By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
I’ve had a few times in restaurants where someone bought my dinner without me even knowing. I’d prepare to pay and discover that someone paid my check.
Do you know how many times I’ve sat down and mailed a check to that person thanking them for the thought but paying them back? You’re right: not once!
Most gifts we are given, we receive with gratitude for having someone who thinks enough of us to bless us and with an element of humility for knowing that we didn’t do anything to earn it.
A gift isn’t a payment. Your paycheck at the end of the week is not a gift. You earned it. A gift is something we didn’t earn. It should be a no-strings gift.
What if someone offered you a black American Express card … they have absolutely no spending limit … and told you you’ll never get a bill for anything you put on it.
What would you do with it? You’d have unlimited spending. You want to fly to Paris for lunch? Rent a private plane. You want the newest Maserati? Just have them deliver it and put it on your card. You will never get a bill. Someone else is paying for every dollar you put on that card.
That’s pretty much what God has done for us. When Jesus died on that cross, he didn’t just pay for our sins. No, he died for every sin that has ever been, or is now or will ever be committed.
He didn’t just die for the Jewish people or the Christians. He wiped away every sin that would ever be committed by anyone. Every sin … for every person who has ever lived or will ever live … for all eternity. Sort of an unlimited Black Sin card.
When he died, he made the human race whole again. Romans 5:18. “Consequently, just as one trespass (Adam’s sin) resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act (Christ’s death and resurrection) resulted in justification and life for all people.”
Justification is a big churchy word that simply means God has declared you forgiven and sin-free and in good standing with him. It’s not something we do.
If you are part of “all people,” your sins are gone. Does that mean that all your sins are gone? Well, it does say: “justification and life for all people.”
I can guess that some of you are having trouble believing that. A couple of things about it. The consequences of our sins in the spiritual realm are gone but not in the physical world we live in.
If you got drunk and had a car accident and broke your back, your back is still broken. Or if you used a drug and had a bad side effect, the side effects may still be with you.
If you got divorced, the aftermath of that divorce is still there. God wiped away the spiritual consequences but not this world’s consequences to our actions.
The second thing to understand about what God did is that it is a gift but you don’t get it until you accept it. God will not hold your sins against you if you receive his pardon. But if you refuse it, then you will bear the consequences of that refusal for all eternity.
And what is the consequence of sin? Simple: spiritual death. Romans 6:23. “For the wages of sin is (spiritual) death, but the free gift of God is eternal (spiritual) life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Could that be clearer? The wages or consequences of sin are spiritual death. But the free gift God is offering to you is life with him for all eternity. But only if you say yes to accepting his gift. So, what say ye?
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.