No Cost to You!

Text: Romans 3:24 – “. . . are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Also read 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

“I can’t pay this credit card debt!” exclaimed Mark’s father. “We have spent too much

money over the past few months. I can’t believe we owe so much money to our credit card account.” Spending money is an easy thing to do. Most people like to spend money instead of saving it or helping others with it. Like Mark’s father, so many people are unable to pay back the money they owe. Over time, the debt gets larger and harder to pay off. Sometimes it can even take several years to pay off something you owe.

What if God were to say to us, “Every time you sin, you must pay Me back for the sin you committed. I will not speak to you or protect you until your debt is paid in full”? How would that make you feel? We probably would not hear from God very often or feel very

protected. That’s because none of us would ever be able to pay back God for the sins we committed. NEVER, EVER! We sin every day and can never pay the price for our sin. This means we would have to be perfect. Our sins would add up faster than any good things we could do in order to even things out. No one has ever been perfect, except for Jesus. That is why He is the only one who can help us. The good news is that Jesus paid for every one of our sins, past, present and future. At no cost to any one of us, Jesus took care of the debt of sin we owed. When Jesus died on the cross he paid that debt for us. God placed all of our sins upon Jesus as He hung on the cross, which means that we can start out fresh, and forgiven of our sin. We become a brand new creation in Jesus. What is the result? The debt of our sins is erased and God replaces our sin with the goodness (righteousness) of Jesus. We can now go and live our lives for Jesus as a brand new creation, no longer under the control of sin. Let’s remember to always be thankful that Jesus paid the debt of our sin with His very life.

• What does it mean to have your debt of sin taken care of?