By Pastor Michael Morrison
Ephesians 2:8
Let’s begin by looking begin by looking at Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” If it’s ok I would like to ask you a question. Have you ever been in debt or have you ever had a bill? Here’s another one. What do you do to pay that debt or bill? You have to work to provide a means to pay it. This could consist of normal work or it could even mean you pick up a second job. Regardless of the means, it requires payment.
There are some that could say that they are debt free in their physical life. Can I say that is amazing. Hopefully you still remember what it felt like, so you don’t go down that road again. Let’s make sure we understand that this isn’t about physical debt. This is about a much serious matter. It’s about a debt that we were born with. We are in debt at conception. King David spoke about it in Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” David understood that he was conceived in sin and that wasn’t all. David knew that his whole body was formed or shapen in sin. This word shapen means to whirl or twist. It was in his DNA. Just like it is in us. Please let me add this here as well “ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23
Seeing that we are born in sin, Where does the debt come from? Romans 6:23 the first part is where we need to start. “ For the wages of sin is death;……”. This may throw us off sometimes right? Let me put it this way for you. The debt that we have to pay is death. This is more than a physical death that will cause a separation from your loved ones on this earth. Sin has caused separation, between God and His creation, Physically and Spiritually. The spiritual death is eternal separation from God.
Please understand a physical death is a reality that we all will face. It doesn’t matter how much you work out, watch what you eat or how many vitamins you take. Nothing will prevent the inevitable. Has any of your attempts stopped us from aging or the process of dying? The answer is no. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgement:” There will be a physical death, and there will be judgement on your debt. There will be a ruling on where you will spend eternity, there is more to this life than the one that you are living at this moment.
If we cannot stop the physical death, How can we stop our spiritual one from dying? There is absolutely nothing we can do on our own. The sin that entered the world at creation set all this in motion. Romans 5:12 states “ 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:” Within our own ability we cannot derail this train. But not all is lost! Grace, the powerful word of grace does something that we have no power to do. Grace is an action of favor. I love to think of it in the terms of immunity to a debt or immunity to charges that has been placed against you. It’s a forgiveness of debt not based on your merit or own your attempts to relieve the debt. This grace that we find here in Ephesians is given to all the world, if they would only put their faith in Jesus Christ. By doing this, would relieve the debt that was owed to God at Calvary. He covered the debt in His blood. He paid your debt so you would not have to experience eternal separation from God. Let’s finish the verse in Romans 6:23 “….but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” This gift can be yours if you place your faith in Him.
Will you accept this gift that is presented to you? Will you place your faith in Jesus Christ? There is no other solution to what you owe. There’s no extra deeds, no way to get out of it other than through the grace that is offered by God. The only question that you need to ask yourself is this, Do you want your debt forgiven? If so, Jesus is your answer. Accept Him as your Savior and experience GRACE!!!!!
