Free Gifts for a Purchased People



It is needful that we understand that the entire eternal inheritance is the gift of God’s grace.  Everything from faith to heaven is said to be a gift.  God’s elect are blessed with all spiritual blessings, even eternal life being a gift.  Christ did not purchase that which was already freely given.  But all these gifts are given to a people who are enslaved, imprisoned, blind and spiritually dead. They are not in a position either legally or spiritually to enjoy them!  They require a work to release them and a work to make them alive to enjoy them. 

The first is the work Christ accomplished.  He redeemed His people from the bondage of Satan, sin and the curse of the law.  His death and sacrifice was the ransom payment and the satisfaction of divine justice against them.  By His cross death Christ purchased them and thus afforded for them a complete liberation from all that would keep them from the total enjoyment of every gift of God.  His redeeming blood even accomplished a redemption not yet enjoyed by them but born witness to by the Holy Spirit, the redemption of their body.  “Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, UNTO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY” (Eph. 1:14 & Rom. 8:23).

Thus, Christ purchased THE CHURCH with His own blood (Acts 20:28).  “For YE are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's” (1Cor. 6:20). He has redeemed US! (Gal. 3:13; I Peter 1:18; Rev. 5:9, 14:3,4) The second work is that of the Holy Spirit regenerating us and giving us spiritual life which is manifested by faith.  The Spirit of God is given to us “that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (I Cor. 2:12). If you were left a large inheritance, it would do you no good if you were in prison, sitting on death row, or even dead.  Christ has “set the captives free” and the Spirit makes them alive that they might know and enjoy all that God has freely given them!  Thus Paul says, “Being JUSTIFIED FREELY BY HIS GRACE through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).


-Gospel report by preacher Gary Shepard

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

JESUS - Rock of Ages

Jesus remains the same in all ages. He is the One who is constant when everything and everyone else fails. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is our R ock [I SAMUEL 2:2 ] . In the Old Testament, in Exodus 33, Jesus is pictured as the Cleft Rock. In that chapter, verse 18 and following, Moses desired to see the glory of the Lord, but was told, "You cannot see My face; for there shall no man see My face and live.” And the Lord said, “There is a place by Me, and you shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by." Notice that as Moses stood upon the rock, the Lord hid him in the cleft. This wonderfully applies to us today! Believers are both standing on and hidden in Christ [COLOSSIANS 3:3 ] . We are both in and on the Rock. As life with its many bitter events presses upon us, ...
Read more

CHRIST OUR ONLY AND PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS

" The flesh lusteth against the Spirit." —Galatians 5:17 [KJV] Christian experience fully proves this apostolic truth. Hence the children of God cannot do the things that they would: nor have we any authority from God's word to conclude this lusting ever ceased in any of the saints till they got to glory; none are delivered from it while in the flesh. For, as the renewed soul or spirit loves to enjoy spiritual and heavenly objects, so the flesh, or unrenewed part, lusts after those objects it is naturally conversant with, and from which it derives its happiness.  Here is thy conflict, O Christian. Hence the necessity of thy Lord's command, "Watch always." This is the use of the doctrine. What woeful effects have fulfilling the lusts or desires of the flesh produced in eminent saints! Thou standest by faith, be not high-minded, but fear. The conceptions of lust are the productions of sin.— see James 1:15 . The commission of sin contracts fresh s...
Read more

GLORY ALONE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

" Lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." -Judges 7:2 [KJV] Thus the Lord reasoned with Gideon. He knows what is in man. He sees the pride of the human heart: how prone we all are to boast in an arm of flesh. The Lord is jealous of His own glory. Gideon’s army of two and thirty thousand, is brought down to three hundred. By this handful of men, and no more, did Gideon gain the victory of the Midianites. The Lord’s wisdom in this was, “Lest Israel should vaunt themselves, and say, Mine own hand hath saved me.”   But I have not transcribed the text right. There are two little words of great import, which I have omitted. Mind then, O Christian— against Me. Now remember, whenever thou dost boast of thy power, thy free-will, thy human goodness, thy works, ditties, conditions, and performances in order to be saved, thou art then, as it were, two and thirty thousand strong. Thou vauntest thyself against the Lord . Thou art gloryi...
Read more