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The great drawing power of the gospel is grace. "For by grace you have been saved through faith (Eph. 2:8)" and "you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1)" along with many similar passages from the Bible have for two thousand years lifted people from despair into hope. There is also the widespread notion that this grace is free. Perhaps this idea springs from such passages as, "Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life (Rom. 5:18)." Upon first glance it could appear that grace is free. I could conclude, wrongly, that Jesus Christ's sacrifice covers me, and I don't have to do anything or pay any price for it. But we are compelled to look further. Paul's statements above have to be understood in the context of everything he wrote and in the context of the entire Bible. In what sense is grace free? Paul also wrote that we have been "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24)." Grace perhaps is free in the sense that it was freely offered. God was under no compulsion to offer a remedy for our sins, He simply did. We do not have any claim against God that He should offer His Son to suffer abominably in order that our debt to Satan be paid and thereby be freed from bondage to him. It was a free will gesture. Hence, grace is free. But it is not something that comes without a cost, at least an apparent cost. Grace frees us from a despicable slave master into the hands of a benevolent sovereign, but we are not freed to do as we please. We were doing as we pleased when we fell into the hands of the evil slave master. The one who receives God's grace that was freely given, has willingly submitted to being a slave of righteousness. Again, the Apostle Paul wrote, "Having been set free from sin, [we] have become slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:16)." In that God is the source of all goodness and right behavior, we are, therefore, slaves of the Father through Jesus Christ. We may be "sons of God (Rom. 8:12-17)," but we are also slaves. We will no longer live by the "old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (Eph. 4:22), but "put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24.)" If we are to be saved, we become disciples of Jesus Christ. A disciple of Jesus Christ must "deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow [Him] (Mk. 8:34)." Jesus asks everything of us. Nothing can be withheld for our own pleasure or purpose. Hence, grace costs us everything. But, if we fail to become Jesus's disciple, if we are not in Christ when He comes again, we miss God's grace and are lost. If that is the case, out of Christ means our lives are worthless. Hence, we exchange a worthless life for an abundant one in Christ. Grace demands everything of us which, if not given, is worthless. It demands everything of us but costs us nothing.