IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

No Cheap Grace

Date: Sep. 14, 2025

Passage

1 Chronicles 21:18-22:1 (ESV)

18 Now the angel of the LORD had commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19 So David went up at Gad’s word, which he had spoken in the name of the LORD. 20 Now Ornan was threshing wheat. He turned and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. 21 As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went out from the threshing floor and paid homage to David with his face to the ground. 22 And David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of the threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the LORD—give it to me at its full price—that the plague may be averted from the people.” 23 Then Ornan said to David, “Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. See, I give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for a grain offering; I give it all.” 24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” 25 So David paid Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the site. 26 And David built there an altar to the LORD and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. 27 Then the LORD commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.

28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 29 For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place at Gibeon, 30 but David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the LORD God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

Daily Bread

Key Verse: 21:21:24

As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went out from the threshing floor and paid homage to David with his face to the ground.

After his repentance, David was told by the angel of the Lord to build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah (or Ornan) the Jebusite (19), who would have been happy to offer him his property free of charge (23). But David insisted on paying the full price, saying, “I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing” (24).

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian and pastor, defined cheap grace as the idea that people can receive the benefits of Christianity without the cost. We can see that David refused to receive the benefits of forgiveness of sin without the cost. It is true that we are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8). But proponents of cheap grace deny, maybe not in words but in practice, that the grace of salvation should accompany discipleship and taking up the cross as well (Lk 14:27).

David paid the full price for the site and built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. And he called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven (25-26a). Later, this site would become the place where Solomon built the temple of the Lord (22:1).

Prayer: Father, thank you for sacrificing your one and only Son for my salvation. I accept this unfathomable grace by faith and receive your call to discipleship. Amen.

One Word: Jesus is my Savior and my Lord

Daily Bread

Detailed Plans for the Temple

1 Chronicles 28:11-21

Key Verse: 28:20

Then David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the LORD God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.

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