Romans 6:23 - The Greatest Gift Ever.
Romans 6:23 (ESV) For the wages of sin is
death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 (AMP) For the wages which sin
pays is death, but the [bountiful] free gift of
God is eternal life through (in union with)
Jesus Christ our Lord.
INTRODUCTION
You are free to choose between two masters,
but you are not free to manipulate the
consequences of your choice. Each of the two masters pays
with his own kind of currency. The currency of
sin is death. That is all you can expect or hope
for in life without God. Christs currency is
eternal life - new life with God that begins on
earth and continues forever with God. What choice
have you made? [Life Application SB]
COMMENTARY PEARL
What Christ Did For Us
Our greatest need is to be reconciled to
God and become part of His family - but one
insurmountable barrier stands in the way, and that is our
sin. Sin separates us from God and brings us
under His judgment, and no matter how hard we try,
we cannot erase our sins by our own efforts. We
are alienated from God and guilty in His holy
eyes.
Only God can take away our sins; He made
this possible by sending His only Son into the
world to die for us. Because He was divine, Jesus
Christ was without sin. But on the cross all our
sins were placed on Him, and by His death He took
upon Himself the judgment and Hell we deserve. He
did for us what we could never do for ourselves,
and now He freely offers us the gifts of
forgiveness and eternal life if we will accept them.
Think of it: God now offers you the free gift of
salvation - free because Jesus Christ has already paid
the price for it.
What a gift we have been given by the
Savior. Will you trust Him today?
Have you ever tried to earn salvation?
[Peace for Each Day by Billy Graham]
COMMENTARY
"The wages of sin is death; but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord." Romans 6:23. While life is the inheritance
of the righteous, death is the portion of the
wicked. Moses declared to Israel: "I have set before
thee this day life and good, and death and evil."
Deuteronomy 30:15. The death referred to in these
scriptures is not that pronounced upon Adam, for all
mankind suffer the penalty of his transgression. It
is "the second death" that is placed in
contrast with everlasting life.
In consequence of Adam's sin, death
passed upon the whole human race. All alike go down
into the grave. And through the provisions of the
plan of salvation, all are to be brought forth
from their graves. "There shall be a resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and unjust;" "for
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all
be made alive." Acts 24:15; I Corinthians
15:22. But a distinction is made between the two
classes that are brought forth. "All that are in the
graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth;
they that have done good, unto the resurrection
of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29. They who have
been "accounted worthy" of the resurrection of
life are "blessed and holy." "On such the second
death hath no power." Revelation 20:6. But those
who have not, through repentance and faith,
secured pardon, must receive the penalty of
transgression--"the wages of sin." They suffer punishment
varying in duration and intensity, "according to
their works," but finally ending in the second
death. Since it is impossible for God, consistently
with His justice and mercy, to save the sinner in
his sins, He deprives him of the existence which
his transgressions have forfeited and of which
he has proved himself unworthy. Says an
inspired writer: "Yet a little while, and the wicked
shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider
his place, and it shall not be." And another
declares: "They shall be as though they had not been."
Psalm 37:10; Obadiah 16. Covered with infamy, they
sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion. GC544,5
In the parable the pearl is not represented
as a gift. The merchantman bought it at the
price of all that he had. Many question the
meaning of this, since Christ is represented in the
Scriptures as a gift. He is a gift, but only to those
who give themselves, soul, body, and spirit, to
Him without reserve. We are to give ourselves to
Christ, to live a life of willing obedience to all
His requirements. All that we are, all the
talents and capabilities we possess, are the Lord's,
to be consecrated to His service. When we thus
give ourselves wholly to Him, Christ, with all
the treasures of heaven, gives Himself to us. We
obtain the pearl of great price. COL116
Facts of Life... and of Death
When my mother reached her late 80's, she
suffered a series of strokes which left her very
confused, mentally. She didn't know who my sisters and
I were. Mother became a shadow of her former
self. I would sit by her and recall happier days
of standing with her in the backyard to watch
the sun go down, or harmonizing with her on her
favorite hymn.
Strange how we expect the parade of life
to go on forever; when it finally runs out of
steam, we feel cheated, as though someone should
have told us it was this short, this hard,
this.., final. But death is supposed to be hard.
Perhaps it's supposed to be a taste of hell. The
wages of our sin is death; could God have in mind
for us to feel - really feel - a little of what
the Savior bore? God may want to remind us of
what sin would have earned us, had it not been
for Christ. I guess the throes of death are our
birth pangs before we enter heaven's bliss. These
are sobering thoughts. But the facts of death
often can be as harsh as facts of life.
When a loved one dies, it should be an
alarm clock, a waving red flag, warning us, 'Wake
up! Examine yourself! Have you made your peace
with God?' When a natural disaster strikes,
killing many, the alarm should sound louder. I can't
say what God has in mind with untimely deaths,
but I can say we are all heading for the grave,
some of us sooner than others. And that should
make us sit up and take notice: what have we done
with Jesus? Will we be ready? Think about this
today. Are you ready? How can you help prepare a
loved one or friend who is facing death?
Almighty God, help me to grasp how brief
our days really are, and give me a sense of
urgency to share the Gospel with friends and loved
ones who do not know Jesus! [Joni Eareckson Tada
Daily Devotional:
http://www.joniandfriends.org/daily-devotional]
CLOSING THOUGHT
We Must Choose to Accept Gods Grace
The Bible says in Romans 6:23, The
wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord (NLT).
You might say that grace is the gift that keeps
on giving. When you get to know Jesus Christ
and his grace and love, it gets better and
better and better. It is available and extended
throughout eternity. The best is yet to come!
Whats heaven going to be like?
Youre going to be reunited with loved ones who
know the Lord. Youre going to be rewarded for
your faith. Youre going to be reassigned a
position of work that you love to do. Youre going
to be released from pain, depression, despair,
shame, and guilt, and youre going to rejoice and
party for eternity. What a deal!
But theres a catch: You have to accept
it.
Imagine going home today and finding a
gift on your table, but leaving it there for the
next year, unopened. That would be ridiculous! A
gift is worthless unless you accept it. You must
accept Gods grace through his Son, Jesus
Christ.
Maybe you have held off because youre
afraid of being rejected. Maybe you were rejected
by your parents. Maybe you were rejected by a
boyfriend or a girlfriend, and that hurt deeply. Or
maybe you were rejected by a brother or sister or
by classmates. Maybe you have been rejected by
a former spouse who walked out on you and said
hurtful things that you still think of today.
But there is one person who will never
reject you, and his name is Jesus Christ. Hes
saying to you, Come home. Have you been
secretly overwhelmed by that shame in your life? You
can get rid of it today. The more you understand
the grace of God, the more you fall in love with
God and the more you want to draw closer to
Jesus - because its almost impossible to not
love somebody who loves you that much. [Daily
Devotional by Rick Warren:
https://pastorrick.com/devotional/]
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
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