect Becky Thatcher, he was an illustration of what Christ did for us.  Though we were guilty, He took the punishment.  However, the punishment was far worse than what Tom Sawyer took for Becky.(4)  Jesus died in brutality because of the wrong we did.  He was not just punished or mocked; He was brutally murdered on the cross in the bloodthirsty fashion the Romans are known for.  When Jehovah’s Witnesses say He was nailed to a stake or a pole they are demonstrating their ignorance of history.

“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5.20-21 ESV) (5)

Grace is made up of such a special and unfathomable quality that where sin becomes more prevalent, grace becomes more powerful.  Paul puts it into a negative statement in Romans 6.1-2: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!” (ESV)(6)  It is not that grace cannot abound, it is that grace should not be made to abound. In fact, Paul repeats this sentiment a few verses later: “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” (Romans 6.15 ESV)(7)  He asks and answers to make sure we get it.  Grace is powerful because it was purchased with the blood of Christ.  Grace is not a license to sin; it is the inoculation from the price of sin before God.  We may still sin and feel the consequences of that sin (like the hypothetical pastor I mentioned earlier), but the eternal cost has been paid.  We are saved and still sin, but it is already forgiven and paid for by the blood of Christ.  It is totally unfair.  It is grace.

THE BLOOD

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2.13 ESV)(8)  The blood of Christ is what has reconciled the Christian with God.  We, who have chosen to be enemies of God by our own will are brought into a relationship with the God we have offended.  It cost Him His life- His blood- on the cross.  Hebrews 9.22 says, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (ESV) (9)

To bring about forgiveness once and for all, animal sacrifices (which were practiced under the Law) were not sufficient.  It took the sacrifice of a perfect and spotless lamb to cover someone under the Law, but Jesus came as the perfect and spotless Lamb of God to be the final sacrifice God would ever recognize.  His sacrifice was far superior to any other sacrifice ever offered because He was God in the flesh.  It was more than His royal blood that paid the price; it was His Godhood that made this sacrifice all-sufficient. 

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. ¹¹ And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Revelation 12.10-11 ESV)(10)

The blood of the Lamb that gives Christians their testimonies and their ability to sacrifice their lives for the Gospel defeats Satan and his evil horde.  The key here is it is the blood of Christ that defeats Satan.  It is that powerful.

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Colossians 1.19-20 ESV)(11)

THE GUARANTEE

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1.11-14 ESV)(12)

In this verse we see we have a guarantee of an inheritance.  It is not something fleeting; the guarantee is the sealing with the Holy Spirit.  Having been saved, we were also sealed.  Being sealed we are given a guarantee.  What does a guarantee mean?  It means what was promised will happen.  It has been said that a guarantee is only as good as the one standing behind it.  I would submit that if God makes the guarantee (in writing no less!), it is a guarantee you can count on.

“As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. ²⁰ For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” (2 Corinthians 1.18-20 ESV)(13)

His promises are always met with a yes and a fulfillment in Christ Jesus.  He does not fail to deliver. Never.

Again Paul writes, “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” (2 Corinthians 5.5 ESV)(14)  “This very thing” that Paul mentions is the promise of God that we will pass from our current faulty bodies and into a “heavenly dwelling”, a new, uncorrupted body.  That is part of our inheritance through salvation.

“…but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:

       ‘The Lord has sworn

and will not change his mind,

       “You are a priest forever.”’

²² This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.” (Hebrews 7.21-22 ESV)(15)

Again, Scripture shows that the Triune God has guaranteed our inheritance as part of the better covenant of God’s grace through the blood of Christ.  The maintenance of our salvation is in the hands of God, not in our feeble hands.

In closing, Jude shows that Jesus is our strength in our salvation in the first and last verses of his letter:

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ…” (Jude 1 ESV)(16)

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24 ESV)(17)

When we see that it is all about Jesus and not about us we can begin to understand and appreciate how God’s grace is poured out upon us.  We can be secure in our salvation as we are secure in our God.


Pete Garbacki is a minister with Time for Truth Ministries and Mission.Brasil. Follow him on Twitter @pregador27 or FaceBook at http://www.facebook.com/pete.garbacki.

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Footnotes

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^[1] Utley, R. J. (2001). Hope in Hard Times - The Final Curtain: Revelation (Vol. Volume 12, p. 43). Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International.

^[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, pp. 577–578). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Re 20:12–15). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

[4] http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/34/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/5449/chapter-20/ (see bottom half of the page)

^[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Ro 5:20–21). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Ro 6:1–2). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Ro 6:15). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[8] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Eph 2:13). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Heb 9:22). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Re 12:10–11). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[11] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Col 1:19–20). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[12] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Eph 1:11–14). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[13] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (2 Co 1:18–20). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[14] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (2 Co 5:5). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[15] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Heb 7:21–22). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[16] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Jud 1). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[17] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Jud 24–25). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

What Should I Do When Someone Hurts Me? How to Proceed When Offended by Others.

It happens to all of us. At some point in our lives: someone will hurt us deeply. Sometimes it is physical. Sometimes it is emotional. Sometimes it happens with words. Sometimes it happens with actions.

For many of us, the scars of these partially-healed wounds can last a lifetime. If we do not find some sort of personal closure, these events can be emotionally debilitating and spiritually injurious. Some wallow in hatred, guilt, or resentment burning quietly on the inside for years.

Nevertheless, Scripture does give us some very candid and direct counsel for proceeding in these situations. Christians, as redeemed people, are expected to be the "bigger person," take initiative, and help to set our relationships back on a godly course.

The following rubric is intended to help you proceed when your soul aches from the pain caused by others.

NOTE: This is a general guideline and cannot possibly take every variant situation into consideration. 

1. Was the offense physical, violent, sexual, or criminal? If yes, move to #2. If no, move to #3.

2. If the act committed against you was criminal, you have a right and obligation to report it to the proper authorities (i.e. the police) especially if it was of a violent or sexual nature. In these cases, confronting the person personally is usually not a good idea. Here, you run the risk of being abused again, as well as possibly leaving a door open to the abuse of another. You should consider talking to your pastor or a trusted counselor about this, or even a good friend. Ultimately, you will want to find peace in your heart through forgiveness, even though you do not need to put yourself into harm's way again. Trust God to bring about justice in His own time ("Vengeance is mine saith the Lord") and seek the healing hands of Christ.

3. If the offense was not criminal, you should begin seeking reconciliation with the person involved, even if you yourself have not committed any offense against them. You may be totally innocent in the matter, or partially at fault. Likely, the offending party may not even be aware of his offense, and you will burn inside destroying only yourself by harboring your resentment. For this reason, you should ask another question: Is the offending party a Christian? If no, move to #4. If yes, move to #5.

4. Since the offending party is not a Christian, you have an opportunity to share the grace of God that you have personally experienced through Christ. These offenses should be seen as opportunities given by God to show an unbelieving world what true forgiveness looks like. Go to the person personally (if possible) and share your feelings in this matter, and how you are seeking God's peace. Offer the offender true, unconditional forgiveness. If you own part of the fault, apologize unconditionally as well. As the opportunity presents itself, you would do well to share the Gospel with him or her. Although the parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:23-35) is in the context of sins committed against other believers, the application is broad enough for all kinds of hurts and grievances: consider how much God has already forgiven you, and seek to model your grace after His!

5. If the offending party is also Christian, we have clear obligations to follow the reconciliation pattern given in Matthew 18:15-20. Notice this passage is in particular reference to when a "brother sins against you" (18:15, emphasis added). These steps given by Jesus assume that the offender is a Christian, and has a sensitive spirit to receive the guidance of the church in his or her life. Here, Jesus has given us a four-part movement for seeking reconciliation, [a] gracious, personal confrontation (verse 15), [b] gracious confrontation with witnesses (verse 16), [c] church leadership intervention with possible disciplinary sanctions (verse 17) and finally [d] terminating the relationship (verse 17). This last step, is to be considered a drastic measure only, and should almost never be the case among professing Christians.

Although the first step is the hardest, it is almost always the most important. How many relationships can be restored if we would only take Jesus' words of counsel here more seriously? How many inner grievances could be mended and healed if we heeded the counsel of the Master?

Unfortunately many of us either jump far too quickly to get others involved (the sin of gossip) or else are content to burn quietly inside harming only ourselves (the sin of unforgiveness).

Take a step of grace today and begin mending your relationship without further delay! 

-Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville, Florida. 

Remember Your Leaders: Jonathan Edwards

“Resolved: To live with all my might while I do live.”

-Jonathan Edwards

A Biographical Sketch 

Jonathan Edwards was born October 5, 1703, in Windsor, Connecticut. He had ten sisters and not one brother. He could probably knit with and crochet with the best. He was of superior intellect and at twelve years of age his father sent him to Yale where Edwards flourished. He was a thinker, appearing to have always had his pen in hand taking notes as he read. At the age of 16 he graduated from Yale as valedictorian and gave the graduation address in Latin, for fun. He was brilliant.

At 19 years of age Edwards took his first call as a pastor to Scotch Presbyterian Church in New York. He returned to Yale a year later to finish Masters work and fell in love with Sarah Pierrepont. She was according to Edward’s own hand, “…of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind…and seems to be always full of joy and pleasure” (Edwards, Memoirs, xxxix). Over the next 23 years they had eight daughters and three sons.

In 1726 God called Edwards to assist his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, in ministering to the esteemed Church of Northampton, Massachusetts. Stoddard passed three years later and Edwards took over as sole minister. His primary task as a pastor was ardent study of the Scriptures. He said: “Be assiduous in reading the Holy Scriptures. This is the fountain whence all knowledge in divinity must be derived. Therefore let not this treasure lie by you neglected” (Edwards, Christian Knowledge, 162). To Edwards the greatest impact and good he could do as a pastor was to study well the Word of God and communicate it’s truth in all that he did, be that preaching, conversation, or in his prolific writing.

In 1757, after 23 years as pastor of Northampton, and time spent writing and thinking in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Edwards was called by Princeton College to assume the role of President. It was a crowning achievement to be extended this invitation. He took it, although he was initially against the opportunity due to his poor health and grand writing dreams. However on March 22, 1758, after only assuming the position of President a month earlier, Edwards passed away after complications that arose from a smallpox inoculation.

Edwards is an example to us as a man who was fixed upon God as his ultimate end in all of life. Due to his writings that have been well preserved, we have a good corpus from which to “remember” his faith and imitate it in our lives. Here are three great things that Edwards strived for in the exercise of his faith:

We Were Created to Glorify God 

Uppermost in all of Edwards life was the great Reformed pillar of Soli Deo Gloria. Edwards’ faith spurned him to exist to magnify and extol God’s glory in all that he put his hand to. While he was a sinner and couldn’t accomplish this perfectly, it was nonetheless chief in his mind for what was his end in life. For as Edward’s says:

“Thus we see that the great and last end of God’s works which is so variously expressed in Scripture, is indeed but one; and this one end is most properly and comprehensively called, ‘the glory of God.’” (Edwards, Ethical Writings, 530)

And so Edwards, by the faith God had given him, sought to elevate and display the glory of God in his life. One thing we can take from Edwards on this point is his understanding of our sinful nature. The more depraved we are, the more we have to glory in our God:

“God hath made man’s emptiness and misery, his low, lost and ruined state into which he is sunk by the fall, an occasion of the greater advancement of his own glory…as there is now a much more universal and apparent dependence of man on God.” (Kimnach, The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards, 79)

We Were Created To Delight in God 

To many the Christian faith looks like a joyless prison. It is a religion of prohibition: you can’t get drunk, you can’t sleep around, you can’t lie on your taxes. Many in the world see Christianity as a set of rules that restricts the individual and takes all fun out of life. However Edwards says quite the opposite. He roots the fundamental core of Christianity in relation to happiness and joy. Christianity does not kill delight, it instead magnifies it and puts it in it’s proper place. Edwards says this:

“God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it.” (Piper, God’s Passion for His Glory, 79)

Edwards contends that when we live into our created purpose in Christ, namely to glorify God, we do so only successfully when we do so out of delight. Because the Christian, if he truly grasps faith, realizes that he has found the most joyful pursuit in all of life, giving glory to his creator. And he is the most joyful pursuit because “He is [our] highest good…the sum of all that good which Christ purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls.” (Kimnach, The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards, 74) And so from Edwards we can learn that we are to delight in our God, in His goodness towards us, and in so doing bring glory to God.

We Were Created to Pursue God 

Edwards was a man of great resolve. A man who put his mind to a task and did not waver. He was intensely driven in all that he did. He was this way because he understood the seriousness of what he was called to do, to redirect hearts and minds to God’s glory. As such, Edwards found himself in a relentless pursuit of God. This is well attested to in his many Resolutions (Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 1, xx).

With 1 Corinthians 10:31 as his guide, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God, Edwards produced a list of 70 resolutions to guide his life and pursuit of God’s glory to be manifested. These are no mere New Years Resolution like we might think. May these few be an encouragement to you to imitate his faith, a faith that calls us to be enamored in our pursuit of knowing and displaying God’s glory in our lives.

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to the glory of God, and my own good, profit, and pleasure, in the whole of my duration…

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God…

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

7. Resolved, never to do any thing, which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.

Edwards was a man of resolve. May we resolve to be so fixed on God in our lives so as to display His glory in all that we do.

*     *     *

There is much written on Jonathan Edwards. For an introduction I would recommend Owen Strachan's Essential Edwards Collection (book one in particular), and John Piper's elucidation of Edward's main theological orientation in God's Passion for His Glory. For a deeper look at Edwards life George Marsden's biography is top notch. As for Edwards own work, I would direct you first to some of his best sermons and then to the Religious Affections or Concerning The End for Which God Created the World. Yale also has most of Edwards work free to read on their webpage which is simply an invaluable gift from the school.

**Next Week: Remembering Your Leader Charles Spurgeon

JT Holderman is Assistant Pastor of Bellevue Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Gap, PA.

Cheap Grace vs. Biblical Grace: A Short Reminder of the Difference

Grace, as some have defined it, is 'unmerited favor.'

One commentator whom I trust even called it 'demerited favor!' That might be more accurate.

Some of our Bible translations underscore the fact that grace is free in their rendering of Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus" (ESV, emphasis added). 

But does the fact that grace is given freely also make it "cheap"? To that, we must answer decisively "No!"

The grace that we receive by faith alone--apart from works--cost our Lord Jesus His life; His willing, volitional, sacrificial, perfect life as atonement for our sins.

Let me offer this excellent reminder, from the pen of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, of the distinction between cheap grace, and biblical grace:

"Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate....Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods....Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ" (The Cost of Discipleship, p. 44-45. Emphasis in original).

How sweet He is, our treasure, our grace, our Christ. May you rejoice in this extravagantly costly, free gift today. 

Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville, Florida.