LIFE AFTER DEATH: GIFT OR REWARD

Life

AFTER DEATH Gift or Reward?

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

The verdict is delivered: Guilty as charged!

Then comes the sentence, the punishment for the offense. How must the guilty person feel on the first day of a long prison term, say thirty years—or more? The punishment must seem like a hopelessly long time before even twenty-four hours of it have elapsed!

But such a punishment is nothing compared to the punishment of a person who begins his walk through eternity by physical and spiritual death, entrance into the dreadful place the Bible calls Hell and the Lake of Fire. Revelation 20:15 tells us, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Hell is not only a place of torments, it is also a place of never-ending separation from God (Luke 16:19–31).

Don’t make the mistake of thinking—as many do—that physical death is the same as nonexistence. Jesus said, “These [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matthew 25:46).

OUR PROBLEM: Death is our reward

Where did death come from? And why the dreadful prospect of eternal torment after death for anyone whose name isn’t written in the “book

of life”? The answer to those questions is given in Romans 5:12: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

The problem is sin. Sin is anything contrary to God’s righteous standards, anything that violates His Word. No sin is small or insignificant according to the Bible, but every sin brings with it the sentence of death. James 1:15 says, “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” We all have sinned and fallen short of the standards of God (Romans 3:23). As Romans 3:12 states, “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

The inescapable connection between sin and death is restated in Romans 6:23: “The wages of sin is death.” Think of that. Sin pays; it gives us wages—death!

When we speak of “wages,” we mean earning a reward for labor. Death is the reward for sin; your sin earns you death. An employer who did not pay an employee his earned wages would be guilty of gross injustice. Likewise, if sin did not bring death and misery upon mankind, that would be an injustice. It is necessary for the very standing of the universe that sin be punished.

GOD’S PROVISION: The death of His own Son

Every sin of yours and mine must have its reward, must have its wages paid. And in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ such payment has been made. Sin paid its wages of death to Jesus Christ, Whose sinless life did not earn death.

Therefore those who have earned the just reward of death for their sin may go free from eternal separation from God and the other punishments of Hell by trusting in Him for salvation.

Jesus Christ became our Substitute and paid the penalty we deserve. Note 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For he [God the Father] hath made him [Jesus, the Son of God] to be sin for us . . . that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” First Peter 2:24 states of Jesus, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

OUR DILEMMA: How to get eternal life instead of death

“The wages of sin is death,” Romans 6:23 declares, and then adds, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” How can a person get away from the wages of sin to the gift of eternal life?

A gift is something that is given voluntarily and without compensation. But humans naturally think of eternal life as a reward. Many people have said that they think people will be judged to be right with God and so get to Heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments, by obeying the Golden Rule, by being baptized, or by doing the best they can. In other words, they reason that if people have lived moral lives and treated their fellow human beings right, God will reward them with eternal life in Heaven.

But God, Who provides eternal life, says that eternal life can never be earned but must always be accepted as a free gift: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8, 9).

GOD’S DIRECTIVES: Believe and receive

If you want God’s gift of eternal life, you must receive His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).

You may be asking, “How do I do this?”

Here’s how: Simply believe what God says about your condition before Him and what He has done about it (Acts 16:30, 31) and place your trust in Jesus Christ. You can express this by talking to God in your own words, confessing that you are a sinner. Acknowledge that Jesus, the Son of God, shed His blood in your place and died for your sins. Express your belief that He arose bodily from the grave. Then ask God to save you from your sins on that basis.

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. . . . For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:9, 10, 13). “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

OUR CHOICE: Life or death

If you choose to do nothing, remember that your sins have already earned you death and eternal separation from God in Hell: “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).

Life after death—make sure you have it!

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation [judgment]; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

—Milton W. Tyrrell For furthur help, contact the church below or email info@rbpstore.org.

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