Heaven ain't free

[Eucharisted]

Once saved always saved and the belief that salvation rests in faith alone make salvation seem cheap, and God’s gifts aren’t cheap. Heaven isn’t free. It takes hard work to make it to Paradise. Think of in the garden of Eden, where man lived. It was paradise, but man had to toil. He had to work in the garden. God didn’t just give it him and said, “Have fun!” No, He made man work for his happiness. Work is good. God Himself worked when He created creation. His work was nothing, for He is God, and our work is nothing, when we work with God. That is why God told man, after he fell, that his work would be hard. He had rejected God. So his work would be tough. But we have the Grace of Jesus Christ. We can work with God. We can work for Heaven. Heaven ain’t cheap.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Once saved always saved and the belief that salvation rests in faith alone make salvation seem cheap, and God’s gifts aren’t cheap. Heaven isn’t free. It takes hard work to make it to Paradise. Think of in the garden of Eden, where man lived. It was paradise, but man had to toil. He had to work in the garden. God didn’t just give it him and said, “Have fun!” No, He made man work for his happiness. Work is good. God Himself worked when He created creation. His work was nothing, for He is God, and our work is nothing, when we work with God. That is why God told man, after he fell, that his work would be hard. He had rejected God. So his work would be tough. But we have the Grace of Jesus Christ. We can work with God. We can work for Heaven. Heaven ain’t cheap.

Yes it is. Entirely. To us, that is. It is free to us, because the price has been paid, in full, for all time, by God Incarnate, by His Infinitely meritorious Death upon the Cross. Our salvation cost God everything - it means giving up His own Son, the Son Whom He loved before the foundation of the world, the Son Who is the Heir of the ages, the Son Who is infinitely pleasing to Him. And the Father gave up His own Son, not the for the righteous, but for His enemies, so as to adopt them as His sons & daughters; not because they are worthy of this, but because they are not at all worthy of it, because they deserve condemnation for their sins, & not mercy.​

What could God do for sinners - us included - that He has not done ? If Heaven is not free, He is not a God of Grace; for grace is free; it is God’s free favour. So there is no more price to pay. The “gospel of salvation by meritorious works” makes grace a mere empty word. It’s just another way whereby our innate self-righteousness & longing for self-justidfication tries to use even the Good News as a means of asserting itself; of doing anything in heaven or or earth or hell but trust in & rest on the perfect, finished, all-sufficient, all-gracious, atoning, final work of Christ. There is no second Christ, no sacrifie that we can bring to complete the work of the first Christ, Who is the only Christ: His salvation is the only salvation there is. So we are boxed in: either we accept the only salvation on offer; or we don’t accept salvation at all.

Faith is by its very nature alone - it is not accompanied by good works, at all. Before we are Christ’s, we can do no works that are not bad; to deny this,is to say that those who do npot belong to Christ at all, who are not justified by His grace, produce the same works as His servants. It means that grace is not required for salvation or justification. It means that man is the author & cause of his salvation - that God is needless. Faith is alone, because grace is alone. If faith within us by the free grace alone of God be not the root and foundation of the whole of our salvation-life that is in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, then we are, again, not saved by grace, & St. Paul was a blunderer who wrote nonsense in saying otherwise.

 

[O.S.Luke]

It would perhaps be more accurate to say that it is free, but it isn’t cheap - it came at a great cost.

 

[Janet1983]

Of course heaven isn’t free. However if we were all to be judged according to our sins we would never see it.
We cannot earn our way into heaven! We cannot undo our sins by doing good works. Once we commit a single sin our fate is directed towards an eternal hell.
No, heaven isn’t free. Jesus paid the price and because of His sacrifice heaven can be a free gift to us. He paid the price.

James 2:10
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

 

[Eucharisted]

Yes it is. Entirely. To us, that is. It is free to us, because the price has been paid, in full, for all time, by God Incarnate, by His Infinitely meritorious Death upon the Cross. Our salvation cost God everything - it means giving up His own Son, the Son Whom He loved before the foundation of the world, the Son Who is the Heir of the ages, the Son Who is infinitely pleasing to Him. And the Father gave up His own Son, not the for the righteous, but for His enemies, so as to adopt them as His sons & daughters; not because they are worthy of this, but because they are not at all worthy of it, because they deserve condemnation for their sins, & not mercy.​

What could God do for sinners - us included - that He has not done ? If Heaven is not free, He is not a God of Grace; for grace is free; it is God’s free favour. So there is no more price to pay. The “gospel of salvation by meritorious works” makes grace a mere empty word. It’s just another way whereby our innate self-righteousness & longing for self-justidfication tries to use even the Good News as a means of asserting itself; of doing anything in heaven or or earth or hell but trust in & rest on the perfect, finished, all-sufficient, all-gracious, atoning, final work of Christ. There is no second Christ, no sacrifie that we can bring to complete the work of the first Christ, Who is the only Christ: His salvation is the only salvation there is. So we are boxed in: either we accept the only salvation on offer; or we don’t accept salvation at all.

Faith is by its very nature alone - it is not accompanied by good works, at all. Before we are Christ’s, we can do no works that are not bad; to deny this,is to say that those who do npot belong to Christ at all, who are not justified by His grace, produce the same works as His servants. It means that grace is not required for salvation or justification. It means that man is the author & cause of his salvation - that God is needless. Faith is alone, because grace is alone. If faith within us by the free grace alone of God be not the root and foundation of the whole of our salvation-life that is in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, then we are, again, not saved by grace

We are saved not by works along but by works and faith. Our good works are nothing more than love. Our faith is nothing more than acknowleding the truth. Love and truth is the path of Heaven. Jesus said it Himself: I am the Way, the Life, and the Truth. He is God Incarnate and God is love and truth. The Scriptures tell us this. By His sorrowful Death, Jesus not only defeated evil but won for us every grace, every gift of God’s Mercy, for in His Mercy God gives us all good things, as we deserve nothing but Hell for our sins. Now the two greatest gifts which Jesus won for us are salvation and love, the former being what we hope for and the latter being what our lives are, for as He said, “Love one another as I love you.” Now the Way of God is salvation; He commands nothing unless it helps to save us. So love is the word and the way that summarizes the means of our salvation. Think of every means of serving God and treating others as you wish to be treated, and you will see you do it out love. So by living in God - who is love - we walk on the road to Heaven, and indeed, are already in Heaven, for the Lord is our Joy and our Peace! Faith is necessary, too, though for man cannot serve what he dose not know. So he must acknowledge God and heed His Commandments and trust in Him. That is the life of faith, that is what faith, living faith, true faith is. Now love and truth go hand in hand, and so, works and faith also go hand in hand.

& St. Paul was a blunderer who wrote nonsense in saying otherwise.

God is not a blunderer and it is He who authored the Scriptures, not man.