Our pastor recently began the study of the book of Galatians on Sunday mornings. Paul wrote this letter to the churches in the region of Galatia, who had been infiltrated by false teaching. In this letter, Paul begins by first stating his position as an apostle, and the authority given to him by Jesus Christ directly. Paul lays out the goal of the gospel, which brings grace and peace for all who have faith in Jesus Christ. This gift is free and unmerited. It comes directly from God the Father, who by His loving will, desires to free us from the chains that have bound us in our sin. Our true relationship, created by God our Father, has been severed by our sins.  But through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, our relationship with God the Father has been restored. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is the penalty that the holiness of God demands. Forgiveness is not about sweeping our sin under the rug or God turning a blind eye to our wickedness. It is faith, and faith alone, in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that provides us with salvation.

When I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, I was not given a page of extra credit assignments. The gospel isn’t Christ+Me=Salvation. Jesus paid for all my sins, and I can add nothing towards the payment of that ransom! R.C. Sproul said, “We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.” Isaiah 64:6, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” By adding an additional requirement for salvation, we are not only elevating our own status, but we are diminishing the glory and power of the cross! I am so grateful that I was able to hear Billy Graham preach, before he passed into paradise. He said, “Sin was conquered on the cross. Christ’s death is the foundation of our hope, the promise of our triumph!”

Where does my hope really rest? Does it rest in my own efforts, that I can be good enough to earn God’s favor? What if I can’t? I don’t know about you, but I struggle so much! If I must still add to Jesus’s death and His atonement, where is my true hope? Romans 8:31-39 gives us all the hope we should ever need.  

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

You see, when we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, our hearts are turned, and we see how much He gave up for us. In that regard, we turn our lives to serve Him. But this doesn’t mean that we still must work off a list to earn our way into Heaven. Jesus paid our way fully! We work, now as believers, to show Him our devotion, our love, and to submit ourselves to His will. But our works do not add to the price that He paid. He paid it in full—and as He said as He gave up His spirit, “It is finished!”