UNITY CHRIST EVANGELICAL MINISTRY (UCEM)

SALVATION IS FREE

In search of salvation

The Associated Press reported on Friday, February 12, 2010 on the Internet that thousands of Hindu holy men - some naked and smeared with ash - took dips in the chilly waters of the Ganges river.

Throughout the day, nearly 2 million devout Hindus - including large groups of sadhus, or holy men - were expected to bathe in the waters, which they consider sacred.

Thousands of pilgrims began to take dips before dawn on Friday with temperatures falling below 50 degrees (10 degrees Celsius).

Devout Hindus believe that by bathing in the Ganges river would was away their sins and bring them salvation.

Some so-called Christians, throughout most of Christian history, especially in Catholic monasteries and convents, practiced mortification of the flesh as a means of receiving salvation.

The Rev. Michael Geisler, a priest of the Opus Dei Prelature in St. Louis, attempted in two articles to explain the spiritual purpose behind corporal mortification.

He said, "Self-denial helps a person overcome both psychological and physical weakness, gives him energy, helps him grow in virtue and ultimately leads to salvation. It conquers the insidious demons of softness, pessimism and lukewarm faith that dominate the lives of so many today" (Crisis magazine July/August 2005).

Many people have sought through self-torture, self-denial, self-mortification, and sacrifices to earn salvation from God.

Salvation is free

This is one thing many can just not understand. How can salvation be of the greatest value and yet be free? Anything that has some value in our world has a price attached to it.

It is true that there are many valuable materials and products on the internet and in the physical world that marketers offer as free. But are they really free?

For many of them you have to give to the givers, at least, personal information - name, email address, residential address, phone number etc. But you soon realize the ‘free gifts’ are not really so free when you begin to have your email boxes and postal boxes stuffed with junks, and when you begin to receive unsolicited phone and personal calls.

Producers of free ebooks are careful to put within their free ebooks link to sites and sales webpages they want you to visit. There are other information they may include for you in the books that is worth paying a lot more advertisement price for, to get to you, than the price of the free books. Even those nice ‘open-source’ and free software costs you in browsing and download time.

So, people find it strange when you say salvation is the most valuable thing but free.

“You get nothing for nothing in this world, boy!”

That is why we have clergies and religious groups teaching people to do costly things to receive salvation.

Salvation has been bought for you at a great price

Those who insist that salvation is not free are right to a point. Salvation carries the largest price of things that can be paid for. But the fact these religious teachers overlook is that the salvation of man has been fully paid for - on the cross of Calvary – by the Son of the living God, the spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

When Jesus shed his holy blood and died for the sin of man at Calvary, the justice of Heaven was satisfied. God considered the salvation of man fully paid for.

You cannot pay for salvation

It is the ignorance of the fact of Jesus’ redemptive work on Calvary that makes people think they cannot receive salvation from God without paying for it in some ways.

Martin Luther at first belonged to this school of thought. He entered the monastery and made various efforts to earn salvation and work his way to heaven. He ate less and less until a once healthy-looking Luther became gaunt. He regularly applied the lash to his own naked back.

One day, in Rome, he came to a shrine reputed for being especially sacred – a staircase said to be the very one down which Jesus walked in Pilate’s palace in Jerusalem on His way to His crucifixion.

On his knees, Luther ascended the staircase step by step. On each step, he said a prayer. Before he reached the top, a scripture flashed across his mind. He had read this scripture in the monastery in Erfurt and later in Wittenberg.

The scripture is, “The just shall live by his faith.”  Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38.   

“By faith!” thought Luther. If a person could only receive eternal life and salvation by faith, what was he, Martin Luther, doing on this worthless staircase, hoping to earn salvation? What was he doing visiting all the so-called sacred shrines of Rome working for God’s free gift of eternal life?

The fact is, no one can work his way to heaven. Even eternity would not be enough to do so.

No one can pay for salvation. All the money of the world would not be enough to buy the salvation of a single man.

Salvation is so expensive that the only way to get it is to receive it free from its author, the Lord Jesus Christ.

All you need to do is to come to the Lord Jesus Christ in simple faith, with a repentant heart. Tell Him you are a sinner and are sorry for your sins. Ask Him to forgive you your sins and wash you clean in His blood. Ask Him to give you the grace to live for Him in faith, holiness and genuine love for God.

Please read the following related articles:

The precious gifts of eternal life  

http://www.ucevam.com/christian_article_life.html

Jesus Part Two 

http://www.ucevam.com/christian_article_jesus2.html

http://www.ucevam.com/christian_article_jesus2.html

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