The ad reads: "Free! Free! Free!" We are sure that the advertised item is free. We get a coupon in the newspaper for a "free" jar of Coffin Brothers chest rub and we assume that it costs nobody to give it to us. It doesn't cost us. It doesn't cost the newspaper publisher. It doesn't cost the pharmacist. It must be free.
But here is "the rub." There are ingredients in that chest rub for which somebody, somewhere has to pay. The manufacturer purchased those ingredients and pays for them out of profits from the chest rub that he sells, or from other products in his line. The buyer, the end user, pays for the "free" sample. Somebody has to pay.
The Bible teaches in Ephesians 2:8, 9 that salvation is the free gift of God. Speaking of Christ God says, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12). To us, salvation from sin is absolutely free. It costs us nothing. It is ours for the accepting.
But if there is no free lunch, who paid for this free salvation? God did and Christ did. God gave His Son to die upon the cross to pay for our sin debt that we could be forgiven. God's Son gave His life upon that cross and our judgment was meted out upon Him that we might go free. Someone paid for what is free to us. And what a price it was! It was a price sufficient to redeem every sinner upon the face of the earth, including you, throughout all generations, including this one. Thanks be unto God for such a payment!
My final hope in this article is that no one would think that what is free is cheap. God counted your sinful life to be worth the price to save it. Christ's sacrifice is worth more than anything in all the world. I know this because God said, "For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul" (Mark 8:36)? What would you give in exchange for your soul? Consider its value, the redemptive price Christ paid for it, and receive Christ as your personal Savior. If you do so, God will give you everlasting life absolutely free!