THE PENALTY FOR SIN AND THE GIFT OF GOD

Proclamation:

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  Romans 6:23 (KJV)

Explanation:

These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by the Apostle Paul to the believers in Rome.  Paul wanted them to know that death is the punishment for sin.  However, believers in Jesus, The Christ, will receive the God given gift of eternal life. 

Application:

We all have sinned. (Romans 3:23)  None of us is righteous. (Romans 3:10)  We all deserve the penalty of death for our sins.  Death is both physical and spiritual.  The physical death is the separation of the body and the soul.  Man is just the dust of the earth into which God breathed the breath of life and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)  Without the God given breath of life the body dies and the soul returns to God.  The spiritual death is the eternal separation from Jesus, The Christ.  This "second death" occurs when the soul is cast into the "lake of fire" for eternal damnation and torment.  The only way to escape the second death is by belief in Christ and the acceptance of the gift of eternal life. (John 3:16)  We cannot pay the debt that we owe for our sins.  However, Jesus has already paid the debt for us with His death on Calvary and He has given us the opportunity for eternal life with Him, if we believe in Him.  At some point in time we will all die.  The question is, after death, where will your soul spend eternity?

Our Spirit Will Live Forever

"Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her.  'Stop wailing,' Jesus said. 'She is not dead but asleep.' "  Luke 8:52 (NIV)

Luke, the physician and traveling companion of the Apostle Paul, recorded these words which Jesus spoke to the crowd that was mourning the death of the twelve year old daughter of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue.  He said, stop crying, she is not dead, she is asleep.  Jesus touched her hand and called to her, and her spirit returned to her, and she got up. (Luke 8:54-55)

We were created to live forever, our spirit will never die.  Once our spirit leaves our physical body, the body dies and the spirit returns to The Lord God who created it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7, 2 Corinthians 5:6 and 5:8)  So we can find some comfort in knowing that our loved ones who have died are just asleep, and they will rise again.  On that great day, when The Lord God Himself shall return, the dead in Christ will rise first. (1 Thessalonians 4:16)  Then we will all meet up with Him in the air. (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18)  We will see our loved ones again.

Things Are Not Always As We Expect Them To Be

"I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.  Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come..."  Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 (NIV)

Solomon, said that good outcomes cannot be guaranteed by being swift, strong, wise, brilliant, or learned.  Time catches up with all men, and no man knows the day or the hour when his time will end.

Being a believer in Jesus Christ does not guarantee that one will experience only good things in life.  Time will bring to us unforeseen circumstances even when we thought that we were prepared.  Every man that is born of woman will live only a few days and those days will be full of trouble." (Job 14:1)  Believers will suffer and will not always experience the good of life. (Philippians 1:29 & 1 Peter 1:6)  Unless we are alive at the time of the rapture, we will experience physical death (Hebrews 9:27), and no man knows when he is going to die. (Ecclesiastes 8:7 & 9:12)  However, it will be granted to the believers to enjoy everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Aim To Please God In All That You Do

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for The Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from The Lord as a reward. It is The Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism." Colossians 3:23-25 (NIV)

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom ... The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: " Ecclesiastes 9:10-12 (NIV)

These two passages of scripture basically make the same point. As King Solomon wrote to all who would listen and the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Colossae, when you work, "... do it with all your might ..." and "... work at it with all your heart ..." as if you are working for The Lord.

Everyone who is old enough to have even a vague understanding of life knows that they will die, they just don't know when it will happen. There is a purpose for our life, and a purpose for everything that we say and do. However, if that purpose was not to give God glory, then it was a wasted effort. We should do our best at everything that we do, because ultimately we are doing it to please God. Man's abilities do not guarantee good results or a positive outcome during life, or at life's end. In the end, God will judge our efforts, and the reward for our labor will come from God, not from man.

Always Do Your Best

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom." Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NIV)

After a lengthy discussion about the vanities of life, Solomon, the son of David, teaches about the unpredictability of life and the certainty of death. In the preceding verses, he states that the blessings of this life are to be appreciated, enjoyed, and shared. God's good gifts of human relationships, food, drink, and satisfying labor are to be received humbly and enjoyed fully (but not to excess) as blessings from God. Do your best, at every task, while you can, and while you can appreciate the satisfaction that comes from satisfying labor, from doing a good job.

We should always do our best at whatever it is that we do. If anything is worth doing, then it is worth doing right, and doing it to the best of our ability. We should do all that we do as if we were doing it for The Lord. Soon our opportunity to do anything will have passed.

The Penalty Of Sin And The Gift Of God

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23

Because we all have sinned, we all deserve the penalty of death. And not just the physical death, but separation from Jesus The Christ. We cannot pay the debt that we owe for our sins. However, Jesus has already paid the debt for us and has given us the opportunity for eternal life with Him, if we believe in him.

Death is both physical and spiritual. The physical death is the separation of the body and the spirit. Spiritual death is the "second death" when the soul is cast into the "lake of fire" for eternal damnation and torment. The only way to escape the second death is acceptance of the gift of eternal life.