For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
19 sermons cite this verse
… And the result is eternal life. The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Do you not know, brothers, from speaking to men who know the law, the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives. For example, by law, a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive. But if her husband dies, she's released from the law of marriage. So if she marries another man while her husband's still alive, she's called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she's released from the law as not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. So, my brothers, you also die to the law through the body of Christ in order that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work within our members, so we bore fruit for death. …
… Why does it matter? The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, that we've all sinned. We all actually deserve death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. How do you qualify for heaven? Well, the Bible's clear, it's not by works. It's by the grace of God you're saved through faith. So how are we saved? Well, if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, God raised him to the dead, the Bible says, not you might be, but you will be saved. You can know that you're saved and heaven bound. Now, when you confess Jesus, he says this, if you confess me publicly, I'll confess to you before my father. But if you're ashamed of me, he says, I'm not gonna confess to you before my father. So if you're not sure today, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna ask you to be sure, to just confess publicly. I believe Jesus is the Lord of my life. …
… and so death spread to all men or all mankind because all sinned. Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 10, verses 9 through 11, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. Romans 10, 13. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Make sure that's you. Call upon him today. Standing right now where you're at, you can say, Lord, I'm calling upon you. And the great prophet Isaiah said that if you'll call upon the name of the Lord, you shall be saved. And we try to complicate that. He's convicting you. He's calling you out. …
… that Paul's clear emphasis is this, that the death of Jesus was on our behalf and it was for our benefit. Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So do you want to continue to live your life drawing the wages of sin, or would you like to come to God and find the benefit of the gift of his eternal life? And the life that we now enter into is on the basis of his death. And the life into which we are brought is a life lived together with him. That's verse 10. He died for us so that—what? Whether we're awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Loved ones, this is a tremendously important truth in Scripture. It's absolutely crucial for us as we seek to live our Christian lives. It was summarized and sung so helpfully for us together in the words of the great hymn, My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. …
… What is the decree? Romans 6.23 tells us this. For the wages of sin is death. That's the decree. sin earns death. Because we've sinned, we deserve death. Not just physical death, but spiritual death. Separated from God because our sin separates us from him. We can't talk our way out of it. We can't work our way out of it. We can't be religious out of it. we can't be good enough to get out of it. The decree stands. So God didn't erase the decree. God overpowered it. And what did he do? God became flesh for God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son, Jesus. His son, Jesus lived the life we couldn't live. Perfect in every way, a lamb without spot or wrinkle, sinless life. And he died the death that we deserved. Condemned, crucified, and buried. Watch this. The cross was real. The tomb was real. His death was real. But real doesn't mean final. because three days later, when the stone was rolled away, Jesus was not there. …
… Okay? But look, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. I don't have to do what she wants me to do. He wants me to do because I belong to Jesus Christ. I'm in Christ. Romans 6.23 says this. for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans chapter eight, verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Listen, we are in Christ Jesus. Number two, we are children of God, like I was saying earlier. Children of God. John chapter one, verse 12. But as many as received him, To them gave he the right to become children of God. Who are they? To those who believe in his name. That's a decision you have to make. He wants you to receive him, but he'll never make you receive him. You've got to invite him in like you would any friend. Romans chapter 8, verse 16. The Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit himself, bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. …
… to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, which comes to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. So we might not perish, God gave us a gift. So we might have everlasting life, God gave us the gift of his only son. The Lord doesn't need our money and stuff, but he does want us. He wants a faith response from those who have been delivered from the conviction and damnation of sin. For Jesus' substitution and sacrifice, God wants our hearts, our worship, our thanks. If you doubt me, listen to Jesus. He said it clearly when he spoke to a woman by the side of a Samaritan well. The hour is coming and is now here. when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. …
… you know, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And furthermore, that the wages of sin is death, and the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord. Now, where this really hits the road is with this notion of Jesus being the one mediator. He says that there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. So that every religion that does not center on Jesus, that doesn't find the solution in Jesus, that is detached, if you like, from complete reliance on Jesus, is a false religion. And that, of course, is a message that is hard for people to wrestle with, and it is often difficult for us to explain. Not because we don't believe it or believe it firmly, but because we want to explain it in a way that is true to the Bible and takes into account the people to whom we're speaking. The transformation in the life of the woman in the well came about as a result of what we would regard as a very casual conversation that began with a simple request, you know, could I have a drink of water? …
… may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning you meant it for evil but God meant it for good the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life I like that I like that because the text lets us know they're shook and about to find out he can cook. How you find out how God cooks when you've been shook? Number one, this shouts to me right here. The text lets us know that you show up and you experience God showing out. Now, I got to give you sisters some major props because none of my boys showed up. Sunday morning, it was the sisters who showed up, though shook. That's why I know, and y'all, they were black women. They had to be black women because that's black women all day long. Black women have been shook, shook by an economy that targeted them. And 400,000 black women who had jobs before this administration don't have jobs right now because they were targeted by this administration. …
… Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is more of an objective gift that is given that when you, whatever state you're in in life, you know you've got the gift. Like if you're married, you don't ask married people, hey, do you have the gift of marriage? Well, yes, of course, I've got the gift of marriage. It's a gift and I'm married. And so there are others who would then say, well, singleness is similar. Like if you're single, then you've been given a gift. for that moment. Will it last for the next 10 years? I don't know. Will it last for the next 20 years, 50 years? Who knows? It's where Stott said, I have no doubt that there are some people who believe God has called them to be celibate and to commit themselves to celibacy for the rest of their lives. Personally, Stott said, I have real hesitations about the wisdom of that because I'm not convinced that people know, say in their early 20s, that God has called them to that. …
… took on the sins of the whole wide world. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. We sin by thought, by word, and by deed, but he didn't kill us in the middle of our sin. Jesus said let me die for them the only thing I want is for them to live for me it's for that reason that I say I don't know why Jesus loves me I don't know why he cares I don't know why he sacrificed his life but I'm so glad that he did I gotta go but I don't know why you standing there like you got a pristine reputation. I don't know how you sitting there like you ain't made no mistakes. I don't know how you are sitting there as if God didn't have a reason to kill you. But if you know he didn't have to let me live, he didn't have to let me live, he didn't have to let me live, but I'm grateful. …
And there's opportunities to repent, but it is one way that the wrath of God is revealed to show in a temporal way what God thinks about sin and lawlessness. There's another example, even more obvious, and that's Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is what? Death. Sin has a wage. What's the payment for sin is death. Now, this doesn't mean that when someone dies, that's God's, yep, I just punished that person, and that's why they died. It is to say, however, that every death is a reminder of the wages of sin. Every death, young person, middle age, at the very end of their full life of 90 plus years, every death is a way of saying God is angry with sin. Death has not finally been destroyed. It has been, and yet we haven't wiped up everything that death remains. So those are examples to come, but that's not what Paul is talking about in this immediate context. Those are ways that the wrath is being revealed. …
… Anytime you see but, something's about to change. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Right here, verse 32, but I have prayed for you. You've been sifted, but there's a shift. I've prayed for you. I've interceded for you, Jesus says. Here's why we can enter into 2026, because Jesus has prayed for us. And what did he pray? He said, number one, I'm praying, number one, that your faith should not fail. Don't you know it is your faith that moves God? It's your belief and confidence in God. Whatever you do, do not let the enemy take your faith. Amen. Believe God through thick and thin. Believe God. Know that he's a way maker. Believe it is your faith that causes God to move on your behalf. It's your confidence in God. I don't know where y'all are, but I believe God. It doesn't matter what happened, what comes down the pike, what goes on in my life. I believe God. …
… The cross of Jesus Christ is more than enough to take care of your sins past, present, and future. And Paul, in the second half of Romans 6.23, puts it perfectly. He says the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus. What do you do with a free gift? Do you earn it? No. If a free gift is being offered, you have two options. You either receive it or you reject it. And if you choose to receive it, you receive it through something called faith, which just simply means to fully trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross. And when you receive it, your sin, past, present, and future, fully paid for. There is now nothing that could separate you from the love of God. And Paul in Romans 5.20 says this wild statement. He says, where sin increases, Grace increases all the more. And Romans 6 is an answer to the wheels that might be turning in some people's minds. …
… I said, the news gets worse. We deserve eternal separation from God. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, right? In fact, you could take the book of Romans and go through this text for the wages of sin is death, Romans 6, 23, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It unpacks everything I was telling you. sin is the bad news death it's worse news but here's the pivot but the free gift the gift of God that's that's good news is eternal life and eternity lasts a long time through Jesus Christ our Lord so the Bible is just a nutshell narrative, bad news, worse news, good news, great news. And after I finished, here's what he, he's already asked me, what do I need to do? I said, well, I'll be happy to lead you in just a prayer to God about how to make this decision. so we prayed, and we both were weeping as he stepped over the line of faith and received the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, and I'm going to tell you guys something. …
… children and I'm making my business that okay if you wake me up in the middle of the night and you need to be saved I'm gonna say Romans 3 23 Romans 6 23 Romans 5 8 Romans 10 9 and 10 10 13 I know it by the heart. I not only know where it is, I can quote them to you. Come on, holler back at it, brother. Y'all think that's the pastor's job. It's not just the pastor's job, it's everybody's job who claims to be a child of the Most High God. And the tragedy is some of y'all have been a part of this church for a long time and you still haven't learned how to share the gospel. God, I can't get no help up in here. I can't get no support. I can't get no help. Y'all don't understand what I'm saying. I feel like I'm talking to myself. I'm challenging you to be in a posture or position to be able to share the gospel with somebody, with your friends, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors, coworkers, enemies, and your strangers without notes. Y'all, listen, y'all are not going to stand before God and God asks you, did you know how to share the gospel? You are not going to be able to say, John Jenkins didn't tell us. …
… the righteousness of God in Christ, how certain are you that you would have eternal life? And what he's been telling us all through this text is that it is a gift. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. He said it a different way, for it is by grace you have been saved, Paul wrote, through faith. Grace through faith. And it is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. It's not by works. That's not how you get the access. That's not how you get the right standing. That's not how you get justified. That's not how you get the righteousness. That's not how you get peace with God. You don't get those things by works. They are a gift. so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. So he does want us to live a great life, but you don't get saved by living a great life. …
… now who in this world who listening to me tonight can afford for god to stop forgiving you all have sinned and come short of the glory of god the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life who in here can afford i mean think about it now for god to say all right no more forgiveness for you no more no no no everything you do wrong you're gonna pay for it every time you mess up i'm gonna make sure you reap exactly what you sow who in here can afford i want to see the hands right in yeah you put your hand up in the chat if you can afford that no i think we all need grace no i think we all need god's love i i think we all need god's mercy i think we all need compassion i think we all need some forgiveness so if we all need it don't just need it pass it along distribute forgiveness because you've been a recipient of forgiveness and when you have a church that embraces forgiveness you have a church that's gonna explode in growth because people can be in the church and know perfection is not a prerequisite perfection is not a prerequisite for me to be at this church i can fall i can fall short i can mess up and the church my leaders are not going to hang me on a cross because i fell short but i'm going to be embraced i'm going to be forgiven because we're unifying church i mean i i mean …
… FORGIVEN AND WHOSE SINS ARE COVERED. THE LAW SAYS, THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH. THE GOSPEL SAYS THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. THE LAW DEMANDS HOLINESS. THE GOSPEL GIVES HOLINESS. THE LAW SAYS DO. THE GOSPEL SAYS DONE. THE LAW MAKES BLESSING THE RESULT OF OBEDIENCE. THE GOSPEL MAKES OBEDIENCE THE RESULT OF BLESSING. THE LAW PUTS THE DAY OF REST AT THE END OF THE WEEK. THE GOSPEL PUTS IT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WEEK BECAUSE WE HAVE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST. THE LAW SAYS, IF, THE GOSPEL SAYS, THEREFORE. THE LAW SAYS, RUN, BUT IT GIVES US NO LEGS. THE GOSPEL SAYS, FLY, AND IT GIVES US WINGS. WHY? WHY? BECAUSE CHRIST FULFILLED THE LAW. HE SAID, I DIDN'T COME TO DESTROY THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS. I CAME TO FULFILL IT. AND WHEN GOD FORGIVES MY SIN, GOD DOESN'T OVERLOOK HIS LAW. GOD DOESN'T SAY THE LAW DOESN'T MATTER. OH, MY DEAR FRIEND, LISTEN, JESUS PAID IN FULL FOR MY SIN DEBT. …