Posted on 10/21/2024 12:02:57 AM PDT by metmom
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Christ paid a debt He did not owe to free us from a debt we could not pay.
In the scientific realm there are universal laws, such as the law of gravity. These laws are built into the creation by its all-wise Creator and keep it functioning normally.
Just as God has made inexorable laws to govern the physical dimension, so also has He decreed universal spiritual principles. The most significant of those spiritual laws is that sin demands death; death is the wages sin pays. The Greek word translated “wages” was commonly used to speak of giving compensation for service rendered. When God sentences sinners to Hell, He is merely giving them the compensation that they have earned and that His justice demands.
In sharp contrast to the inexorable law of sin and death is the gracious “free gift of God”—“eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Eternal life is not a wage but a gift, and hence it can’t be earned. Good works, church attendance, or religious rituals will not entitle anyone to it. After recounting his religious credentials—credentials unsurpassed in first-century Judaism (Gal. 1:14)—Paul dismissed them as “loss for the sake of Christ” (Phil. 3:7).
The free gift of eternal life comes only through “Christ Jesus our Lord.” In Acts 4:12 Peter declared that “there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” And in John 14:6 Jesus said simply, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15)!
Suggestions for Prayer
Have you lost touch with the reality that “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Rom. 8:2)? If so, spend some time in prayer today, thanking God for giving you eternal life.
For Further Study
What do the following passages teach about the possibility of earning eternal life: Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16; 3:11; Philippians 3:9; Titus 3:5?
From Strength for Today by John MacArthur Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.
Studying God’s Word ping
And with the time that we are living in, the run up to God judging the inhabitants of this earth, salvation is for today.
Now is the time to accept the free gift that Jesus has given us by believing that he died to take our penalty and condemnation for our sin on himself and satisfied God the Fathers justice, so now God can have mercy and give us grace and forgiveness through what his son has done for us.
It is a gift, freely given to ANYONE who asks.
The gift does you no good if you don’t accept it, and by not accepting the gift of forgiveness you remain under judgment and condemnation to eternal death and separation from Life, Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life, NO ONE comes to the Father, except through Him.
For God so loved the world (you) that He gave his only son, so that whoever (you) believes on Him would not die, but have eternal life. God did not send his son into the world (for you) to condemn the world (you), but that the world (you), through him, might be saved.
AMEN!!!
Even for those who do not believe that we are living in the end times, it behooves everyone to not delay because nobody knows when their last day on earth is going to be.
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