The Gift of God

Ephesians 2:1-8 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this (secular) world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Satan), the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Have you or I ever stolen anything? If so, then that would make us a thief and we have broken the eighth Commandment of God. Have you or I ever told a lie? If so, then that would make us a liar and we have broken the ninth of the Ten Commandments. Jesus said in Matthew 5 that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has committed adultery with her in his heart. Have we ever broken Commandment # 7? To hate your brother is to commit murder in your heart, so have you or I broken Commandment # 6? To love anything or anyone more than God is idolatry and there goes Commandments 1-3. It’s easy to see how Romans 3:23 can rightly state “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” & Isaiah 53:6 “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.” We are all created by God and He (not us) sets the standards and laws that govern morality and our life, whether we agree or not. Though the world system that rebels against and rejects God disagrees, the fact that the creation is subject to the Creator still exists. Proverbs 29:27 “An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, And he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.” I may not like a law, and pretend that it doesn’t exist, but get caught breaking that law and there are real consequences. I could tell the judge that I do way more good things than bad, but am I innocent?

The Bible (The Word of God to us) tells us that sin is anything (in thought, word or deed) that doesn’t please God or is a transgression of His law. Sin literally means “to miss the mark” – God’s mark of what is “right” in His eyes, but when we are missing God’s mark, we are hitting a different mark – Sin. And there are eternal consequences that most of us haven’t thought about. Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is death” (Spiritual death). Sinners don’t get into Heaven. 1 John 3:4-10 tells us “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” But God didn’t create us for Hell, but Heaven! If I broke a law, was caught and found guilty in court, and the judge just let me go without any penalty or consequences prescribed by law for my “wrong”, then that judge would be considered “unjust” and not doing their job. It would be the same for God not to punish our sins. God is “just” & “holy”, so must punish sin. Justice must be preserved. But God is love. He is full or mercy & grace, and doesn’t desire to punish us. So He made a way – “The Way”.

2Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” God the Father sent God the Son, becoming man, to die on the cross and rose from the dead to pay the penalty for our sins and to purchase a place in heaven for us. That’s what John3:16 means when it says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus Christ paid a fine that He didn’t owe, because we owed a fine that we couldn’t pay. Christ bore our sin in His body on the cross. We did not earn salvation or deserve it. Romans 6:23 tell us: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We receive the gift of God by faith. Saving faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ is what will open the door to heaven. Saving faith is not mere intellectual assent, because even the devil and demons believe in God and are not saved (James 2:19/Matthew 8:29). It is not mere temporal faith either. We trust God for His providence and protection in our life and it is right that we should trust the Lord for all things in our life, but all those elements of living are temporary matters. Saving faith is trusting Jesus Christ alone for our salvation – to save us eternally. To receive eternal life, we must transfer our trust from ourselves trying to earn our way to Jesus Christ alone. God is not waiting for us to perform. He’s waiting for us to respond. No longer are we trusting in what we have done; rather, we trust in what He has done for us. All other religions say “do” (earn your way by good deeds), but Christianity says “done” – your way is paid in full by Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, your Savior, and your Lord. That’s why we celebrate Christmas and Easter!

We are in the family of God, if we accept the “free” gift of eternal life in Christ. We are “born again”, born anew, born of the Spirit of God, and born from above, born of God. Change you can believe in! Praise be to God!

1 John 3:5-6 & 9 “But you know that He (Jesus) appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God."

Grace & Mercy, Brian