Village Christian Fellowship

In the 1800's British Pastor J.C. Ryle described "What it costs to be a true Christian" as follows:

Let there be no mistake about my meaning. I am not examining what it costs to save a Christian's soul. I know well that it costs nothing less than the blood of the Son of God to provide atonement, and to redeem man from hell. the price paid for our redemption was nothing less thant the death of Jesus Christ on Calvary....

The Point I want to consider is the amount of sacrifice a man must submit to if he intends to serve Christ. It is in this sense that I raise the question, "What does it cost?" And I believe firmly that it si a most important one.

I grant freely that it costs little to be a mere outward Christian. A man has only got to attend a place of worship twice on Sunday, and be tolerably moral during the week, and he has gone as far as thousands around him ever go - All this is cheap and easy work; it entails no self-denial or self-sacrifice. If this is saving Christianity, and will take us to heaven when we die, we must alter the description of the way of life, and write, 'Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to heaven!'

But it does cost something to be a real Christian, according to the standard of the Bible. There are enemies to be overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to be made, and Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to be carried, a race to be run. Conversion is not putting a man in an armchair and taking him easily to heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict, in which it costs much to win the victory. Hense arised the unspeakable importance of 'counting the cost'.