“The Free Gift of Salvation”

**INTRODUCTION 

Hello and welcome to “Key to the Kingdom.” My name is Bret McCasland. When talking about religion and spiritual matters one of the things that receives a great deal of attention is the matter of one's salvation. Some believe it revolves around a good life. Others believe it revolves around always doing good and right things, and that might be considered a works oriented salvation. It's a matter of proving ourselves to God that we are worthy of the salvation He gives to us. Well, that type of teaching is not found anywhere in Scripture. In fact, the Bible teaches us just the opposite. The matter of salvation revolves around a free gift, and that free gift is given by God through His one and only son, Jesus Christ. In our lesson today on “Key to the Kingdom,” we will focus on the words of the Apostle Paul, which are found primarily in Romans chapter 3. There he emphasizes the fact that when God offered His son, Jesus Christ, upon the cross then something very special was done for all people everywhere. And when we put our faith and trust in Jesus then we receive that free gift of salvation. As we spend time talking about that today, I hope we will consider the greatest gift of all time that God extends to all people. I invite you to stay tuned to this channel for the next few minutes as we open up our Bibles and study together. 

**LESSON

When you hear the word free, what comes to your mind? Perhaps getting something that doesn't cost anything, getting something with absolutely no charge. Or perhaps you think about a gift or something that is simply too good to be true. We like the word free and we like to receive things that are free. And yet at the same time it brings a smile to my face as we as we quickly wonder, "Well, what's the catch?" Are there some strings attached to what I'm getting, that is free? What would you think, however, if you were to receive the greatest gift this world had to offer; and it's absolutely free? The best thing that anybody could give to you doesn't cost a thing. You might immediately think about a free car or a free house or perhaps a free trip around the world. And wouldn't those things be nice? And yet, as good as those things might be, there is something even better. The letter of Romans, which is found in the New Testament part of the Bible, tells us about something that is free. In the first two and a half chapters of that letter, the writer, the Apostle Paul, tells us that no matter who we are, no matter what background we might claim, we have a sin problem. In fact, we are all sinners. Well, that doesn't sound so good, does it? But, stay with me. Notice what he writes here in chapter 3, verse 10: <There is no one righteous, not even one.> He goes on in the 3rd chapter, in verse 23, and writes these words: <For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.> We don't like hearing those words, do we? That, we fall short of God's glory, we are sinners, we are not righteous. But, from those two statements we realize we cannot measure up to what God intends for us to be. And why is that? Because sin stands in our way. And that is the big problem at the center of every person's life. It stands between us and a right relationship with our Father in Heaven. Some people might be tempted to say, "Well, my sin is not as bad as the sin of..." And then we name somebody or we list their sin. Or on the other hand, we might say, “Well, I don't sin very much. And, the sins I do commit, really, in my mind, aren't that bad. They are little sins. Well, that might be true. But yet in the sight of God, we continue to sin. We all sin, whether it's a big sin or what we think might be a little sin. But the fact remains, we are sinners. That's just the reality of things. But Paul writes this letter to a group of Christians whom he has never met. He doesn't know them. He has only heard about them, and the people to whom he writes this letter are Christians. They are members of the church and they are both Jews and Gentiles, all meeting together in a neighborhood somewhere there in the city of Rome. Perhaps they are meeting collectively as one. Perhaps there is a Jewish church and a Gentile church. We don't know for sure, but he's addressing the letter to all of them collectively. Now, the Jews on one hand believe they are the chosen people of God, and they have a special relationship with God. In fact, they can do no wrong in their minds. And the closer they follow the old laws of the past, the more righteous they will be in the sight of God, the more right they will be with Him. Well, the Gentiles, on the other hand, are basically on the outside looking in. They want to be accepted for who they are. They want to be like the Jews in that way. They long to have some, if not all, of the benefits those Jewish Christians are enjoying. But in this letter, Paul appeals to both groups of people. And he basically says, as we see in a moment, in chapter 15 verse 6, that all of you are to come together and glorify God with one voice. In other words, somehow you find a way to work things out together as one. And with one voice, with one community, with one spirit you bring glory to God. And so in the midst of their diversity, in the midst of all of their differences, Paul calls them to be united into one body in Jesus Christ. And he points out that one's rights standing before God is not determined by nationality. It’s not determined by your background or your heritage. It’s not determined by one's social standing. It's not even determined by the amount of good deeds you might do or how closely you follow the old Law. But instead, one’s right standing with God is based upon one thing, and that is your faith or your belief in Jesus Christ. And because of that, anybody can receive that salvation. It doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, but through your faith in Jesus Christ that sin problem can be eliminated and you can be in right standing with God. Paul then shares how that story of God, through His son, Jesus Christ, provides the solution for our sin problem. And that is the heart of Paul's message, here in the third chapter. Someone has said, “If you get Romans, then you get salvation.” And basically that means if you understand, if you grasp the message Paul is trying to communicate in the letter of Romans, then you grasp and understand the message of salvation. You begin to understand the scope of God's love for you, and you receive that salvation. You recognize, indeed, there is a solution to sin; and that is through our faith or belief in Jesus Christ. And that is what is at the core, the foundation of Paul's teaching in this letter. And that is why it is called the Good News message of Jesus Christ. We are invited to receive that Good News message; and with it the free gift of salvation. And the most wonderful thing about it is there are no strings attached. There are no hidden fees, there are no catches. He's not going to switch the price tags on us, if you will. It's a free gift. And Paul points that out in another passage, here in chapter 3, about our faith in Jesus making us right with God. It’s found in verses 21 and 22. He wrote: <Apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile.> Now, those are some good words, aren't they; that God offers salvation to all people. It’s not gained by observing the Law, as he points out. It’s demonstrated, rather, by one's faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And there is only one way for salvation, for the Jew and for the Gentile: It is one’s faith or belief, one’s trust in Jesus. Even though we are guilty of sin, and even though we are guilty of the punishment which that sin brings, when we put our trust in Jesus, God declares us righteous. In several other verses, here in the third chapter, we find the words ‘freely,’ ‘by His grace,’ ‘we are redeemed by Jesus Christ through faith in Him.’ And all of those words signify we are set free. We are set apart from the problems sin brings. And again, that is why the Good News message of Jesus Christ is such good news. A right standing before the Lord God Almighty is based upon faith in His Son and nothing else. And those who put their faith in Jesus and nothing else are saved by His grace. We are made right in His sight. When Jesus Christ went to the cross and died on our behalf. He gave up His life. Jesus did not have to do that. In fact, He prayed to His Father in heaven there would be some other solution, there would be something else that could be done so He would not have to go to the cross and die such a horrible and cruel and humiliating death. And yet that was not God's will. And so Jesus went and fulfilled God's will. He died upon the cross. He pleased His Father with that ultimate sacrifice. And in that death He paid the cost, or the penalty, of our sin. In other words, He paid a debt to set us free. And that is a debt we can never pay Him back. We can never do enough good deeds. We cannot give any money back to the Lord to say I'm going to pay for what You've done for me. You know, when a person tries to add to what Jesus did upon the cross, it makes His great sacrifice seem not so great. It takes away from the significance of His death. It takes away from the purpose for why He died. It almost cheapens, if you will, that sacrifice. And when we try to add to what Jesus did by putting our faith in our good deeds or putting our faith in some law keeping system, it says, “Jesus, what you did for me is not good enough.” Imagine how, if we could say those words to Jesus, himself, how He would respond. It says basically, “Well, I need to add something to the free gift of salvation You purchased for me, just so I can be sure; just because there may be some kind of little string attached here, and it's not quite sufficient. So let me just help you, Jesus.” I wonder how we would, or how He would, respond if we said something like that? Well, to say it in the simplest of terms, our right standing, or righteousness, is made possible by our faith in God’s son, Jesus Christ, and by that faith alone. God loves you and He loves me, even though our sin separates us from Him, in spite of that, He allowed His son, Jesus, to take away our sin, and the only way to have that sin removed is to put our faith in Him. It's good to know that none of us can keep enough laws to receive forgiveness. None of us can do enough good deeds to achieve a right standing before God. And yet, on the other hand, all of us can put our faith in God’s, one and only son, Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul tells us here in Romans chapter 3, God is the one who sets things right. He provides a solution for the problem of sin. He fixes what we cannot fix on our own. And through the death of Jesus Christ, we have the forgiveness of our sin. Well, he makes that point one more time, here in the third chapter of Romans. Note these words, beginning with verse 25: <God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood -to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.> Well, he makes the point in a different way there in those two verses. But that is the basic message of Romans. He reminds us, God fixes, He solves our sin problem when we put our faith in Jesus. Some of the people to whom the Apostle Paul were writing were being imprisoned by the Roman authorities. Some of them were imprisoned unfairly. They did not do anything wrong. They simply had professed the name of Jesus Christ. They were living in darkened cells, prison cells, if you will. And they were without light, they were without food. They had all kinds of problems and difficulties. But from time to time, someone who knew them would come along and pay a price, a bond, if you will, and that person would be set free. They could get back to their normal way of living. They were not imprisoned anymore. And something similar happens even with people today. Someone will pay a price so that another individual could be released from prison. And Jesus did that for all of us in a spiritual way. When He died upon the cross, He took away our burden that comes with being enslaved to sin. We're behind prison bars; that's the sin. That is what keeps us from having that right relationship with our Father in heaven. But Jesus came and He paid a debt. We can never pay it back. He paid a debt that He did not owe, and we have a debt, now, that we can never pay. And yet that simply demonstrates the love of God, how much He loves you and loves me; that He allowed His Son to die on our behalf. In other words, Jesus Christ, himself, became our ransom payment when He purchased our free salvation on the cross. When someone gives us a gift, are we tempted, at times, to offer them some money in return? Do we try to pay that person an amount of money for the gift we have received? Well, think about what that would look like on the other end. How would that person feel? They might feel offended. They might simply want a word of thank you. But they don't want any money because they've made a sacrifice to purchase a gift to give it to someone, and now they want you to have that. And that's the idea we find here with Jesus Christ. That’s the image Paul presents. God offers to us a gift. He wants us to say thank you and to freely receive that gift. Oh, God wants us to do good deeds. He wants us to live good lives that are pleasing and acceptable in His sight. But all of that is for the purpose of declaring our thanksgiving to God for what He has already done for us. Our gift of salvation has already been purchased. It's already there and made available. And as Paul points out, God is the one who has already done that. He has already set things right, which were out of place. He has already offered a solution for our sin problem, and it all focuses on the sacrifice His Son made on our behalf. You know, there are difference in all people. There are no two people who are alike. Even if we think about identical twins. All of us have some different tendencies. We have different backgrounds or different cultures from which we come. But there is one thing everybody has in common. We all have a sin problem and we all need a solution for it. Because of that, there is no room for any of us to have any amount of pride in our hearts. We are to eliminate all kind of arrogance in our life when it comes to our salvation. None of us as individuals, none of us as groups of people can ever place ourselves above anybody else. And God asks, therefore, for us to live at peace with one another in a new kind of community within all kinds of people. And that new community, the common ground in which we find our similarity, is in Jesus Christ. It’s the faith that we have in what Jesus did for us is sufficient. And so when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, there is no distinction. We all have the same problem, but we all have the access to the same solution. As Paul continues to write, he is moving toward, I believe, one primary point he wants to emphasize, in chapter 15. Notice these words in verses 5 and 6: <May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.> And the question we might ask our self today is this: Are we willing to live within this kind of community that God has created together with other people; no matter who they are, no matter where they come from, no matter what they look like? But, we are all together in one, in the family of God. You know, if we accept God's grace through our faith in Jesus, then we become a part of that community of faith. And that’s good news; that God welcomes all people into His family. And that is the message he communicates to us here in Romans chapter 3. No matter who we are, no matter what our background might be our sin problem is dealt with when we have put our faith in Jesus Christ. When we willingly receive God's free gift of salvation, we understand it's not reserved for us alone. It’s offered to everyone. No one has an exclusive right to it, but we are accepted as part of God's family; and then we accept all of the people who have received that very same gift. As recipients of that salvation, there is no room for any of us to say we are better than anyone else. The Jews are not better than the non-Jews. Men are no better than the women. The wealthy are no better than those who are poor. And Paul makes that point clear in some of his closing words here in that 3rd chapter, verses 27 and 28: <Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.> In a world today where there seems to be so much inequality, God makes us all equal through the blood of His son, Jesus Christ; for in that blood of sacrifice we receive that free gift of salvation. And aren't we thankful for it! With that, we are also able to receive all of the blessings and all of the promises that God affords to those who are His children. Our sin is forgiven. We have the promise of eternal life. And we are now free to live out that life, representing the One who has paid such a tremendous cost on our behalf. At the foundation of Paul's message is an encouragement for us to receive the free gift of salvation that He provides for us through the loving sacrifice of His son, Jesus Christ. And we do that when we put our faith in Him. We believe Him. We trust Him; that He is the only source of eternal life. Now, we have heard and perhaps have even made the statement before, “the best things in life are free.” You know, in some ways I suppose that might be true. But for a person seeking a solution to his or her sin problem, that is absolutely true. It is the free gift of God that is available to all who put their faith in Jesus Christ. And the prayer that I would offer on behalf of all of us today is that we recognize that free gift. We put our faith in Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, and then begin to enjoy the blessings and the promises that God has in store for all of His children.

**VIDEO CLIP

It seems to me the cost of goods is always going up, and perhaps you would say the same thing. The money we spend to get a bag of groceries costs more than it did last year. Oh, we might spend the same amount of money, but we put less in the bag. And we know how that works. That's just the way things are. Sometimes a store, however, will offer something free if we buy enough of a different product. And we've all experienced something along that line; and yet that seems to be happening less and less. Well, that's not the way it is with the salvation we receive from Jesus Christ. We receive something from Him that is absolutely free. We don't have to pay for that because Jesus already paid for it. He paid for it with His life. He purchased our salvation when He died upon the cross. And that blood was the amount, what was needed. And we can be thankful for that. We don't do good deeds in order to pay for it. Oh, the good deeds we do represent the salvation we already enjoy. But we appreciate what Jesus did for us. It cost us nothing, but it cost Him everything. On occasion, we may not find exactly what we need in our favorite grocery store. We don't get those good bargains. We don't get anything that's free. But I want us to remember something today; the salvation that we find in Jesus Christ is always free. We don't need a bargain. We don't need to buy anything in order to get what Jesus has already done for us. It’s free, and we can be thankful for that. We can rejoice and we can live a life that is free in Jesus Christ. And I hope you are doing that, today.

**CONCLUSION

Thank you for joining us for today's message on “Key to the Kingdom.” I hope it reminded us of the privilege and of the opportunity which we have to receive God's free gift of salvation, knowing that it happens when we put our faith and trust in His son, Jesus Christ. The Lord is something very special when He sent His son, Jesus, into this world; not to condemn us, but to save us through Him. If you would like to hear or to view this message again, it can be found on our website, at keytothekingdom.com. On the website you can also find other lessons which might be of interest to you. Short Bible studies and summaries of the Bible are also on the site, and these might be helpful as you continue to grow in your knowledge of and in your relationship with Jesus Christ. Please keep in mind there is never a cost and there is never an obligation to access any of “Key to the Kingdom's’ messages or information. Another way to keep up with “Key to the Kingdom” is through a free app which you can download on to your smart phone. Thank you again for joining us for today's broadcast and I invite you to join us again next time as we continue to study the Bible on “Key to the Kingdom.”