SALVATION IS FREE

WISDOM FOR LIVING DAILY DEVOTIONAL

MARCH 16, 2023

TOPIC: SALVATION IS FREE

BY T. O. BANSO

“When people sin, they earn what sin pays—death. But God gives his people a free gift—eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 Easy-to-Read Version).

There are many good things that people desire but cannot afford; they don’t have enough money to buy them. If such people have someone who buys these things for them or gives them, they will be grateful to them.

However, there are some good things we enjoy in life that money cannot buy. God graciously made them available to us for free. One of them is the gift of life. Nobody has paid anything to be alive. When people are sick and go for medical treatment, they know how much they pay. Unfortunately, some people cannot access medical care because of poverty and sometimes die from curable diseases. The health that many people enjoy for the most part of their lives is free but some people hardly thank God for this regularly.

Also, the air human beings breathe in every time is free. Nobody pays anything to anyone to enjoy it. Some governments who like to impose taxes on their citizens for nearly everything would have loved to tax this if it were possible, knowing nobody can do without it! But no government has control over the air we breathe in. There are other free gifts of nature like that: rain, sunlight, and the like.

However, the best free gift of God to humanity is salvation. I don’t know why some people have refused to accept this gift of God as they have accepted and continue to enjoy other gifts of God. Salvation is free and everybody needs it, not only for the present time but the future. Salvation affects how one lives one’s life on earth and determines where one will spend one’s eternity.

Everybody needs salvation. The only person who doesn’t need salvation is the one who has not sinned. And Romans 3:23 says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. If all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God, it means that everyone needs salvation. “When people sin, they earn what sin pays—death. But God gives his people a free gift—eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 Easy-to-Read Version). The New King James version puts it this way: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Everyone needs to be saved and no one can save himself. It’s impossible. And because God wants everyone to be saved and no one can do so by his power, meet God’s requirement for salvation, or pay the required price, He sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the price.

Jesus did this when He shed His blood on the cross and died for the salvation of all or the forgiveness of our sins. 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (New King James Version). Salvation is free because sinners were bought at a price through the blood of Jesus (1 Corinthians 7:23a).

Salvation is free and nobody has any excuse not to be saved. Just as we enjoy other free gifts of God, we should enjoy the gift of salvation, which God has given us, knowing that we cannot pay the price. Only God Himself can and He has done that for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. All a sinner needs to do is accept the gift of salvation offered to him by God. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Salvation is free. Any sinner who died in his sins will have himself to blame because God has done all He needs to do to ensure nobody goes to hellfire. He sent His Son to die for our sins. Romans 5:8 says God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ died for us so that we could be saved. He shed His blood for us because, according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission or forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22).

God does not require the sinner to do anything to be saved but to come to Him and accept Jesus Christ as His Lord and savior. Why should that be difficult for anyone? Why should anyone think that he is righteous enough to escape hellfire or that hellfire is not real? Self-righteousness cannot save anyone. Only the righteousness of God imputed to sinners when they are saved will be acceptable to God.

Romans 10:3 says for they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. Self-righteousness is useless. Isaiah 64:6a says we are all like an unclean thing and all our righteousness is like filthy rags. Everyone needs God’s righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, God made Him [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Nobody’s work of righteousness can save him. Titus 3:5 says it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Salvation is free because we are saved by grace, not works. By grace, we have been saved (Ephesians 2:5b). “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 New King James Version).

Salvation is free. Come to Jesus today if you haven’t yet received God’s gift of salvation. Come before it is too late. God is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). But the opportunity will not be forever. Salvation is free. As Romans 10:9 says, if anyone confesses with his mouth the Lord Jesus and believes in his heart that God has raised Him from the dead, he will be saved. Should that be too difficult for anyone to do given the consequences of not being saved and one’s name not written in the Book of Life – the register of names of those saved? Anyone not found written in the Book of Life would be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).

Come to Jesus today. Jesus died to save you. He said He had not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance (Matthew 9:13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32). Salvation is free. It doesn’t mean it’s cheap. It cost God His only Son. Jesus paid for your salvation with His precious blood. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7 New King James Version). Sinners have redemption through His blood; they have the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:14).

Those who come to Him for salvation have been justified by His blood (Romans 5:9). There is no record of their sins again. It is just as if they have never sinned. This is what the death of Jesus in their place as punishment for their sins did. They have been reconciled to God through His death (Romans 5:10).   

Salvation is free. If anyone comes to Jesus today and accepts Him into his life, he will be saved. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13). Such a person will be justified. Paul said, as through Adam’s one sin judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, and also through Christ’s one righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life (Romans 5:18). 

There’s no reason for anyone to go to hellfire, for salvation is free.

TAKE ACTION!

If you are not born again, you need to give your life to Jesus now. I urge you to take the following steps: *Admit that you are a sinner and you cannot save yourself and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your life. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start attending a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church. There they will teach you how to grow in the Kingdom of God.

Kindly say this prayer now: O Lord God, I come unto You today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself.  I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and God raised Him on the third day. I repent of my sins and confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I surrender my life to Jesus now and invite Him into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me and making me a child of God.

I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You will need to join a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church in your area where they will teach you how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things and become all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. The Lord be with you.

PRAYER POINTS: Father, I pray that those who have not accepted God’s free gift of eternal life will do so today. Such people will accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Holy Spirit, let those who pride on their self-righteousness see their wretchedness and, in humility, surrender their lives to Jesus in Jesus’ mighty name.

(For over 900 in-depth and powerful messages by T. O. Banso, visit www.cedarministry.org).

T. O. Banso is the President of Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
Phone No: +2348155744752, +2348033113523
WhatsApp No: +2349081295947
Email: cedarministryintl@yahoo.com,
cedarministryng@gmail.com
Website: www.cedarministry.org