{"id":7391,"date":"2026-11-10T09:36:23","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T09:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=7391"},"modified":"2026-11-10T09:36:38","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T09:36:38","slug":"7391","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=7391","title":{"rendered":"NOTHING TO PAY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>NOTHING TO PAY<br><\/strong><br><strong>Luke 7:42&nbsp;And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The gospel of God\u2019s free grace by Jesus Christ is indeed good news. But like those debtors the Lord spoke of, it is only good news to those who have nothing to pay. As long as a person believes that the salvation of their souls is an easy thing, something they can do for themselves, they will never feel their need of mercy. How sad it is to be told that the grace of God that brings salvation is no more than making a decision, or repeating the sinner\u2019s prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In answer to the question; \u201cWho can be saved?\u201d the Lord Jesus Christ answered that \u201cWith men it is impossible.\u201d An old hymn asked the question: \u201cWhat comfort can the Savior bring to those who\u2019ve never felt their woe?\u201d And most preaching today does nothing to make men see their need of grace. They\u2019re told again and again that salvation is as \u201ceasy as ABC.\u201d There is nothing in such a message to make anyone concerned or to feel their helpless case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Thank God for that gospel that strips sinners, brings them down, and makes them debtors and beggars before God. Until I\u2019m convinced that I have nothing to pay, I\u2019ll never cry, \u201cGod be merciful to me the sinner.\u201d But when we\u2019re made to beg for mercy, then Jesus Christ freely forgives us of all our sins! Thank God when we\u2019re made to feel that we have nothing to pay.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Larry Criss<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NOTHING TO PAYLuke 7:42&nbsp;And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? The gospel of God\u2019s free grace by Jesus Christ is indeed good news. But like those debtors the Lord spoke of, it is only good news to those who have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-larry-criss","category-false-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7391"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7393,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7391\/revisions\/7393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}