I have heard many times that we have to do good and repay God's grace. These are common sayings in the church today. But I have to ask where in the Bible is there a verse that says that we have to repay God's grace? This word is too contradictory. If there is repayment, there is no grace. And if there is grace, there is no need of repayment. Thank the Lord that in the whole New Testament we are never told to repay anything. It is true that we Christians ought to have good works. But why should we have good works? Why do we have to suffer for the Lord? Why do we have to bear the shame? Why do we serve the Lord? As the Lord has dealt with us in love, so we deal with the Lord in love; but there is no thought of a trade here. It is not that God gives me so much and I give back so much in return. Because He has loved me, I cannot help but love Him; because He loved me, He was crucified for me; and because I love Him, for Him I bear the cross willingly. What He has given me has been given freely, and what I am giving Him is also given freely. The difficulty lies in man's legal mind. In everything he has the thought of bargain and law. Even the matter of salvation is seen from a bargaining perspective. Today if we work, serve the Lord, suffer reproach, or bear the cross, it is not because we want to pay back His grace—it is because we love Him. The love with which He has loved us has taken hold of us, captured our hearts, and constrained us to serve Him.

If you speak of repayment, you are ignorant of the value of the grace you have received. If you borrow ten dollars from a friend today, you will want to repay him. If you borrow a hundred dollars, you will want to repay him as well. If you borrow a thousand dollars, or even ten thousand dollars, you might still want to repay him. But if you borrow a million dollars, you may not have the thought of repaying him. And if you borrow ten million dollars or a hundred million dollars from him, you cannot imagine repaying him. If you are going to borrow a trillion dollars from him, you do not even know how to think about repayment anymore, for repayment has become impossible. If you want to repay God today, it simply means that you do not know how much God has given you. You do not know the depth, length, height, and breadth of God's grace to you. If you realized just a little of the length, breadth, height, and depth of the grace that you have received, you would quiet down and give up the idea of repayment. You would owe the Lord willingly, saying, "I am a willing debtor forever." The grace that He has given us is too great. Even if we want to repay, there is no possibility to do so.

My friends, if you owe someone a hundred million dollars, would you have the audacity to buy him a ten-cent cookie and call it your "little token of appreciation"? Can this be even a "little token"? Our God has done so much for us. Dare we say that we are giving Him "a little token" as repayment? No! We can only say that God has freely given us so much. I am happy to be an eternal debtor. God has loved us with an eternal love. There is no limit to the length, breadth, height, and depth of His love to us. Are we going to repay God with a "ten-cent cookie"? We can only say that we accept His love willingly. I hate to hear men talk about repaying! I hate the thought of the law! I only wish that God's children would see that as God is grace to us, we may be grace to Him. As God has dealt with us generously, let us deal with God generously.

Hallelujah! There is no question of wrongdoings, achievements, or responsibilities. Salvation is nothing other than God for me. It is not I for God. Grace is what God has done for me. It is not what I have done for God. Please remember the peace and joy of a sinner and the peace and joy of a Christian do not lie in how much they love the Lord, but in how much the Lord loves them. Our peace and joy do not lie in how much we have done for the Lord, but in how much the Lord has done for us. We are not resting daily on what we have, but on what God is. We must be delivered from ourselves. We must see God in the light of the gospel. We have to see that we are resting on what God is and what He has. We are resting on the grace and mercy of God. If we see this, we will not fail or be sorrowful. If we rest on ourselves, considering that we are quite good and that we love the Lord quite much, we will be like drifting sand; we will not be able to build a house on it. We cannot find any peace and joy in ourselves. We can only find them in the Lord, in God.

It is wonderful to realize that while we live on this earth, God is for us. Do you remember the words of Romans 8:31? "If God is for us, who can be against us?" I do not believe there is a better word for us than this. When I come to break bread on the Lord's Day, I do not ask myself whether or not I have behaved properly for the last few days. Rather, I ask if the Lord has loved me the last few days. Perhaps your condition for the last few days has been very poor. Perhaps you have been very cold in your emotions for the last few days. But you only need to ask if the Lord still loves you. If the Lord does not love you anymore, you can withhold your praise. But if the Lord still loves you, you have to praise Him. Have you noticed how the disciples were with the Lord for three and a half years and yet were so foolish in the end as to argue about who was greater among them? Yet the Bible says that the Lord, having loved His own, loved them to the uttermost (John 13:1). Thank the Lord that everything depends on Him. If it were up to your love, if you had to trust in yourself, it would be like putting a candle in a boat, launching the boat to sea, and sailing it in stormy weather. You can imagine how shaky that would be. Thank God that everything is grace. Everything depends on Him. May God grant us to truly know the characteristics of the grace of the Lord Jesus.