DALE RATZLAFF | Pastor and Founder, Life Assurance Ministries (1936–2024)
We at Life Assurance Ministries often refer to the simple gospel of God’s grace in Christ in our communication with others. Some read this as “cheap grace”, lawless behavior and disregard for holy living. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sometimes it is helpful to reduce complex numbers to their prime numbers. Or, to change the metaphor, find the lowest common denominator. Like numbers, other realities can also be reduced to their common denominators. One theologian said that theology can be reduced to “grace” and ethics to “gratitude”. I believe he is right.
Grace:
Salvation is God’s gift received by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Carolyn and I read a chapter of the Bible together each morning. We just finished Galatians and are now in Ephesians. Wow, what powerful books when read in context. I would like to share with you just a few texts on God’s grace.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:4-9).
A dead person cannot do much on his own behalf. Thus Paul uses this figure to show that God’s Grace is sovereign. Salvation is a “gift” of God. A dead person does not work— much less do any “good work”!
We could describe the same work of salvation as justification by faith. We are declared righteous, not on the basis of any work of ours—even saving faith is a gift. The righteousness that abides in the person of Christ is our only claim to righteousness. Yes, and it is this perfect righteousness that is imputed to us freely by God’s grace.
Grace, however, is never given as an isolated entity. Included with grace is the Holy Spirit that is in Christ—but not in Christ only—it is also freely given to us who believe.
Gratitude:
“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” Eph. 1:13-14
Grace was given to us when we were “dead” in sin. Then God made us alive and “raised us up with Him” and sealed us with the Holy Spirit. There is no other “seal” mentioned in the teachings sections of the New Testament other than the Holy Spirit. Note that the Holy Spirit is given as a pledge, guarantee, or down payment of our eternal inheritance in Christ. The presence of the Holy Spirit is the evidence to us that God has given us His sovereign, saving grace.
Paul always follows the same order in His presentation of the simple gospel of God’s grace: First, he shows that we are saved solely by God’s grace in Christ by faith alone without any works from us. Then he always follows up with an encouragement to live like the kind of people God has ALREADY declared us to be. Here, now, there are three major players—yet all spring from God’s grace and gift of the Holy Spirit.
First, the Holy Spirit is given to us to empower us to live the Christ-like life. Note the power and scope of the following texts:
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,” Eph. 3:20
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Gal. 5:22-23
Second, the Holy Spirit is given to motivate us to live the Christ-like life. When we realize that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee or seal of our inheritance in Christ, it motivates us to live in an attitude of gratitude. No longer are we seeking to live the Christ-like life in order to be saved. Rather, we are motivated to live the Christ-like life because we have already been saved by God’s grace. It is the realization of what we have ALREADY been given that motivates us to be what God wants us to be!
Picture yourself winning a $300,000,000 jackpot. You receive twenty thousand dollars as the first installment as proof that you are indeed the winner. Now you know that the full amount is yours waiting to be given at the specified time. Similarly, gratitude is the result of God’s sovereign grace ALREADY received as it is interpreted to us by the Holy Spirit.
Third, there is human choice involved in how we live “in God’s grace”. Thus we find the many admonitions of Paul in the latter part of his epistles:
“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Gal. 5:13
“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Gal. 5:25
“Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” Gal. 6:2
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” Eph. 4:30-32
The divine order in salvation is so important. If one tries to live the Christ-like life in order to be saved there is no assurance. One never knows when he is good enough! Have I kept the Sabbath well enough? (I know of no Christian who has even tried to keep all the Biblical Sabbath laws.) Have I given enough to the church? Have I been loving enough? Have I read my Bible enough? Have I left enough time between meals (assuming that one accepts the instruction that “it is a sin to eat between meals”)? Have I spent enough time in prayer? You see the list never stops, and real assurance never comes. Any gratitude is always mixed with anxiety and is at best “iffy.”
Rather, the simple gospel is just this: We are saved by God’s sovereign grace in Christ. We were declared perfectly righteous in Christ when we placed our faith in Him. When we believe we receive the Holy Spirit who empowers us with gratitude to live the Christ-like life because we have already been saved and sealed and given the guarantee of our eternal inheritance. Let us live like the kind of people God has ALREADY declared us to be. †
Republished from Proclamation!, July/August, 2006.
- Christ Follower: You Are Righteous - June 12, 2025
- 14. Sabbath in the Epistles - June 12, 2025
- 13. Sabbath In Acts - June 5, 2025