For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 ESV
If you read yesterday’s blog, you may notice that the Scripture passage is the same as yesterday. Yesterday, we spoke about the wonderful gift of eternal salvation that God provided when He gave His Son to die on the cross for our sins. Romans 5:8 tells us that God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
Today, however, I want to discuss the flip side of this passage. Look carefully at the beginning. It says, “The wages of sin is death…” It doesn’t say God will give us a pass to sin. It says the wages of sin is death. The only way to avoid this is to accept the free gift of salvation that God offers.
Now if God calls us to salvation and we accept Christ as our Savior, we no longer want to sin. It’s that simple. There are many false salvations. And by this, I mean, people often get “saved” due to an emotional response to something. Maybe your friends were getting saved, or you felt that you were at the right age to be saved. Maybe you were moved to a public profession of faith at a revival or a church camp.
So, you may ask yourself how to know if your salvation is real. Well, one good test is you don’t want to sin. And when you do sin, you feel convicted. Our pastor often says our “wanter” changes. We no longer want to sin. He also encourages us to ask ourselves if we are continuing in our sin, then what were we saved from?
God doesn’t give us a free pass to sin. He doesn’t overlook your sin because you grew up in an abusive home. He doesn’t overlook your sin because someone betrayed you. He doesn’t overlook your sin because you experienced some tragedy in your life. In fact, He will help you to overcome these things if you will trust in Him.
It is critical for us to understand our sin is serious business. It may look good and feel good at the time, but God doesn’t overlook it. The price we pay for sin is eternal damnation. We are told in Hebrews 10:26-27 that if we go on sinning deliberately after knowing the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for our sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.
It goes on to say in vv. 28-29 if anyone disregards Moses’ law, he dies without mercy, based on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, regarded as profane the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
We are all going to be judged for our sin. If you are reading this, know it’s not too late. You can bow down before God and repent of your sin. You can confess your sin to Him. He is faithful to forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). It’s very important that you understand the difference between forgiveness and acceptance.
God will never accept your sin. He will forgive you if you earnestly repent. When we earnestly repent, we confess our sins. We ask God for forgiveness, and we also ask Him to give us the strength to stop sinning.
No matter the sin, you need to know these things. God will never honor it. He will never be okay with it. He will never simply overlook it. You will be judged for it and the judgment will be severe.
Draw near to God (James 4:8). Trust in Him. Surrender your life and your sin over to Him. Lay it all at his feet. He is faithful to forgive you. He will cleanse you. Let go of your sin and run to Him. Cling to Him today.
Have a great day!