Jesus Christ took away the sins of the entire world: past, present, and future, never to be
remembered by God again. He died for all, but you have to accept the pardon that He
paid with His life. Going back some time ago, I remember reading an article about this
prisoner somewhere in the southern United States who was pardoned. He was granted a
pardon by the governor but he refused to accept it. He would not accept the pardon at
all. His friends took it to court because his friends wanted him out of jail. The judgment
was that yes, a pardon could be granted, but it wasn’t valid until it was accepted by the
individual. Likewise, there’s a pardon for every sinner on this earth, but you have to call
for it by faith before it becomes yours. In other words, you have to accept and trust
Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior and what He accomplished for you, a sinner, on
Calvary’s cross.
Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is (spiritual) death, but the gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord.” The apostle Paul summarizes the subject by presenting these
vivid contrasts:
1. Two masters – sin versus God
2. Two methods – wages (works) versus free gift(grace).
3. Two aftermaths – spiritual death versus eternal life.
Notice that eternal life is in a Person, and that Person is Christ Jesus our Lord. All who
are in Christ have eternal life. It’s as simple as that!