For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. ~ Romans 6:23
Salvation is of the Lord. It is a gift of God. No one is the beneficiary of its blessing without receiving it by faith. The very word gift is an affront to the self-saving bent of mankind who attempts to make it something that is attainable by works. But a gift is not a gift if it is worked for.
So why do men need the gift of God? Because men have violated God’s righteous standard. The Bible is explicitly clear that man’s disobedience is treason against holy God. Consequently, every man who has ever been born has incurred God’s wrath and been sentenced to spiritual death.
The question is then asked, “Is there any hope?” And God’s resounding response from His Word, the Bible, is “yes!”
By infinite initiative the God of the universe, the Giver of life, has extended to helpless humanity the free offer of His grace. For God so loved our ruined race that he gave His only Son.
What is the gift of God? It is the revelation of infinite love in the Person of Jesus Christ. For by the horrific death and mighty resurrection of His Son, God has promised to remove sin and its damning curse from the souls of men.
So what must you do to be saved from eternal damnation?
Look to Christ and not yourself! Moral uprightness and religious performance cannot save you. Before any man or woman can be saved they must look away from themselves and their self-saving merits and in full dependence embrace by faith the Christ who suffered the wrath of God in their place on the cross.
Jesus Christ has promised in John 6:37 that all who come to Him He would not reject. Assuredly, if any person will approach God in repentance and faith, God will give him the gift of eternal life.
Therefore, why do you wait? Delaying in receiving this glorious gift makes as much sense as depriving yourself of a drink of cool water after a day long journey through a sun parched desert. Jesus Christ said in John 4:10,
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
