A “wage” is something that you earn. It is a payment. By our sinning we have earned death. The payment of sin is death, not our good works. The payment of sin is death, not going to church. The payment of sin is death, not surrendering “all” to Christ. The payment of sin is death, not becoming a Christ follower. Good works are not the payment for sin, the payment for sin is death. Christ died in our place on Calvary's cross. It hurts my heart every time I find another toxic plan of salvation (damnation) on a website, religious tract or in a sermon.
How did the Gospel become so perverted in nearly every Bible college and church today? It happened because pastors stopped contending for the faith (Jude 1:3; Ephesians 5:11; Titus 1:9-14). The vast majority of pastors are sadly not preachers! They can administrate, teach and counsel, but they will not preach the truth. They cannot preach their way out of a wet paper bag. They are spineless cowards, paid and bought for by their complicit congregations, sitting idle for God, hindering the cause of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah 5:31, “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?”
Salvation is not a mixture of grace and works. We are saved by grace alone. Grace is God's unmerited favor for no other reason than He wants to do it. We don't do something that qualifies us to salvation. He simply saves those who are TRUSTING to be saved, not TRYING to be saved. It is the gift of God according to Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
If we could earn our way to Heaven, then it would be by works, not grace. Romans 4:4, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” You're not saved until you're helplessly lost and trust that only Jesus can save you. When you try to mix grace and works, you are trying to add and supplement what Jesus did through Calvary's cross to pay down your debt of sin.
The inspired Scripture declares in our text passage from Romans 6:23 that “the wages of sin is death,” and nothing but death can pay for our sins. That is why Jesus Christ died on a cruel cross 2,000 years ago to pay a debt that He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay. Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty. Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith.
Turning away from sinful ways would be a work. Faith puts all of the merit where it belongs, on the object of our faith, Jesus and His work. If to “repent” means to forsake our sinful ways TO BE SAVED, but Jesus already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, then what are we repenting from? The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU. If salvation is truly by grace, then you don't need to start or stop anything to be saved. Eternal life is a free gift from God (Romans 6:23).
One is saved by God's grace through faith in the finished Work of His Son on the Cross as payment in full as our pardon for sin. We must stay true to the simplicity of the Gospel. Repentance regarding salvation is a change of mind from unbelief to belief. We must earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 1:3). It is not the KIND of faith you have that saves you, but the OKJEST of your faith. Look to Jesus (Isaiah 45:22).
The Catholic church teaches through the sacraments God gives you the grace to live a faithful life and make it to Heaven by your works. That's exactly what they teach. John MacArthur teaches you not only have to put your faith in Christ, you have to live a faithful life. World Missionary Press teaches you must forsake your sinning to be saved.
These are all toxic false teachings not found in God's Word. Carnal living is not cured by adding works to the Gospel, it just makes people self-righteous. These poisonous teachings are focused on man's faithfulness and works instead of Christ's finished work of redemption. Titus 3:5, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”
