It Will Cost You Everything
by Chaplain Jim Robinson
In Romans 5:15-18, Paul speaks of justification, righteousness, and life as the free gift of grace. In Romans 6:23, Paul states that although the wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I read where a Muslim spoke to an American journalist about his faith. He told about how all his life he had obeyed the Koran and faithfully worshiped Alla. He said that If after death he found find that there was no paradise, as the Koran promises, he will have been miserably cheated. Many Christians place their hope of attaining heaven upon their good life, generous giving, and attention to religion. All those who propose to bargain with God will be disappointed. The gifts of God are not for sale. In Acts 8, Simon tried to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter told him, "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God."
The last invitation in the Bible is in Revelation 22:17: "Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." Great news! Does salvation then cost nothing? No. It cost Jesus His life. The sins of all of us were laid upon Him and it cost God the Father His only Son. It cost Jesus the path of obedience even unto death, when on the cross He said, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?" It cost the Holy Spirit an age of wooing the hearts of stubborn sinners. The gift of salvation also costs the recipient everything. You can’t buy it, but when you accept the gift of salvation, it costs you everything. It costs renunciation of self. No longer can you just live to please yourself. No longer can you live to be what you want to be, or do what you want to do. Instead, you have to determine what God wants you to do. What is His requirement upon your life? What does He want?
Paul said:
"I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." Galatians 2:20
"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21
"But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ." Philippians 3:7
He’s expressing one thought over and over - one simply cannot accept Christ and His salvation unless there is a complete surrender of self to Him. I think we ministers of the gospel have many times confused people. We have contributed to this issue by using statements or asking questions such as, "You have accepted Christ as Savior, but have you really made Him Lord of your life? Why not dedicate your life fully to Him?" The whole idea or tone of such statements is that the acceptance of Christ as Savior and Lord are two entirely separate things. They are not. They are all wrapped up with each other. They are inseparable. Like repentance and faith, they go together. There cannot be one without the other. No man can accept Jesus as Savior without accepting Him as Lord of his life. Even though the Scripture talks about the gift of salvation, it is never in a clean little package called "salvation" by itself. The gift of salvation is the very person of Jesus Christ who comes to inhabit our being and live in us, dwell in us. That’s the reality of where we are as Christians. Many so-called Christians today seem unaware of this. Preachers need to be careful not to muddy the water.
Jesus warned his hearers that the cost of discipleship is high. In Luke 14:26 Jesus says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple." Of course, He’s not talking about actually detesting somebody, but in terms of the priorities – self denial. God is to be first in my life, not anyone else. God is to be number one. Frankly, one’s family is going to be better off if God is the number one priority. Your wife and children will be better off when HE comes first. You are much more likely to live a life that is not only pleasing to God, but pleasing to them. That is the way it works.
Luke 14:27 says, "Whosoever does not carry his cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple." We are all called to carry a cross. That doesn’t mean some kind of performance. Arthur Blessitt used to carry a cross everywhere and preach. It was fine. He did a good job. But God is not talking about carrying a wooden cross. He is saying that everyone of us as Christians are going to find that we need to carry a cross. Our cross, whatever it may be, will definitely be an instrument of death, an instrument that we would never choose, but God will help us. We are to not only carry it, but to do so joyfully, as unto the Lord, without whining.
The price of discipleship is high. The Lordship of Jesus is over self, over life, over possessions. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus said, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." We cannot find rest for our souls in Him unless we take His yoke upon us. Most of us aren’t around oxen, and we don’t see a yoke very often anymore. But we know that a yoke is something that is put on so that a load can be carried. We will always need to take His yoke upon us. He says His yoke is easy and His burden is light. It doesn’t say the load is going to be light. But the yoke is light and easy. I discovered that when you are doing what you know God wants you to do, when you take His yoke upon you, you are going to find joy welling up in your heart. You are doing what God wants and you feel good about it. That’s true even if what you are doing is the last thing in the world that you would ever choose on your own. I can almost guarantee you that when you start doing it, you are going to start to enjoy it because you are doing what God wants you to do.
Matthew 21 says, "Whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be broken. Whosoever it shall fall on, it shall grind them to powder." It is one thing to be broken as individuals against the Rock of Salvation, where we willingly take His yoke. It is another thing when we defy God and that Rock is dropped on us. We will be ground to powder. That’s pretty heavy. There is another expression often used that contributes to confusion. "Just accept Jesus Christ and be saved." It’s the appeal that is often made. When you stop and think about it, receiving Jesus Christ is never "just." You can say, "Receive Jesus Christ and be saved," but it is never a matter of "just."
We have the example in Scripture when Jesus was crucified between the malefactors, each of them on a cross. The dying thief, with nothing to offer Christ, except a confession of need and a plea for mercy, received the saving grace of God in Christ. Jesus told him, "This day you will be with me in Paradise." There was no talk about carrying a cross and denying yourself, for obvious reasons. The man was already hanging on a cross, with only minutes or hours to live. How was he going to deny himself any more than he was already being denied? He couldn’t do anything. But we would err if we talked about being saved like the dying thief, with nothing to be said about denial, taking up the cross, following Christ and obeying His commandments.
If you stop and think about it, only a dying man can be saved like the dying thief. That doesn’t mean God has two different ways of saving people, that means that God saves each one of us where we are. For those of us who are saved and still have some living to do, we have to deny ourselves, take His yoke upon us, give Him our life.
Someone might say I’m talking about earning your salvation. Far from it. None of us have enough good in us to earn our salvation, but we are expected as Christians to live in ways that please our Lord. In other words, if Jesus Christ comes into our life it makes a difference. We need to live differently. There needs to be more love in our life. There needs to be more concern for other people. Not only our friends and family, but people we don’t even know – anyone the Lord brings across our path. Is God calling you to a deeper, more significant life with Him? Have you been lacking and holding back in really making that commitment? It will cost you everything. Pick up your cross and follow Christ. You will never regret it!