Musick-al note # 224
God sent his son into the world that he might redeem man (Titus 2:14). To that end Jesus gave his life blood for all of mankind (Colossians 1:14). In Hebrews 2:9, the writer states that “He by the grace of God tasted death for every man.” Also in Ephesians 1:7 Paul said that “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Did Jesus death on the Cross erase sin from the world? No, because we all have sinned (Romans 3:23). Are all men saved because Christ died on the Cross? If so, why then did Jesus speak of some being cast away into eternal punishment? (Matthew 25:46). Why did he and the writers of the New Testament warn about false teachers and their false doctrines that lead to eternal destruction (Matthew 7:15, 2 Thessalonians 6-11, 2 John 9-11, Galatians 1:6-9, Revelations 22:18-19)? Obviously, we are missing something that will harmonize these two ideas.
Two verses concerning sin come to mind. The first is Ezekiel 18:4 “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the sin is mine; the soul that sins shall die”. The next is Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Both of these verses say that ‘if you sin you must pay the penalty of death’! Sin holds the debt until it is paid. That payment is spiritual death – separation from God. God accepted the death of Jesus (who had no sin) for the sin-debt of all men. We must accept the fact that we still have our sins until we meet God’s conditions for forgiveness to get into Christ. Those conditions are: we must believe (John 8:24), we must repent (Acts 17:30), we must confess him (Matthew 10:32-33), we must be baptized into Him (Galatians 3:26-27) and we must live faithfully until death (Revelation 2:10, Matthew 24:13). Please note: Paul was required to be baptized to be cleansed of sin (Acts 22:16). Everyone who is baptized into Christ will receive the free gift of God which is eternal life. Everyone wants this gift, but not all are willing to meet God’s condition for pardon which is called ‘obeying the gospel’. God saves all who will come to Him by His Son (John 14:6, Hebrews 5:9). Those who fail to obey Jesus’ Gospel will die in their sin to suffer eternal punishment (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10). We must preach the Gospel continually so everyone will have the opportunity to be blessed in Christ Jesus.
Gordon Musick
Musick-al Notes 