Salvation Is a Healing Gift, Not Wages

Jesus once described sin as an illness:

"And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”" (Luke 5:31-32) 

Sin is an illness that pervades every aspect of our being. Our actions, yes, but also our viewpoints, our emotions, and even our physical health. After all, death didn't enter the world until after the Fall. 

And what do you do when you're sick? You go to the doctor—Jesus, in this illustration—and he gives you something to fix it. 

Usually, that's medicine. Something to take that'll make you get better. 

Here's a question: what do you do to get that medicine? 

You ask. 

Though, the medicine does need to be paid for. You can't just expect the doctor to give it away free. 

 

Better illustration: Imagine a father caring for a sick child. The boy is so weak that he can hardly get out of bed. This is a struggle this boy has dealt with all his life—he has grown up an invalid, and has never been able to do anything that boys his age ought to be doing; running, playing, tearing around outside yelling like hooligans. All these are closed off to him. 

The father is caring for this little boy, and he badly wants him to get better. So far, the doctors haven't been able to help. Perhaps the problem isn't even diagnosed yet, and it's therefore impossible to treat. 

But one day, the father hears of a possibility. A doctor who's treated many cases of this kind, and who is coming to the area soon. Perhaps, the father thinks, this man will be able to save my son.

There's one catch: it comes with a pretty hefty price tag. One that will take up the entirety of the father's savings in order to pay, with some besides.

Does this give the father an instant of hesitation? 

No. He writes the check, consults with the doctor about the problem, and gets the treatment. And the medicine works, and the boy is up and running just a few days later. 

In this scenario, the cost of the medicine far exceeded any service the boy was able to provide for the father. He's a kid. He can't afford to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for expensive treatment. 

Not only is he just a child, but he's confined to his bed, and unable to do anything to help himself at all.

But the father paid for it, because the father loves his son. 

 

What does this have to do with us? It's a sweet story. Fatherly love, and a successful treatment plan by a genius doctor. But how do we fit in? 

Just like the boy in the story couldn't earn his health, we can't earn the "medicine" that God gives us to heal our sin. We're weak, we're helpless—Ephesians 2:1 says that we're "dead in our trespasses and sins." Dead people can't get a job to pay for the treatment that will make them alive. 

No, we need the treatment to be given to us. We need someone to take pity, and out of love make us alive. Our sin strangles us, and we cannot break its hold. 

Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Our death can only be reversed by a free gift. 

Our salvation is not something we earn. We can't earn anything, not even close to it. We're the bedridden invalid who's completely dependent on his or her caretakers for everything. Everything must be free, or we cannot have it. 

Isaiah 55:1 does say, "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!" 

 

It's not paid on credit, either. God doesn't expect that we'll be able to pay him back. 

Earlier, we read Romans 6:23. "The free gift of God is eternal life." 

The gift is free, and the gift is eternal.

It's a one-and-done deal. You've been given the gift, and so you're not going to lose it. If your heart is truly in Jesus's hand, then your heart is going to stay there forever. 

We don't have to earn our salvation at first, and we don't have to earn it after the fact. No, our illness isn't completely cured yet—that will only come in heaven—but we've been promised that someday it will be. And it no longer has dominion over us. 

Paul writes in Romans 6:2, "How can we who died to sin still live in it?" We were dead in sin, but now we are dead to sin. 

The word apothnesko in Koine Greek means "to die," and is used here in Romans 6. But an alternate translation is "to be freed from." 

We have died to sin by the saving work of Jesus Christ. We are no longer the weak, bedridden invalid. 

Now, we run free, because how can we who have been freed from sin still live in it?

The medicine is given to us without question of payment. Remember that, and don't try to act like it's our job to earn our salvation back from God—and be grateful, because it isn't.