The wages of sin is death and Christ paid our debt in full!

Believers, imagine a criminal being guilty of a crime worthy of the death penalty and the Judge giving His own Son up to die so the prisoner can be set free forever! That's you and I in Christ today!

Because many of us think that we are "not that bad," we don't get the scope of what Christ did for us on the cross so we don't see Him as Saviour to the uttermost. Many of us feel that we deserve or receive God's blessings because of what we did or didn't do. Not so. God gives us ALL things FREELY with Christ says Romans 8:32.

In a human court of law, someone who stole bread because he was hungry can be given a slap on the wrist while a rapist ritualist armed robber caught with severed heads in his bag would get the death penalty. But under the Law of Moses, both are in the same boat of unrighteousness; cursed and on death-row. 

In many churches, leaders single out particular sins for condemnation but in the eyes of the Law that they teach their members to keep, the one who only lied about his location for a good reason is as damned as the vile homosexual child rapist murderer! According to James 2:10, break one law and you're guilty of all, and the wages of sin, "stole a pin" sin or "killed someone deliberately and viciously" sin, is death. God hates sin to the uttermost. And all have sinned. See Deuteronomy 28:15:

“But it shall come about, if you do not listen to and obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, then all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:"

Being careful to do ALL and not "I'll do my best and God will understand that I tried and Jesus will do the rest." Mixing law and grace (neither cold nor hot) is an abomination to the Lord.

God saw how hopeless our case was and so sent His own Son to bear our curse and die our death, because He loved us so.

Pastors and leaders, unveil the love of Christ to the world instead of nit-picking on particular sins and telling people things like "stop fornicating, stop stealing, stop wearing weaves, or else." While this is important, it cannot save anyone. These things are fruits of sin, not the root. You might as well tell a cancer patient to go and heal himself by sheer self-will and determination and without treatment! 

Only by "one Man's obedience" are we made righteous in the sight of God. It is this gift that makes believers reign in life through Christ, (Romans 5:19) including reigning over sin. What's the point of having clean outsides but dirty insides? The dirt inside will sooner or later manifest on the outside.

What the people need is Someone to redeem them from their lawless deeds that hold them captive. See Christ's work to this effect in Titus 2:14-

"who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works."

Sinners cannot redeem themselves from their own lawless deeds. A price (death) has to be paid. Jesus paid this price for all. Telling people to "stop this" or "do that, or else" cannot save anyone. With a lot of effort, a person might succeed in breaking out of the prison of sin that holds him captive but it is only a matter of time before the authorities (Satan's temptations, oppression and accusations,) emboldened by the Law, catches him and buries him deeper in that sin. Because he got out of jail without paying the wages of sin, even this person's temporary "freedom" would be spent in fear, hiding from the authorities that want to return him to prison! No peace!

But when the love of Christ, expressed in His undeserved, unmerited favour (Grace!) is unveiled from the pulpit, the people will be transformed from within, as it is written in 2 Corinthians 3:18-

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

When the love of Christ is unveiled to the sinner and not the Law, right living will follow effortlessly. 

True deliverance is not about doing our best to suppress the desire to sin and making sure we do the right thing always by our own strength. No one can do this. Peter's denial of Christ shows us that the arm of flesh will fail. True deliverance is Christ removing the desire to sin from us and His Spirit transforming us to the image of His glory, from glory to glory.

By His grace, let Christ be your Saviour to the uttermost.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.