Eternal Life is through Jesus

Why do we need the grace of God? We need the grace of God because without God’s grace–His gift of righteousness for us, we would have nothing to look forward to except death. Well, how did I arrive at that conclusion? Simple: did you do anything worthwhile on your own accord to warrant life? That is to say, are you better than any other person that ever lived before you? If the answer is no, then death is your reward for living.

Morbid truth, I know. If we were to do a sociological pathology of death, we would find death is hereditary: it came from the first humans. Whether or not you believe in evolution, this one thing is clear, our ancestors are all dead and when people in the future look back, we will also be dead. Check out what the Apostle Paul writes to the church in Rome in the first century.

¹² Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— ¹³ for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. ¹⁴ Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

Romans 5:12-14 ESV

Something here you may not understand: what is sin? Sin is not breaking the law. So just because you never broke the law doesn’t mean that you are sin free. Sin is actually disobey the command of God. We know this to be sin because Adam, the first human, sinned by doing what he was told not to do by God. He is the reason we inherited sin and therefore death.

The good news is that just because death is inevitable as a result of sin, it doesn’t mean all is lost for us. In fact, God gives us a way to receive life. BUT, it’s not passed down from parent to child, so as an individual, we must be responsible for ourselves to receive it. Let’s read how in Romans 5:15-17.

¹⁵ But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. ¹⁶ And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. ¹⁷ For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:15-17 ESV

A person can receive life through righteousness. Did you catch that in verse 17? Righteousness can be received as a free gift by receiving Jesus Christ. Yes, you read that correctly. Righteousness gives life. None of us have enough righteousness to have life. Our gene pool, family lineage, our humanity made sure that we would move further and further away from righteousness the longer we lived. However, hope is not lost because of it. Rather, God gives us the ability to receive righteousness from Jesus Christ, who is God’s son. All we have to do is receive him and receive his righteousness.

Now, you may be thinking this: if death comes as a result of sin, and if sin increases with age because of the accumulation of sins throughout a life time, then is there a point of no return where righteousness cannot cover my sins? That’s a good question, and the answer is actually found in verses 18-21.

¹⁸ Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. ¹⁹ For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. ²⁰ Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:18-21 ESV

Simply put, there is nothing you could have done that would not be covered by God’s grace through Jesus Christ’s righteousness. I love verse 20 because the Bible shows us hope: where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

Grace Triumphs Over Sin, Now What?

First, have you received the free gift of grace which is the righteousness of Jesus Christ? If no, then receive Jesus’s righteousness now by accepting him into your life now. There is nothing you need to pay, nothing you have to do, nothing you have to erase. Just receive Jesus because he washes your sin and the penalty of that sin by his blood shed on the cross.

Second, we learned that the gift of grace of righteousness that gives life is not hereditary, so we must share that information with our children, our friends, and family. They need to know how to receive the gift of righteousness that only comes from Jesus.