By Pastor John Culbertson
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – ROMANS 6:23 (NKJV)
It’s better to receive a gift than wages. When you go to your job, you earn payment for what you’ve worked and the hours that you’ve worked. But a gift is something undeserved.
Romans 6:23 reminds us, the wages of sin – the payment which we deserve because of our sin – is death. But thank God for the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus. It is a gift. It’s not a wage because we received Christ. It’s God’s grace that He is continuously and relentlessly pouring out on us.
You may not like to hear this, but Adolf Hitler had the same grace available to him that we have. If that wasn’t 100% true, God would have to be a respecter of persons, choosing and picking people (“I think they’re doing good…I’ll just throw them a blessing!”) No, grace is available to all of us. Grace is everything for nothing to those who don’t deserve anything.
“Grace is everything for nothing to those who don’t deserve anything.”
Grace is the foundation in which we build our faith from. We must find out what God has given us by grace so that we can use our faith to obtain it. The key verse of our series is Ephesians 2:8; here’s how the Mirror Bible states it:
“Your salvation is not a reward for good behavior! It was a grace thing from start to finish; you had no hand in it. Even the gift to believe simply reflects His faith! Jesus is both the source and conclusion of faith.” – EPHESIANS 2:8 (MIRROR BIBLE)
Jesus started it; He ends it. He gives it to us; He completes it. Within that verse is added the comment, “Grace reveals who we are and the faith of God persuades us of it. Because of what Jesus did on the Cross, everything that Jesus was is available to us, part of our New Identity. Faith persuades us of it.
I had always though that the Apostle Paul started all his letters, “Grace and peace to you…” But I went back and looked at all of Paul’s letters. He says, “grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ…”
Peter, in his writings, said “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” We have to know God; we have to know what He’s provided so that grace and peace can be multiplied (otherwise, we won’t have anything to multiply).
In John 17:3, Jesus said, “This is eternal life, to know Him.” We have to get to know Him and what He’s provided for us.
In the very last verse of the Bible – Revelation 22:21 – John ends it with “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” Don’t forget His grace is with you…
11 ”For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’ 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’ 17 So, then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” – ROMANS 10:11-17 (NKJV)
Once you believe in Jesus, you will not be put to shame. Why? Because He already took on all shame so you can’t…there’s none left to put on.
Then we’re told in verse 12, “There’s no distinction between Jew and Greek.” There’s no distinction between black and white. There’s no distinction between any cultural or ethnicity or anything on earth. For the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him, pouring out to all who call upon Him (all means all); He didn’t make any exclusions. Saved: delivered, set free, etc. (all that the Greek word “sozo” states…it’s all available to you.
Verses 14-15 ask, “How can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him?” They can’t believe if they’ve never heard, and they won’t hear unless someone tells them. That’s why the Bible says that it’s beautiful that people preach the Gospel.
The Mirror Bible says in verse 15, “What gives someone the urgency to declare these things? It is recorded in prophetic Scripture, ‘How lovely on the mountains (where the watchmen were stationed to witness the outcome of a war) are the feet of them leaping with the exciting news of victory. Because of their eyewitness encounter they are qualified to run with the Gospel of peace’…”
(This is because there was a war between God and man throughout the Old Covenant…man was overwhelmingly adversarial toward God. But God, Who’s rich in mercy, declared peace. Remember when angels appeared to shepherds, announcing Jesus’ birth? They said, “Peace on earth, goodwill towards men.” God is no longer at war with Mankind because our savior has come.)
“They are qualified to run with the Gospel of peace and announce the consequent glad tidings of good things that will benefit everyone. (Verse 16) It is hard to imagine that there can yet be a people who struggle to hear and understand the Good News…”
(Why? Because when it’s properly described and properly told, how can anyone reject so great a salvation? Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”) “It is clear (verse 17) then that faith’s source is found in the content of the message heard; the message is Christ…”
We get an understanding of the content of the message: It is Christ, what He did for us, what He accomplished for us, what He bestowed on us and given to us.
A minister, Chuck Swindoll, once said, “To really understand grace, you have to understand it from the original Hebrew.” In the original Hebrew it means “to stoop down or to bend over.” Think about royalty. You may have seen royalty and normally everyone is bowing to them. But because of grace, a king or queen might go to someone – undeserved and unearned – and they walk over and bow to them. They do it out of kindness and goodness.
Now, think about the love and goodness of God, Who sent His Son to die for us so that we can receive everything He has and walk in victory on this earth.
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.” – HEBREWS 4:16 (NKJV)
Let us come boldly to the throne of His unmerited favor. That we may obtain mercy and find benefits, that we may obtain liberality and pleasure in time of need.
We need God’s favor every day. Thankfully, He’s pouring it out every day. It’s relentless. Remember that it’s incessant: continuing without pause or interruption. The relentless grace of God is the expression of His love for us. Grace is love in action.
“Grace is love in action.”
By accepting that grace, we put action to it by using our faith. His grace empowers us to live a victorious life.
To watch or listen to the whole message associated with this blog, click here.
