How Grace Became Cheap

Grace becomes “cheap” when we fail to appreciate its breadth and depth:

It is because man has an inadequate conception of sin that he has an inadequate conception of the grace of God. If you want to measure grace you must measure the depths of sin. Grace is that which tells man that in spite of all that is so true of him God looks upon him with favour. It is utterly unmerited, it is entirely undeserved; but this is the message of ‘Grace be unto you.’ It is an unmerited and undeserved action by God, a condescending love. When man in sin deserved nothing but to be blotted out of existence God looked on him in grace and mercy and dealt with him accordingly.”

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, God’s Ultimate Purpose: An Exposition of Ephesians 1 (Edinburgh; Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1978), 40–41.