S. THE GIFT OF GOD
THE GIFT OF GOD Dr. W. A. Criswell Rom 6:23 09-26-54
You are listening to the services of the First Baptist Church in downtown Dallas, Texas. And this is the Pastor, being the message from the last verse of the sixth chapter of the Book of Romans- Rom 6:23 : “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” This is one of those tremendous sentences. Like Mic 6:8; like John 3:16; like John 5:24; like Acts 16:31; like Rom 8:28; like Rev 3:20, this verse-this sentence-is one of those tremendous statements that sum up the entire Bible, the whole story of redemption, the lost and helpless condition of mankind, and the hope and promise we have in God.
Sometimes I say that, in the Scriptures, there are sentences that seem to sum up the total of all of the redemptive story of God for lost humanity. And one of those sentences is my text today: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“For the wages of sin is death”: that is the story of our humanity in all its hopelessness. “Sin and death”: that is the story of humanity in all its history.
“Sin and death”: it is the story of our first parents and their second-born son, slain by their first-born, when the blood of Abel cries out from the ground. How much more did it cry out when they looked at the fruit of their hands and the reward of their transgression?
It was death in the story of the great flood that covered the whole earth-that deluged the world. Every rotting corpse, floating on the bosom of those terrible waves, was an “Amen” to this terrible sentence: “The wages of sin is death.”
It was death, in the days when fire fell out of heaven from God and obliterated the cities of the plain-Sodom and Gomorrah-every burning heap, every charred body, was an eloquent commentary on this statement for the ages: “For the wages of sin is death.”
It was death, in the day when the angel stalked through the land of Egypt-on that terrible and awful night, when the firstborn in every Egyptian home was taken away. And the cries and the tears and the laments of the Egyptians are but a commentary upon this verse: “The wages of sin is death.”
It was death, in the day when the heavy-handed angel passed through the camp of the Assyrians and Sennacherib’s host of 185,000, the next morning, were nothing but dead corpses.
It was death, in the day when our Savior, the Lord Jesus climbed the steep and rocky hill of Golgotha and died for the sins of the world.
It was death, in the days of Titus, when Jerusalem was inundated with blood, then destroyed, under the hands of the Roman legionnaires.
It was death, when the Nazi government created the flaming catastrophe from the skies and became an almost unprecedented instrument of death.
It is death, when the capital cities of all the nations of the world dedicate the tomb of the unknown soldier. In every city, in every hamlet, down our street and, inevitably, in every life, every man shall bow in defeat when the grim reaper comes. “The wages of sin is death”-a world of sin-universal sin-and a world of death-universal death.
It doesn’t matter who you are-the rich man in his mansion or the poor man in a hovel; a king in the throne room or a queen in the boudoir; a philosopher or a peasant-all must face that inevitable hour. The harlot in her dean and the society matron both must face that awful hour of sin and death.
Now, we all do sin and we all do die. How do we meet, and how do we face, those awful realities when we are at death’s door? I know I shall be humble and righteous and holy. And he will laugh when he comes-that pale horseman of death. It doesn’t matter whether I spend my days in agony over my sins or renounce everything in the world. “I will give up-I will set aside-everything in this life. I will die in a monastery. I will die in a hermit’s lodge. Even if I die of self-flagellation, I cannot escape the reality of sin and death.” I live in a world of sin and death.
I think of the beginning of the greatest allegory that was ever written: Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. It opens with a man named Pilgrim standing with his back to his own house in the great city. He has in his hand an open Bible. As reads in that book, he cries, no longer able to control himself. He breaks down, and with a lamentable cry, he says, “What shall I do? And whither shall I go?” And he looked this way and he looked that way. Not knowing where to go, he stood still. And there came one up to him named Evangelist, who asked, “Whither dost thou cry?” And Pilgrim replied, “Sir, I perceive from the Book that I have in my hand that I am going to die and, after that, the judgment. I am not willing to die and I am not able to do otherwise.” And Evangelist said, “If this is your condition, why standest thou still?” And Pilgrim replied,” Because I know not where to go. If I move to Africa or South America or Asia; if I have a little house or a big house-wherever I go, whatever I do, that awful and inevitable death will come and knock at my door. I cannot get away.” That is true, because “the wages of sin is death.”
It is in the helplessness-it is in the despair-it is in the grief and the sorrow of our humanity that God did something for us that we could not do for ourselves. The Lord paid a debt for us that we could not pay ourselves. The Lord achieved deliverance for us that we could not have done ourselves. “The wages of sin is death… .”
But, but, “…the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Life-life-life-life eternal. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God-the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”-something done for us that we could not do for ourselves.
We are like a man who is drowning in the middle of a vast sea, and he cannot help himself. But, a hand reaches down from God to save him.
We are like a man in a vast burning desert, who is about to die of thirst. But, an angel comes and succors us.
We are like a man about to burn up in the midst of a vast fire. But, a hand reaches down from God and saves us.
“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” It is a gift because it is something that we could not achieve for ourselves. That leads us to “By grace are you saved through faith; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast”-I did it!-when no man could do it. As it says in Tit 3:3-5 : For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us… .
“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God-the gift of God-It is a gift of great cost; it is priceless. No man could ever buy it: the grace and mercy and love of God. Our salvation is a gift because it’s been paid for-it’s been paid for.
He doesn’t pay it and then charge us again. Jesus paid it all, once and for all, in the agony in Gethsemane and on the Cross of Golgotha, in the crown of thorns that he wore and the blood that flowed out. It is a gift of God.
It is a gift because it is freely offered to everybody: “Whosever will may come.” Whosoever will, let him receive. Whosever will, let him believe. Whosoever will, let him be saved. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God-the gift of God-the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”-eternal life, eternal life. A possession-have it now, have it now, have it today, have it tomorrow-is eternal life-eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord-a gift now-we have it now. As it says in Eph 2:8 : “For by grace you have been saved… .”
John 3:36 says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life”-have it now-eternal life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life… and is passed out of death unto life-eternal life.
“And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish”-eternal life-life, everlasting life. And our passage: “And the gift of God is eternal life”-a present possession-eternal life. I have it tomorrow. I have it today-now-eternal life. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
There’s no such thing in this Book, in god’s Word-there’s no such thing as a man being partly or sometimes saved or partly or sometimes lost. There’s no much thing as a man being saved today and lost tomorrow. If a man is saved, he’s saved. If he’s lost, he’s lost.
There’s no such thing in this Book as a man being partly or sometimes justified or being partly or sometimes condemned. There’s no such thing in this Book as a man being partly or sometimes known by God and a man being partly or sometimes unknown by God. There’s no such thing as a man being partly alive or partly dead.
“The gift of God is elternal life.” It is our possession now and forever.
1Jn 5:1 : “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God”-has life. And it is eternal life, everlasting life, a life that will never fade away.
Life, life, eternal life-“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”-After a great victory, a Greek general called the procession for the dead “the procession into the always”-life, eternal life. I don’t have it now and then I lost it. I’m saved-saved.
It is a gift of god. It is not something that I did. It is something that God did for me. It is not my promise to hold onto God. It is God’s promise to hold onto me.
If God promised that He would give me eternal life, that never changes. I may change but God won’t. I may stumble, but He never will. I may fall, but He never will.
“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”-a present possession and forever. And it never ceases. It never stops. It never ends. It is given to us now-it is given to us now in Christ Jesus. And it is eternal-it goes on forever-it is never-ending and forever. When I die-when I die, I’m not dead. My body has just returned to the dust of the ground. It has gone back to the grave. As it says in 2Co 5:1-21 : “Absent from the body, present with the Lord”-when we look at “The Reminder” and see those deaths-“Absent from the body, present with the Lord.”
That’s why I had you read various passages of Scripture today:
I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them who fall asleep in Jesus… For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
Even “those who sleep in Jesus” will come. He’s saying that, when God calls, all those are dead in Jesus Christ will come forth, alive. Our bodies will sleep, then our bodies will live.
But, I thought that they had returned to the ground-had returned to the grave. No, their bodies are called forth from the grave. They live again. They are glorified. Their bodies are re-united with their spirits. They are receiving what God has prepared for those who have trusted Him. “The gift of God is eternal life”-never-ending life-“in Jesus Christ our Lord.” My fellow pilgrims and my fellow Christians, don’t you ever tremble before the Devil. He may seek to make you tremble, but he does not have the power to do so.
Even the least of those who believe in the Lord have the gift of eternal life. As I quoted from John 10:28 : “And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish”-eternal life. In that same chapter, Jesus said that He calleth His own by name-by name. You are not just a number or a statistic-not in God’s sight. In God’s sight, you are somebody important. And He knows your name-He knows your name. And He knows all about you. The hairs on your head are numbered. He knows everything about you. And He calls you by name. And he leads His sheep into the fold. And He shall make His children pass under the rod. When you go out into Galilee, everywhere-everywhere you will see the sheepfolds. And always, there in the corner, will be the place of protection, always with one entrance-always with one entrance. When Jesus says that he will cause His people to pass under the rod, what He is talking about is when they are gathering the flock in the evening, preparing to take them to the place of protection, he puts his rod-his shepherd’s staff-across that one entrance. Then, the sheep come, one at a time, under the rod, and he calls them by name: this one and this one and this one and this one.
That’s why Psa 23:1-6 says: “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me”-the care and concern of Almighty God in keeping His flock-He calls them by name. Do you reckon that He might forget one of them? Do you reckon so? Do you suppose that, in that great and final day, that he will forget us?
No! If there is just one whom God forgets, He has broken His word and His promises do not prevail and the whole universe is in confusion. That’s the reason your old-time forefathers used to sing:
How firm a foundation, Ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith In His excellent Word.
What more can He say Than to you He hath said- You who to Jesus For refuge hath fled. That soul who on Jesus Hath lain for repose, I’ll never, no, never, Desert to its foes. That soul, though all hell Shall endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no, never, No, never forsake. At the time of death, when the grim reaper comes-when the grim reaper comes… .