[BIBLE]Luke 14:28[/BIBLE]
I have recently found the pearl 'of great price.' I want to share it all with you, and let you know how one can get it. Let me begin by saying that the parable is not about the pearl, no indeed. It is about the price. A man will sell 'all that he hath' for this thing. (Matt 13:46, Matt 13:44)
Perhaps you have considered buying a house. You have seen it costs $235,000 to purchase this house. If you are a reasonable, wise person, you will sit down and count the cost before you procure this house. You understand that it will require long hours at work, extra weekends, wise financial planning, tighter budgetary considerations, and cutting out needless luxuries. This house will cause you to reform your whole life. You are probably willing to change your entire habits and life practices so that at the end of the day (becuase it is the end that matters, not how you start), you own the house, and owe nothing. If you pay to the end, you will own the house, having paid every last cent. (Matt 10:22 Matt 5:26). Oh, how we cringe with pain over the price. How we deeply understand the gigantic price of this house, and it weighs on our mind so heavily. We truly appreciate the house when we have truly paid for it. And all this effort for a house, which is such a small thing in the broader scheme of life. Isn't life much more than a house? Isn't Christ much, oh so much more, than a house? How is it that we have constructed a cheap, airy thing of Christ's work, which bears a value to us according to the price we have paid for it? OF COURSE THERE IS A PRICE; MANY OF CHRIST'S WORDS ARE OCCUPIED WITH THE PRICE OF FOLLOWING HIM. Our valuation of Christ is directly proportional to the price of His work in our lives. His full work will cost us our lives, dear brethren. He has demanded nothing less. That is true Grace, Grace that demands, and if it does not receive it, it will not bestow its power or blessing.
You and I should be ashamed of our concept of Grace. I have become ashamed of it. No. We are not forgiven by Christs blood to be released into privelege of anything. We are released into slavery to Christ, bond servants of the only real King. Our debt may not be to the law, but now we have a debt much greater, of gigantic weight and Glory. Our debt is of love, the debt to the Spirit, to live by the Spirit. We have been purchased so we can pay debts! It has been given to you, not only to believe, BUT TO SUFFER. There is the Word of God. What will you do with it? Holiness, the blessing, the promise, is only made available to those who obey God. I say again: To them that obey Him.
[BIBLE]Acts 5:32[/BIBLE]
Not that we could have any reason for boasting because we obeyed God. Ha! That obedience came through Grace by faith. It is God's mercy to give us the ability to fulfil the righteous requirement of the Law (Romans 8:4). But the promise and blessing is IN FULIFILLING THE COMMANDMENT: the New COVENANT is to perform the following:
[BIBLE]Jeremiah 31:33[/BIBLE]
I have been made absolutely sick of cheap Grace, devoid of repentance, empty of price. WHEN GRACE IS TRULY AT WORK, IT WILL SHATTER YOUR LIFE. That is Grace. If you have been couched in comfort of solitude, been quietly slipping, having paid no price, you are failing the Grace of God, as the Apostle says. It is not Grace if it has not been responded to in costly activity. (Whoa, did he say works?) YES. I am here to proclaim to you that if you have not accepted the daily cross, the work of carrying your cross, you cannot follow Christ.
[BIBLE]Luke 14:27[/BIBLE]
Repent! Turn around! Do things differently! Do not forget that your end is according to your works. When you have paid the price, (some pay in blood,) you will find the Word fulfilled in you, and the blessing of holiness fully bestowed. Leave behind this fruitless attitude of effortless Grace. It is only Grace because NO AMOUNT of WORK CAN EQUALIZE YOUR DEBT, but the equalization, the infinite blessing which is gracefully and infintely bestowed, falls on those who obey because they believe what Christ says about sin.
[BIBLE]1 Peter 4:1[/BIBLE]
[BIBLE]2 Timothy 3:12[/BIBLE]
HEY WAIT, THAT WASN'T PART OF THE DEAL.
Yes, It was. You need to read the fine print before you sign anything, especially when you sell your soul to God.
Did you read that last part? It is so very important to understand the Grace of God, and how it effectively administers the Grace of Christ. Suffering is a big part of the Grace of God.
I will leave you with these last words, out of the Mouth of Christ Himself, and pray that these words make their way into your heart to cause you to obey them diligently, absolutely, and permanently.
[BIBLE]Luke 14:33[/BIBLE]
I have recently found the pearl 'of great price.' I want to share it all with you, and let you know how one can get it. Let me begin by saying that the parable is not about the pearl, no indeed. It is about the price. A man will sell 'all that he hath' for this thing. (Matt 13:46, Matt 13:44)
Perhaps you have considered buying a house. You have seen it costs $235,000 to purchase this house. If you are a reasonable, wise person, you will sit down and count the cost before you procure this house. You understand that it will require long hours at work, extra weekends, wise financial planning, tighter budgetary considerations, and cutting out needless luxuries. This house will cause you to reform your whole life. You are probably willing to change your entire habits and life practices so that at the end of the day (becuase it is the end that matters, not how you start), you own the house, and owe nothing. If you pay to the end, you will own the house, having paid every last cent. (Matt 10:22 Matt 5:26). Oh, how we cringe with pain over the price. How we deeply understand the gigantic price of this house, and it weighs on our mind so heavily. We truly appreciate the house when we have truly paid for it. And all this effort for a house, which is such a small thing in the broader scheme of life. Isn't life much more than a house? Isn't Christ much, oh so much more, than a house? How is it that we have constructed a cheap, airy thing of Christ's work, which bears a value to us according to the price we have paid for it? OF COURSE THERE IS A PRICE; MANY OF CHRIST'S WORDS ARE OCCUPIED WITH THE PRICE OF FOLLOWING HIM. Our valuation of Christ is directly proportional to the price of His work in our lives. His full work will cost us our lives, dear brethren. He has demanded nothing less. That is true Grace, Grace that demands, and if it does not receive it, it will not bestow its power or blessing.
You and I should be ashamed of our concept of Grace. I have become ashamed of it. No. We are not forgiven by Christs blood to be released into privelege of anything. We are released into slavery to Christ, bond servants of the only real King. Our debt may not be to the law, but now we have a debt much greater, of gigantic weight and Glory. Our debt is of love, the debt to the Spirit, to live by the Spirit. We have been purchased so we can pay debts! It has been given to you, not only to believe, BUT TO SUFFER. There is the Word of God. What will you do with it? Holiness, the blessing, the promise, is only made available to those who obey God. I say again: To them that obey Him.
[BIBLE]Acts 5:32[/BIBLE]
Not that we could have any reason for boasting because we obeyed God. Ha! That obedience came through Grace by faith. It is God's mercy to give us the ability to fulfil the righteous requirement of the Law (Romans 8:4). But the promise and blessing is IN FULIFILLING THE COMMANDMENT: the New COVENANT is to perform the following:
[BIBLE]Jeremiah 31:33[/BIBLE]
I have been made absolutely sick of cheap Grace, devoid of repentance, empty of price. WHEN GRACE IS TRULY AT WORK, IT WILL SHATTER YOUR LIFE. That is Grace. If you have been couched in comfort of solitude, been quietly slipping, having paid no price, you are failing the Grace of God, as the Apostle says. It is not Grace if it has not been responded to in costly activity. (Whoa, did he say works?) YES. I am here to proclaim to you that if you have not accepted the daily cross, the work of carrying your cross, you cannot follow Christ.
[BIBLE]Luke 14:27[/BIBLE]
Repent! Turn around! Do things differently! Do not forget that your end is according to your works. When you have paid the price, (some pay in blood,) you will find the Word fulfilled in you, and the blessing of holiness fully bestowed. Leave behind this fruitless attitude of effortless Grace. It is only Grace because NO AMOUNT of WORK CAN EQUALIZE YOUR DEBT, but the equalization, the infinite blessing which is gracefully and infintely bestowed, falls on those who obey because they believe what Christ says about sin.
TRUST ME, YOUR OBEDIENCE, WHICH IS THE ONLY THING WHICH RECEIVES THE BLESSING OF CHRIST, IS NOT WORTHY OF IT.
[BIBLE]1 Peter 4:1[/BIBLE]
[BIBLE]2 Timothy 3:12[/BIBLE]
HEY WAIT, THAT WASN'T PART OF THE DEAL.
Yes, It was. You need to read the fine print before you sign anything, especially when you sell your soul to God.
Did you read that last part? It is so very important to understand the Grace of God, and how it effectively administers the Grace of Christ. Suffering is a big part of the Grace of God.
I will leave you with these last words, out of the Mouth of Christ Himself, and pray that these words make their way into your heart to cause you to obey them diligently, absolutely, and permanently.
[BIBLE]Luke 14:33[/BIBLE]
