CHAPTER I


The Wages of Sin Versus the Gift of God

"For the wages ofsin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

Webster defines wages as "a stipulated payment for service performed." Every activity of human life has as its
objective some reward. Nor is it necessarily a selfish motive that prompts man to aim at compensation in life.

Responsible parents can be satisfied with no less a reward than children brought successfully to maturity and sent forth into
society to live honorable and useful lives and make worthy contributions to their generation. Teachers in the classrooms
expect as their reward, in part at least, the mental and cultural development of the students under their instruction.

The businessman expects success and a reasonable profit in his business enterprise. The manual laborer or office worker
anticipates the receipt of his paycheck with which he may be able to pay his rent and grocery bill, and meet the other
necessities of life for his family.

The Wages of Sin is Man's Earned Reward

Three facts may be definitely stated with reference to wages. First, wages are paid by the one for whom the work
is done; second, wages are paid to the one who does the work; third, wages are paid in proportion to the amount and quality
of work done. In the light of these generally recognized principles, is it not strange that so many should labor faithfully
and diligently throughout life in the service of sin and Satan and expect at the termination of life to present themselves
before God, against whose interests they have diligently labored, for the reward of eternal life!

The wages of sin is physical death. Physical death culminates at the departure of the spirit or personality, the
ego, from its temporal dwelling, the body. What physical man should have been in the absence of sin scientists and philosophers have been unable to determine; what he is to be when saved, purified and transplanted does "not yet appear" (1 John 3:2 KJV). But that physical suffering, disease, and decay are traceable to sin, not necessarily directly, although in some instances a direct connection is undeniable, sound reasoning leads man to conclude. Sin, as the violation of the laws that govern physical life, laws established by God, merits and procures for the transgressor the sentence of death. Execution may be delayed, but it is only a matter of time. The duly earned wage of sin against physical law is physical death.

The wages of sin is mental death. All sin originates (observe that it is not stated that sin exists in or is confined
to, but originates) in the mind of man. Evil conceived and nurtured in the mind usually finds expression in a life of
unrighteousness. Sin thus conceived and nurtured will be duly rewarded in the payment of death to the mother of its
conception. Human experience and observation bear unmistakable testimony to the existence of beautiful, living, well-
formed and healthy bodies indwelt by minds that are dead to all of life's highest ideals and values, minds in which
decomposition and decay have done their deadly work. Nor are these unfortunate persons to be found only in the
hospitals for the mentally ill or violently insane. Mental stagnation or perversion occasioned by disobedience to
natural and divine law ultimately eventuates in mental degeneracy and death.

The wages of sin is death to moral and spiritual values. Persistent, willful sin against God eventually severs man 5
spiritual relationship with God. The soul deprived of the presence of the Divine is rendered incapable of
self-preservation, and rapidly falls into a state of moral death and decay. Man deprived of spiritual relationship with God becomes morally irresponsible and may lose natural affection for his home and family and neglect their interests, murder his
neighbor, illegally possess himself of the property of others, turn traitor to society and civilization, and thus merit the
wages of death-exclusion from society and God. The chief character in Edgar Allan Poe's masterpiece of horror, The
Black Cat, exemplifies well the possibility of 'conscience crucifixion' with its resultant moral and spiritual death.

The wages of sin is everlasting death. EverlastAng death is permanent separation from God, with all of its attendant
horrors. There is a teaching of modern psychology to the effect that all that is known to man is known by
comparison or contrast. If this is true, as some hold, then death, in consideration of the existence of sin, is the natural
antithesis of life, and everlasting destruction is but the logical antithesis of final preservation and glory. Hell, in view of
the Fall and the consequent existence of sin, is the logical antithesis of heaven.

The infidels and skeptics of a few generations ago were not altogether amiss when they objected to the doctrine of
everlasting destruction on the grounds of God's goodness and mercy for His creatures. Where they so seriously erred
was in failing to comprehend that man's soul is not lost in eternity through the lack of divine mercy, but rather as con-
sequent upon the life he has lived, or the course he has pursued. Man chooses his own destiny. Everlasting separation
from God and consequent destruction are the natural results of the life he has lived. Death or separation, for such is death
in its final analysis, is the due reward rendered for the service of sin. The attitude of sinful persons and the deeds of
sinful lives, from their very nature automatically and everlastingly separate those persons from God, whose very nature
is holiness, righteousness, and justice. Anything less than such a separation would be a gross reflection on the character
of God. "The wages of sin is death."

The Gift of Eternal Life is by God's Grace

"A gift is the voluntary transfer of real or personal property, without any consideration" (Webster). A fourfold
proposition may be stated with regard to God's gift of life to humanity.

God's gift of life to humanity is gratuitous. God was under no obligation to fallen humanity, morally or otherwise,
to bestow life upon them while they were dead in trespasses and sins. Man procured the penalty of death through willful
disobedience to the known will and law of God. Man has no claim upon God for restoration of life. God, out of the super-
abundance of His love for the human race, offered the gift of life through His Son Jesus Christ. "God so loved the world,
that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
God's gifts of the to humanity is unmerited. In the words of the great commentator, Adam Clarke, "A man may merit
hell, but he cannot merit heaven-a sinner goes to hell because he deserves it; a righteous man goes to heaven because Christ died for him." Were it not that God's love and mercy transcend His justice, all men would stand
everlastingly condemned before Him. Man may not hope for salvation on his own merit, but in the transcendent love and
mercy of God in Christ. A sinner dare not plead for God's justice. He must ask for mercy if he is to hope for eternal life.
God's gift of life to humanity cannot be earned. The aggregate wealth of humanity could not purchase from God a moment of life. A dying queen is reported to have exclaimed, "Millions of money for a minute of time." Money
may help to prolong physical life, but it will not purchase a moment of either physical or spiritual life when death
appears. The blood that flows in royal veins, the power wielded by the dictators of earth, or the wealth of oil rich
nations cannot move God from the course of justice. The most logical and convincing arguments produced by the
brain trust of society will not cause God to deviate from the course of justice. The most righteous and devoted labors of
man cannot procure from God the bestowment of life. How, then, cries sinful man in desperation and near despair, can
man be saved-"what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30).

The answer is found in the words of sacred writ: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved" (Acts 16:31).
God's gift of life to humanity is through Jesus ChrisL "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the
Son of God does not have the life" (1 John 5:12). "In Him (Christ) was life" (John 1:4). This is a proposition which will
bear careful analysis. The doctrine of spontaneous generation in natural science has been sufficiently disprove4 to
merit little if any further consideration. With Henry Drummond we would observe that in order that the inanimate may
become possessed of life, life must be transmuted from the animate to the inanimate kingdom. The inanimate will for-
ever remain inanimate unless the animate world reaches down and transmutes life to it, and thus transforms and transplants it into the higher realm of the living. Man through sin is rendered spiritually inanimate. Life is non-resident in him. Spiritual spontaneous generation is non-existent. Man must forever remain in the realms of death, unless life is transmuted to him from a higher source. God is that one and only source of higher life. This need of transmuted life for mankind is met in the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ the Son of God. In conversation with the Jewish Ruler, Nicodemus, Jesus said, "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). "You must be born again" (John 3:7). God in Christ reaches down into the spiritually inanimate kingdom and touches lost humanity with His life, thus transforming and transplanting man into the kingdom of His life-"the kingdom of His beloved Son" (Col. 1:13). "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).

Man is hopelessly self-imprisoned in the inescapable jail of his own sin until he is freed by the only Victor over sin and its consequences, that Man Jesus Christ. No one has comprehended and expressed more eloquently man's hopelessness without God than the French existential thinker, Jean Paul Sartre, in his master-work No Exit! Christ who said "I am the door" is the only way out, the only Exit. Sartre and his followers had not found that Door! For them there was No Exit! But for the penitent believer, Christ Jesus, the Savior of men, is man's spiritual exit from the bondage of sin and spiritual death into the spiritual liberty of the sons of God.