This morning I would like for
you to turn with me to the book of Romans chapter six. I want
us to consider the last verse in the chapter, verse 23. You know this verse well. Probably
not a message I've preached that hasn't at some point in it, I've
quoted this verse. And I wanna remind you again
while you're turning, of the simplicity that's found in the
gospel. The gospel message is very direct,
a very plain message. It's not difficult to understand,
but it is impossible to believe apart from a divine intervention
from the Holy Spirit of God. A perfect example of this straightforwardness
and this directness that I'm talking about is seen in this
text here in Romans chapter 6. Look at verse 23 with me. For
the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now if a man or a woman die in
their sin, in rebellion against God and His Christ, They've earned
and they deserve eternal death. For this eternal death is sin's
wages. How plain is our text here? The
wages of sin is death. If men and women persist in their
rebellion, if they continue in their transgressions and their
iniquities and their unbelief, and they die in their sin, when
God sends them to hell, and He will, Their condemnation is what
they've earned and what they deserve. But, don't you love
that little word? But, if a sinner by God's grace
repents and lives by faith in Christ, trusting in Him alone
as their righteousness before God, eternal life will then be
theirs as a free gift from God. Have you ever heard such a wondrous
thing? Isn't that what the text says?
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now concerning the wages of sin,
what I deserve is what I've earned, and what I have earned is what
I deserve. Yet, if I'm admitted into the
presence of God to spend eternity face-to-face with Christ, it's
not going to be by any work of righteousness that I've done,
because my works of righteousness are filthy rags. So if I'm to
have this perfect righteousness, it has to be. It has to be by
the free gift of God in Christ. at the end of my days on earth,
if I'm weighed in the balances of God's justice and found wanting,
I'll be forever condemned and forever separated from God. And if I am, it'll be the result
of a deliberate effort on my part. There'll be no one to blame
but me. That's what I'm trying to say.
I'm only getting what I worked for and I'm only earning what
I deliberately made an effort to earn. Death will be my wages. So death by sin is the result
of a deliberate and a willing effort on my part. But if eternal
life is given to me, It'll be the result of a deliberate and
willing effort on God's part. How do I know that? Because Paul
tells us very plainly here that the wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's a free gift to me, but it
costs God His Son, and it costs God's Son His life by death of
humiliation and suffering suffering the shameful death of crucifixion
on the cross of Calvary. And I mean to be repetitive here.
Condemnation and death is the result of something I've done.
Sin has been a deliberate effort on my part, but salvation, oh,
salvation is the result of something that God has willed and something
that God has done by deliberate effort on his part. So let me
say it again. If I go to hell, It's my deliberate
doing. And if I live eternally in heaven's
glory, it's God's deliberate doing. And that's why I cannot
accept the false teaching that Christ died for everyone. Because
if he did, then everyone would be saved. Now listen to me carefully,
I know I say that a lot, but I need you to hear this. To say
that Christ could shed his blood and die in the place of one who
could still be lost is a blasphemous statement. That is to say that
God only made salvation possible and that Christ shed His blood
and He died that horrific death of crucifixion to leave the salvation
of the sinner in His own hand, according to His own decision,
according to His own will and acceptance of what Christ made
possible. That is absolutely contemptuous
and irreverent to our sovereign God. That's to say that our Lord
Jesus is a failure. And it goes against the true
doctrine and teaching of the Scripture. But understand this,
there's absolutely nothing that will keep a man out of heaven
and away from eternal life but his own unwillingness to bow
to and to trust in Christ Jesus. Again, I know this from the scriptures.
The Lord Jesus said in John chapter 5 verse 40, He said, You will
not come to me that you might have life. What is that but unwillingness? If a man goes to hell, it's because
he won't come to Christ that he might have life. And the only
thing that'll keep a man or a woman out of heaven's glory is his
own unwillingness to worship Christ as the King of kings and
the Lord of lords. You know, a man's depravity won't
keep him out of heaven, but his self-righteousness certainly
will. Damnation is by my guilt. I'm guilty. But salvation is
by God's grace. That's not hard to understand,
and it's not that folks don't understand it. It's that they
don't believe it. After all, what most people hear
from pulpits and preachers today is that God owes everybody the
right to make their own choice, their own decision, and exercise
their own will. They say that God is not going
to force you to believe. Let me tell you something. If
He don't, you won't believe. It's just that simple. If He
doesn't make you willing in the day of His power, you will never
be willing. I heard most of my life that
God doesn't hate the sinner, but He hates the sinner's sin.
What I'm saying is this. The sinner and their sin are
one and the same. You can't separate them. Sin
is what we are. How do I know? Again, I go to
the scriptures. David said we were conceived
in sin. David said I was shapen in iniquity. In sin did my mother conceive
me. He said the wicked are estranged
from where? From the womb. They go astray
as soon as they're born, speaking lies. Why is that? Because sin is what we are. We
don't have to learn how to sin. It comes to us naturally. And
there's nothing that keeps a man out of heaven but his own unwillingness
to trust in Christ alone. But there's nothing that keeps
a man out of hell but the sovereign will, purpose, and love of God
in Christ. Someone asked Brother Mahan one
time how he reconciled those two things. And he said, well,
you don't have to reconcile friends. They're not enemies. Now, it's
a man's will or lack of it. It's actually their unwillingness.
Their unwillingness to bow to Christ. But the only thing that
keeps any sinner out of hell is God's sovereign will, mercy
and grace and love to that sinner. And that's in the Lord Jesus.
I know I'm being redundant. I certainly mean to be. Hebrews
chapter 3 talks about God being grieved for 40 years with who? with them that sinned, those
whose carcasses fell in the wilderness. And those people fell in the
wilderness because God swore that they should not enter into
His rest, all that rest that was to be found in the land of
promise, the land that flowed with milk and honey. And they
did not enter in because they believed not. They were unwilling
to believe. So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. Hebrews 3 verse 19. As I read that verse, I think
to myself, Lord, I believe, but help thou mine unbelief. Men
talk about and they're proud of their free will. When God
simply says in His Word that salvation is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. That's in your Bible. Romans
9, verse 16. You see, your will will keep
you out of heaven, but it won't keep you out of hell. The only
thing that'll keep you out of hell is God's will. And again,
I say the wages of sin is death. Just how serious is this gospel
that we preach? It's life and death serious.
But men and women don't act like it's very serious. Men and women
act as if they can take it or leave it. No big deal. Many today
carry on as if there's no consequence to sin. But there's great consequence
to sin. The wages of sin is death. Not
just physical death, but spiritual death, eternal death. I had a
man tell me one time that God was too good to send him to hell. You see, the real problem was
that he was too good for God to save him. He didn't need God. He didn't see that death was
wages for his sin. And if you don't see that death
is sin's wages, you'll never have a need of Christ the Savior.
The truth is this, and we see it plainly in this little short
verse. Physical death, spiritual death,
eternal death, all come because of man's sin. Because the wages
of sin is death. The soul that sins, it shall
die. The problem is, is that most
people don't believe that. Men think that sin's wages called
death is for murderers and serial killers and child molesters and
rapists. But that's not what the Bible
says. The Bible says that by one man, sin entered this world
and death by sin. Therefore death passed upon all
men and women. That man's name was Adam. It
was by Adam's will and by Adam's fall and by Adam's transgression
and by Adam's rebellion that sin came into the world and death
came by that sin. So death passed upon all men
for all have sinned. We can't blame it all on Adam.
We've done our share in it too. And all defilement came by Adam's
sin, and yet every man and woman has sinned in their own right.
And here's where men and women get lost. This is one of those
areas that the natural man receives not. It's foolishness to a natural
man. A man that's not been born again
and given life from above cannot see these things. When Adam sinned,
I sinned. When Adam rebelled, I rebelled.
When Adam died, I died. Why? Because he was my federal
head. And we've got to take full blame
in this. We can't, like Adam, blame God
and say, the woman which thou gavest me gave me to eat. She's
the reason I did this. If you haven't given her to me,
I would have never done this. And we cannot, like Eve, stand
and blame God saying, well, the serpent that you made, well,
it's all his fault. He beguiled me. He deceived me.
No, we're without excuse. You know, we do that though,
don't we? A lot of husbands and wives do that. A lot of parents
and their children do that. Why did you do that? Well, I
did that because you did this. Yeah, but I wouldn't have done
that if you hadn't done this. Well, I only did that because
you said this and I only said that because you did this. It's
a vicious cycle. We all play the blame game. But
when we stand before God, there won't be any of that. Why? Because we're all guilty. God
will require us to take full responsibility and full blame. Oh, may God teach you and me
that right now before it's too late. After all, it is all our
fault, all our distress, all our calamity. It's our own fault. We brought it upon ourselves.
But men and women won't admit it. Herein lies all the error. Men attempt to make God less
than what he is. And men attempt to make man much
more than what he is. Now in Psalm chapter 14, David
wrote this. He said, the fool has said into
his heart, there is no God. Now the words there is are added
to the original text. What David said was, the fool
has said in his heart, no God, no God for me. And that's not
all that David said. He said, they are corrupt. They've
done abominable works. There is none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of man to see
if there were any that did understand and seek God. They're all gone
aside. They're all together become filthy.
The word there is stinking. There's none that do it good.
No, not one. Well now, brother, I'm not all
that bad. You are in God's eyes. You are when compared to a thrice
holy God. Friends, by nature, birth and
practice, we are in that number called all. We are all, not only
under the sentence of death, but by sin's wages, we all deserve
to be forever condemned. Do you see that concern in yourself?
Oh, if you do, I rejoice with you. It's such a good thing that
you do because only God can reveal that to a man or a woman. And
God will have to reveal that to a man or a woman before they
ever see their need of Christ. Yet, we must not only see our
condemnation as what we deserve, but we must justify God in condemning
us. We must agree that God would
be right and reasonable to condemn us. I say it all the time, but
it's so true. We must take sides with God against
ourselves. And only a work of grace in the
heart by the Holy Spirit can do that. To justify God in condemning
us takes a divine revelation from God Almighty. God has to
teach you that. He's got to show you what you
are. None of us deserve God's mercy. Grace is unmerited, undeserved
favor. Why do men and women think that
God is obligated to save them? God's holy law offers no plea
on our behalf. The holy law of God declares,
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the law to do them. What the law says, it says to
them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and
all the world become guilty before God. Do you see that you're guilty? Oh, rejoice if you do. Only God
can show you that. Oh, the law of God consents to
our eternal destruction. Divine justice consents to our
condemnation. Matter of fact, all men and women
are already condemned. That's what our Lord said. Christ
came into the world not to condemn the world because the world was
condemned already, John 3, 18. If we are to be saved, God's
got to intervene. To be damned, we only have to
be left alone. Why? Because we're already condemned.
We don't have to do anything to be condemned. We're already
condemned. We're condemned already. He that
believes not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him. John 3, 36. It abides on men
and women right now. And someone might accuse me of
preaching a gospel that has no hope. I remember Brother Maurice
used to say, if our salvation is up to us, there is no hope.
How true that is. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Can the leopard change his spots?
Can you do good that are accustomed to do evil? What did Paul say? Oh, I wish I had an ounce of
Paul's faith. But what did Paul say about himself?
He said, oh, wretched man that I am. Paul said that in the flesh,
no man can please God. And by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Friends, apart from Christ, we're
without strength, without Christ, without God, and without hope.
That's what we are by nature. Do you believe that? Oh, if you
do, there's hope for you. The wages of sin is death, and
we've earned every single penny. And the law of God and the justice
of God demands that we receive every single cent. Now, I want
to quickly show you five things that should give you great hope.
I'm not going to keep you much longer, but if you would turn
with me to Psalms chapter 40. I hope you're able to follow
along there at home. It's so important to see these
things, I think, in our own Bible. Psalm chapter 40. Psalm 40 was written by David,
but we call it, along with several others, a messianic psalm. That
simply means a psalm that is prophetic concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, the words here in Psalm
40 were said by David, but they were also prophetically the words
of Christ. I want you to look at verse nine.
In a couple of verses here, verses nine and 10, we see these five
things that should give us great hope. David said, verse nine,
he said, I've preached righteousness in the great congregation. Lo,
I have not refrained my limbs. O Lord, Thou knowest, I've not
hid Thy righteousness within my heart. So the first thing
I want you to see that should give you great hope is the righteousness
of God found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is talking about
Christ's righteousness, not ours. Not ours because we don't have
any. Remember, none righteous, no, not one. Remember, our righteousness
is filthy, stinking rags. And righteousness is not what
we do. Righteousness is what God did for us. Righteousness
is what Christ made us. Do you remember how Abraham became
righteous? The scriptures say he believed
God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. The only way
that you and I can be made righteous is to believe God. Believe what
God says about us. Believe about what God says about
Himself, about His Son. Did you know that only righteous
people will be in heaven? You might ask, well, Brother
David, you say all the time that we're all sinners. We are, but
God made us righteous. He who knew no sin was made sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians
5 21. And that's the righteousness
that the Lord Jesus preached. And that's the righteousness
that all God's true servants preach today. Now, there are
going to be a lot of folks shocked in the day of judgment when God
says, depart from me, ye that do iniquity, that work iniquity.
He said, I never knew you, but Lord, we preached in your name. We cast out devils. We laid hands
on the sick. We've done many wonderful works. And God says, yep, and they were
all works of iniquity. You see, they never loved the
righteous work of God's Son. And God's not interested in your
so-called wonderful works. He's interested only in the wonderful
work that Christ did. Now, secondly, in Psalm 40, verse
10, we see the second thing that should give us great hope. David,
in prophecy, said, I have declared thy faithfulness. That's speaking
of God's faithfulness. That's talking about Christ's
faithfulness, not ours. Oh, that God might enable me
to preach in a way to shut sinners up to God's faithfulness and
not their own. If I don't preach His mercy,
His grace, His love, His forgiveness in a way that it would cause
you to seek Him and Him alone, then my preaching is greatly
lacking. God is faithful, that promise.
You can trust in Him. We can't produce what God requires,
but Christ certainly did. For example, I would have you
consider water. Water is a gift of God. He has
it rain down from heaven. We can't produce it, yet it's
free. All we do in order to have life
is to drink it. Air, what about air? Well, it's
the gift of God. I can't produce air, neither
can you, and air is free. All we do is breathe it, and
we must in order to live. So, will you drink and breathe?
Of course you will if you want to live. Jesus Christ, He's the
gift of God. His righteousness is free. I cannot produce His perfect
righteousness no more than I can produce water and air. But I'm
gonna take that righteousness. You better believe I am. You
see, I must, in order to live, I'll drink from the water of
life freely. And I'll acknowledge that it
was God who breathed into me the breath of life and made me
a living soul. And it's Christ alone in whom
we live and we move and we have our being. You see, it's all
about Christ. Not interested in your wonderful
works. Thirdly, the third thing here
that God gives a sinner great hope is the preaching of God's
salvation. Do you see that there in the
verse? David said in verse 10 here of Psalm 40, he said, I've
declared thy salvation. Now we didn't make a decision
to save ourselves. God decides who he saved. He said, I'll have mercy on whom
all have mercy. We don't exercise our free will
and accept Jesus. We're accepted of God in the
beloved who is Jesus Christ. Salvation is of the Lord and
its origin. The Lord said, you've not chosen
me, but I've chosen you. When did God choose us? Before
the foundation of the world. Before any of us were born. Before
any of us had done any good or evil that the purpose of God
according to election might stand. It's of God. Salvation is of
the Lord and it's execution. God sent forth His Son made of
a woman made under the law. Why? To redeem them that were
under the law by being made a curse for them. It pleased the Lord
to bruise Him, to put Him to grief. It was God who made His
soul an offering for sin. God did it. Salvation is executed
by God, not by us. Thirdly, salvation is of the
Lord in its application. We were born not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1.13. And salvation is of the Lord
in sustaining power. We are kept by the power of God,
1 Peter 1, 5. Having loved his own, which were
in the world, he loved them to the end, John 13, 1. And sinner,
it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy, Romans 9, 16. And then the fourth thing
that should give us great hope is the preaching of God's loving
kindness. David in verse 10 said, I've
not concealed your loving kindness. Oh, we talk about the wrath and
judgment and justice of God. We talk about the wages of sin
being death, but God's love is always and only found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. David said in Psalm 51, he said,
Lord, have mercy on me according to thy loving kindness. And thy
tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Do you remember what John said?
John said, herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us. And friends, the fifth truth
that should give us great hope is just that, truth. I thank God for the truth. For
years and years, I never heard the truth. I had a false hope. I was trusting in something that
I must do to be saved. David said, I've not concealed
the truth. David said, Paul said, I've kept
back nothing profitable unto you. I've not shunned to declare
unto you the counsel, the whole counsel of God. The Lord Jesus
said, I am the way, and I am the truth, and I am the life.
And no man, no woman, no sinner, nobody cometh to the Father but
by me. All truth is in Christ. If we
preach the truth, we'll preach Christ. And if we preach Christ,
we'll preach the truth. Isn't that what Paul said in
our text? He said, for the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Now, if you don't hear anything
today, hear this. There's no mercy. There's no
grace. There's no blessing. There's
no benefit for any sinner except in and through Christ. The love
of God is in Christ. Yes, no one is able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Christ is
the door unto God. Christ is the way unto God. Christ
is the light that reveals God. Christ is the peace that we have
with God, that peace that passes all understanding. In an atom
we die, but in Christ we're made alive. Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. Heaven is to be with Christ. Hell is to be separated from
Him. Everything God has for the believer
is in Jesus Christ. Yes, the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life, and that life is in, by,
and through Him and Him alone. So let me ask in closing, are
you trusting in Christ alone to give you life? Salvation's
only in Him. Salvation is of the Lord. What does that mean? Just what
it says. Salvation is of the Lord. It's God's doing. Father, thank
you for Christ. That's our constant prayer at
Thanksgiving. Oh, you didn't have to send your
gospel to us. You didn't have to give us eyes
to see and ears to hear and hearts to believe. It was a free gift. And as we have freely received,
Lord, we endeavor to freely give. Let us always be found preaching
Christ. Lord, save the lost. I know there
are some listening this morning that are yet without Christ.
I don't know who they are, Lord, but you do. Show them that their
wages for sin is dead. But show them that in Christ
they can have the gift of eternal life. Jesus Christ is that gift
of righteousness and faithfulness and salvation and loving kindness
and truth. Oh, Lord, enable us to grow in
the grace and in the knowledge of Him. Lord, we believe, but
help our unbelief. We need much help in believing. Continue to show us our need
of Christ. Lord, remove the fear that's
been instilled in the hearts of many by the world and the
things going on in it. Cause us to see that you're in
control and that you're working all things together for the good
of them that love you. Those who are the called according
to your purpose. May we always be found trusting
in you for all things. And Lord, it's in Christ's name
that we pray. Amen. I've been closing these
live streaming messages with these words. May the Lord bless
you and keep you. You see, he's the only one that
can. May the Lord make his face shine
upon you. Oh, may God reveal himself to
you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up His countenance
unto you and give you peace. That's what I want. That's what
I need. That peace of God that passes
all understanding. Only God can give it. Do you
want that peace? Ask God to give it to you. Beg
Him if you must.