Romans 3:35-4:4: Nothing to Boast About

 Presented to TSA AV Ministries, 17 November 2024, by Major Michael Ramsay

Romans 3:35-4:4:

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his [patience] he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

 

The last two verses again: If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

 

I have been blessed. I am thankful that I received the King Charles III Coronation Medal last night – so thankful. As I said last night, I really do think this award is meant to honour all of us and  all of the work all of we do.

 

After not sleeping well the last couple of nights my mind started to wander as I read the scriptures in the very early hours of the morning. I realized that I have been blessed, I have been honoured a few times in my life.

 

These things do mean a lot to me – but - I know that I didn’t get The King Charles III medal or any other award because I work harder or better than anyone and everyone else. I know this and any and every other trinket (which mean so much to me) could easily have been given to others. I know it is the Grace of God when any of us receive honours and a blessing of God when any of us receive recognition. I do find it really humbling And I am glad that I received it for teamwork – even the MP mentioned that.

 

I am greatly humbled that God chooses to use us here in The Salvation Army the way He does. And I am very aware before God that I should never look at my ‘trinkets’ and think, “I deserved that; I am so good.” Most people work hard their whole life – many harder and better than I do -and never receive that acknowledgement. Everything is the Grace of God. I am so thankful to the Lord for that.

 

Romans 4:2-3: If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

 

Working hard is good but it is not what gets us awards and rewards. It doesn’t even, contrary to what some may think, get us better things in this life.

 

You don’t get rewarded with money by working hard. You don’t get rich by working at all (hard or not!). You know the secret to getting rich? Being rich! You get rich, if you are already rich. If you work 15 hours a day at minimum wage; if you work 20 hours a day at the average wage, you will never get rich. You may actually get poorer the way our system is set up now.

 

You know the sure-fire way to make money? – it is to have money. The richest families in the world today (apparently) by and large are the same richest families there were 400 years ago when the English first arrived in North America. If I have millions of dollars in the bank, I will make more money today in interest than I will if I work a whole day and a half without sleeping or doing anything else.

 

Hard work really does not give us temporal wealth any more than it gives us rewards. It doesn’t. Neither does working hard give us eternal rewards. It doesn’t.

 

Romans 4:2-3: If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

 

God cares about our relationship with Him. Something else struck me yesterday at the Gala. There were a number of things that went wrong – as there always will be. When the AV person came to me hat-in-hand about not having the tree on the screen at the correct time, I honestly didn’t mind. When the MC apologized anxiously from her heart about forgetting the MLA, I honestly didn’t mind. When other errors happened and people came to me and told me how things went awry, even as their boss, I didn’t mind. I encouraged them and I left feeling good about them and the work they were doing. I was proud of them. They made a mistake and because they came to me, I am confident they will strive to never make those mistakes again. They did great!... and no one was the wiser, and really, soon I will forget the little blips and just remember the great success as God really did bless us with a great event last night.

 

Now we have really great employees here who almost never complain about anything but I contrast this to when employees, in our day-to-day work, try to hide something from me, as their boss, or when I remind them that they did not do something and instead of chatting with me about it, they get defensive saying “that wasn’t me” or “its not my fault” or “I am not the only one” then I get quite upset. I lose a little respect for them. I learn that I can’t rely on them, I lose trust in them. And if this continues over time, I no longer ask them to do things and then, if it continues even more, I am not in relationship with them.

 

It is the same with God. If I do something wrong and get defensive, blame others, try to hide it, get angry, God will be hurt – just like I am as an employer. But if I make mistakes and come to God and tell Him I made a mistake, how bad I feel about it, and ask for the opportunity not to make that mistake again, God will forgive me. God loves me. God loves us.

 

The more I come to God even having made many mistakes, confessing them to Him, and remembering not to do the same thing again, the more I show God that I love Him and I trust Him. Then, just like I forgive my employees when they do that; so much more will God forgive and trust me and you and us when we come to Him in that way.

 

But when we let God down by accident or on purpose and then deny it, deflect it, excuse it, or blame God or someone else for it; we drive a wedge in our relationship with God. And then just like some employees walk away from their jobs when things start going in this direction; if we do this to God, I can’t imagine that it will be too long before we walk away from Him and that would break His heart. Because it is our relationship with God that He cares about. Our believing Him, our trusting Him, our loving Him.

 

Because God Loves us and He wants us to succeed and, as long as we come to Him, it doesn’t matter what we have done or how long ago we have done it, He will continue to love us and trust us and He will trust us even more with things of this world and the next. Let us believe God in this.

 

Romans 4:2-3: If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

 

Our salvation for here and now and forever has nothing to do with how hard we work. It has everything to do with how much we love the Lord – and by the way, when I love my boss, I work very diligently for them.

 

So my encouragement for us all today is let us work hard for the Lord -nnot striving to win or accomplish anything or out of fear of not accomplishing things - but just out of pure love for our saviour.

 

Let us pray.

 

Thank you Lord that we are saved by your faithfulness and that when we believe you and trust you our relationship with you will deepen and grow. Thank you that you love us for now and forever.

 

Amen.

2024 Hope in the Valley Address (Romans 12:15, Matthew 25:34-40)

Presented to the Alberni Valley Community at Italian Hall, 16 November 2024, on the occasion of the presentation of the King Charles III Coronation Medal and The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries 'Hope in the Valley' Gala to Launch the Christmas Season, in the presence of the MP, MLA, Chief Councilor of Tseshaht First Nation and Chief Councilor of Hupacasath First Nations and other gathered guest, by Major Michael Ramsay

 

Two very important things to do before we start today are: to honour the Nations who’s traditional and un-ceded territories we are meeting on and to honour the Creator.

 

Many of you who know me here, know that this is a very important picture to me. It is a poster of a Roy Henry Vickers painting entitled’ Easter 1985’. A few years ago, Remi and Ruby Tom presented it to me with the words Haatapi Hawit (Creator) written underneath.

 

It is on the door of my office for everyone to see and whenever my door is open and I lift up my eyes from my desk there is an image of Haatapi Hawit (Creator) in front of me.

 

It is the Creator that we serve in everything we do.

 

With that in mind, let us pray:

Haatapi Hawit (Creator). Lord, thank you. We know that you have provided everything that there is in the world and you have tasked us to take care of your creation and all of your creatures. Thank you for all the people present here who have been faithful in that regard. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to serve one another. Amen.

 

I would now like to honour the Tseshaht and Hupacasath First Nations and the Nuu-chah-nulth people for welcoming us and allowing us to work alongside you and in these your traditional and un-ceded territories.

 

I have such a deep respect for both of you Brandy and Ken personally, your councils, your families, your teams and all that you do - not for only members of your nations but for so many others in the Valley here. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention your father Ken, George Watts; for George was a good close and personal friend to my father-in-law and Susan’s family.

 

Thank you so much Ken, Brandy, Tseshaht and Hupacasath for all that you do and for welcoming us and allowing us at The Salvation Army to work alongside you in these your traditional and un-ceded territories.

Major Michael was presented the King Charles III Coronation Medal for making significant contributions to the community specifically relating to bringing community groups together for a common purpose.

Major Michael Ramsay's written comments:

Thank you so much for this recognition of the work that has been done through the people working with and alongside the Salvation Army. It is a real privilege for us to be honoured alongside other people and organizations in our community that do so much such as

·        Marlene Dietrich of Abbey Field

·        Grace George

·        Jeanette Watts

·        Cyndi Stevens & Friendship Center

·        David Wiwchar and the Toy Run

In the Salvation Army we have a salute to recognize that all good that is done is really done by the Creator through us. – SALUTE. Thank you

The Salvation Army and all that we do here is a team sport. I was thinking what are some of the ways that we are like various sports teams? – and immediately it came to me that there is one way that The Salvation Army is NOT like a sports team. We are not like a baseball team… there is no crying in baseball.

 

There are lots of tears in The Salvation Army. There is not a week that goes by without staff, volunteers, soldiers, congregants, and / or community members crying. And there is a lot to cry about.

 

Jennifer Osbourne, one of our friends at the Bread of Life Centre, has made this wonderful graphic of a tree made by Jenifer Osborne. The leaves on that tree each have the name of one of our friends there who has passed due to addiction. The tree has way too many leaves. The tree has new leaves way too often.

 

There are lots of tears at The Salvation Army. We have been touched by more than one suicide since we chatted at the Christmas Kick-off last year.

 

·       We have lost many friends from overdoses.

·       We have lost friends through violence.

·       We had one friend recently die from burns.

·       We have seen many friends slip back into addiction.

·       We have seen friends experience homelessness – for the very first time this year.

 

We have seen more seniors than ever before needing to eat at the soup kitchen and get their groceries from the food bank – for the first time ever.

 

There are lots of tears of sadness at The Salvation Army.

 

Romans 12:15: says, weep with those who weep; rejoice with those who rejoice

 

And there are also tears of rejoicing at TSA

 

There are lots of success stories we hear and celebrate with our team.

 

People have already thanked me saying that they wouldn’t have a Christmas without The Salvation Army. This brings tears to my eyes.

 

This year we were able to provide food hampers to more than 1500 people – on top of the 1200 people we helped with Christmas hampers last year. And we expect even more this year.

 

In 2024, you, through your support have provided more than 112,500 warm meals through the Bread of Life kitchen

 

In 2024, you, through your support have provided a safe place for 2000 people to sleep plus another almost 500 more during extreme weather

 

And - this brings real tears of joy to me too – as well as providing a safe place for folks experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity – ten of the people who stayed with us this year, we were able to help find stable permanent housing.

 

We are also so thankful to partner with the Friendship Center to provide meals for their guests at the Tiny Homes Village and the Shelter. There we have provided more than 90 000 meals for our friends.

 

We are so grateful also to all the organisations that partner with us on the Salvation Army food truck. Elim Tabernacle (Bruce, Belle, and team) has been partnering with us on The Salvation Army food truck on Mondays for many years now, as has Khalsa Aid (Kim, Raghbir and team) on Tuesdays. They also recently provided some much-needed bedding for our shelter. Kinsmen (Barb and Steve) take meals out on the food truck every Wednesday, and Arrowsmith Rotary has been serving people in need on Thursdays for a very long time now as well. With the support of these groups, we have served more than 7000 meals to people in need this year.

 

You, through all your support, have also provided so much clothing to those in real need this year. 

In 2024, you through your support, have helped so many children as well. You sent 33 kids to camp who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to go to camp – Some for the very first time.

 

You, through your support, have also provided 144 children with backpacks full of school supplies so that on the first day of school they have new items to help them learn – just like their friends.

 

You, through your support, have also provided 1152 litres of milk for children and families in need.

 

You, through your support, have also provided 1120 lunches for children who eat at the schools during the school year but don’t have access to those meals during the summer.

 

All of you in this room, in some way, have contributed to this and so much more. This really does bring tears of joy to my eyes; so, while there may be no tears in baseball, the love and work all of you provide for those in need in our community really does bring tears to my eyes. Well done team!

 

I am now going to speak a blessing over us. This blessing is from  Matthew 25:34-40:

³⁴ “Then the [Lord] will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 

⁴⁰ “The [Lord] will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

 

My friends this is your blessing; for this is who you are, in all you do.

 

Thank you.

Remembrance Day Address 2024 (Romans 5:7-10 and Isaiah 11:6)

Presented to the Alberni Valley community at the Community Remembrance Day Ceremonies at the Glenwood Centre by Major Michael Ramsay, Padre, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 293, on 11 November 2024

 

August 4^th,1914 Canada, as part of the British Empire joined World War One. Four years later, when the fighting ceased on November 11^th, 1918, there were 888,246 Commonwealth soldiers who never returned home – over 18% of them, 160 000, were Canadian, Newfoundland, and First Nations soldiers.

 

Then from September 10^th, 1939, until August 14^th, 1945; 1,159,000 Canadian, Newfoundland and First Nations service people served in World War 2 and when the war was over, a further 44,090 Canadian, Newfoundland and First Nations service people had laid down their lives.

 

Robert (Robin) Watson was just 14 years-old when he joined the Army. On Thursday, at the Field of Honour. we held a memorial service for him; he was 96 years old. He was, I believe, the Valley’s last surviving Word War II veteran.

 

Many people marched out of the Valley to serve God, King, and Country in the first world war, the second world war and the conflicts that followed. In past years here I have shared many of their stories.

 

Today I would like to add to those stories, remembrances of George (Bud) Hamilton, James George, Eduard Clutesi and others. They were among the Nuu-Chah-Nulth soldiers who left the Valley here offering their lives for us, our ancestors, our descendants, our families, our friends and our allies.

 

George, 'Bud' Hamilton, as he was known, was the youngest boy in his family. He was a young Hupacasath man. He was a residential school survivor. Even so, he volunteered to serve with the Canadian forces during the second world war. He was a bright and resourceful young man. On his tests before entering the military, it is recorded that he was above average intelligence.

Letters he wrote home, to his dad Clifford, still exist. He wrote about how he applied to transfer to the navy. He wrote about how he looked forward to going fishing with his dad when he returned home from the war.

 

Bud Hamilton landed at Juno beach with the Canadian Forces on June 6th, 1944. Canadian forces on that day alone suffered 1,096 casualties, 381 of whom were killed in action. By the end of the Battle of Normandy, Canadian casualties exceeded 18,700. George, Bud Hamilton experienced all these horrors and Bud Hamilton survived to fight another day. But then...

 

as fighting continued into Belgium, in one particular small town, an enemy artillery shell exploded very near to him; it severed his spinal cord, and he slowly succumbed to his injuries.

 

He would never go fishing with his dad again.

 

Bud had a daughter whom he never knew. She was born after he died. I understand that she is living today in Idaho with a large family of her own - whom Bud never met.

 

There is also James Goerge. He was the son of Cecil George (George Hamiliton's brother). James was his only child. James survived the war; James made it back and with the money he made, he bought a commercial fishing boat.

One night he tied his fishing boat at a sandbar near where the orange bridge is today. There was an explosion, and he died in his boat that he bought with his pay from serving in the war.

 

I have mentioned Eduard Clutesi before, hereditary chief of the Tseshaht First Nation. [Josh Goodwill, I believe, sits as heredity chief in this seat today.] I will now share a little more of Eduard Clutesi’s story as I have come to understand it.

 

Eduard Clutesi was of superior intelligence, his military tests showed. He was a genius. He taught himself to play violin. He could draw your portrait perfectly. He was very quiet. He did not say much.

 

He served with a mortar unit. This was precise work. It involved intricate mathematical calculations. He served well. He was killed with his mortar unit in the battle of Caen and he was buried with his military comrades in Europe. He never did return.

 

Our First Nations, in many cases, were forced to renounce their status, in order to be enfranchised – until as late as 1960. Yet many, I am told saw the greater good and thus served and found true friendship with their Canadian Comrades and many died for us. Thank you. Thank every veteran who lived fought and in some cased died for us.

 

This week as well as laying to rest a veteran who signed up to serve in the war as a 14-year-old child, I also got news that my sister’s only child passed away suddenly at 22 years of age and it dawned on me that of the 200 000 soldiers who died fighting with the Canadian forces in the World Wars, the majority of them were children – no older than my niece. Canada’s youngest soldier was 10 years old.

 

Our service people, our family members who fought and died; their parents never saw their 22-year-old children, their 26-year-old children, their 17 or there 12-year-old children again.

 

The veterans who served and survived those wars weren’t in their 90s then, like they are now, if they are still around. Mostly, they were children in their 20s or even younger.

 

Our service people who died for us and the veterans who lived and saw them die. Please let us remember them.

 

And in remembrance of those who made the supreme sacrifice, Let us be better men and women, and give us peace in our time.

Lest we forget.

 

We will remember them.

FOR ALL HAVE SINNED: Romans 3:23

Presented to TSA AV Ministries, 10 November 2024, by Major Michael Ramsay. Based on a chapter in his book, Salvogesis’ Guidebook to Romans Road and sermons presented to Swift Current Corps, 12 July 2009 and Warehouse 614 in Toronto, 21 January 2018

 

To view the earlier sermons, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/07/romans-322b-23there-is-no-difference.html 

To read ‘Salvogesis’, click here: http://www.sheepspeak.com/ebooks.htm  

 

Romans 3:23:For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

There is a Disney movie entitled The Emperor’s New Groove. In it, some people try to kill the emperor with a magic potion but they get it mixed up and accidentally turn him into a lama instead. As the movie progresses, the emperor attempts to regain his throne and turn back into a person.

There is one clip at the climax of the movie where the emperor finds many bottles of magic potions without labels, all of them mixed up. While the royal guards, who are trying to kill him, are in hot pursuit the lama-as-king hurriedly drinks one potion after another, trying to turn back into a person.  Some potions are betterl than others. One turns him into a turtle (not so good for eluding pursuers). Another turns him into a small bird. Frantically he downs potion after potion: turtle, small bird, giant whale, and then finally he drinks one potion and looks down as he changes and cheers, “Yay! I’m a lama again! . . . Oh wait!” That isn’t what he wanted at all: he still is not a person. In the end all those potions and adventures make no difference

The conclusion of the second chapter of Romans, which we looked at the other week, makes clear that there is no difference when it comes to our salvation: both the Jew and the Gentile stand on equal footing. The Law cannot be the means of Salvation. The Law merely points out sin (Romans 3:20, 2:17-24, 5:20, 7:7-25). For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So, what is sin?

The Greek word for “sinned” in this passage, hamartanō, carries with it the classic definition of sin that we have heard before: that of “missing the mark.” An archer aims and shoots and the arrow falls short, missing the target.

On the surface this seems innocuous enough but if we find out that that archer is William Tell – famous for shooting apples off people’s heads – and if we learn that the apple is about to be placed on our own heads, all of a sudden this becomes important! You do not want him to miss the mark!

William Tell was to shoot the apples off the heads of his own sons and the consequence of his missing the mark was devastating for both father and son. When we continually sin, the consequences can be fatal. Romans 3 tells us that we have all sinned, fallen short of this Glory of God, and the first 2 chapters of Romans tell us that because of this we may be at considerable risk.

In a story by John Phillips, he tells us:

Paul describes sin as a coming short of the divine standard. Two men went to the recruiting office in London to join the guards regiment. The standard height for a guardsman was a minimum of six feet. One man was taller than the other, but when they were measured officially both were disqualified. The shorter of the two measured only five feet seven inches and was far too short; his companion measured five feet eleven and a half inches and, stretch to his utmost, as he did, he could not make it any more. Nor did his pleas avail. It mattered nothing that his father was a guardsman, that he promised to be a good soldier, that he had already memorized the drills and knew the army regulations by heart. He was short of the standard.[1]

Yes, the taller of the two was taller than his friend (just as some people may seem nicer, better, holier than the rest of us) but in the end it didn’t matter. He still wasn’t tall enough and there was nothing he could do about that. He could not make himself grow any bigger. Thus he failed to obtain his goal. Likewise, it doesn’t matter if we are Jew or Gentile, male or female, employer or employee, a missionary, a relatively good person, or what-have you . . . for we have all sinned and so all fall short (Galatians 3:28).

We can approach this text in different ways. It could be speaking about each of us falling short and missing the mark on our own accord; that happens. Every one of us has transgressed the will of God. This passage might refer simply to the First Sin when Adam and Eve originally disobeyed YHWH in the garden and then tried to hide from Him (Genesis 3): this was St. Augustine’s idea of “Original Sin.”

Biblical scholar N.T. Wright tells us that here the verb “tense is aorist, indicating a single moment . . . [thus] Paul seems to be again thinking of Adam”[3] But F. F. Bruce, argues that Paul also could be referring to the fact that each of us on our own has sinned and therefore failed to make the grade.[2]

Speaking of making the grade: When I was in high school, a fellow student, John, was in my Algebra 11 class. On the last day of Algebra 11 the teacher decided to read out everyone’s mark in descending order from top to bottom. Now this made John very happy because even though he received only 11 percent, he looked over at a friend’s paper and saw just 4 percent marked on it. For once, John’s was not the lowest mark in the class. As the names were read down the list, and all the way down past the failing marks. . . John was getting more and more excited because this time he was not going to have the lowest mark. Silvia 22 percent, John 11 percent . . . and then the moment he was waiting for - and . . . The teacher stopped reading out the marks and dismissed the class. As everyone rushed out of the room, “What about Mike?” John yelled. “What about Mike? Read out Mike’s mark!” The teacher had shown me grace with my meagre 4 percent. He refused to read my mark out loud so poor John, who did manage to fail Algebra 11 again, wound up being at the bottom of the list again. 

Now there are a couple of things to be cleared up here: 

1) In the grand scheme of things it really didn’t matter for John what mark I, or anyone else, earned; John still earned a failing grade. He missed the mark; he had failed to obtain the prize. Just like us. It doesn’t matter if you are a better person than Charlie Manson, Adolf Hitler, Abraham Lincoln, or your next-door neighbour – that is not what is going to “get you into heaven” as they say for “all have sinned and fallen short.” It is not our actions that win us eternal life; it is God’s gift that saves us. Anyone who repents – preceding list included - and accepts Christ may actually be with the Lord.

2) I, who earned 4 percent in the course, passed Algebra 11 in Summer School with an ‘A’ and later went on to actually tutor Algebra 11. I did not actually fail Algebra 11. I did earn 4 percent on the course. But because I realized that I was doing so horribly in Algebra, I had dropped the course and audited it instead. So I had to do all the same homework as everyone else and I wrote all the same tests; and, yes, I fell short just as John did. However, by auditing the course I was spared the failing mark on my report card.

We can each be spared a failing mark even though all of us have sinned and thus failed to obtain a passing mark on our own. In the heavenly classroom, we all score less than a passing mark; we have all fallen short and deserve to fail. But Jesus does not read our marks aloud nor does He condemn us (John 3:17). Like a student auditing a course, He still wants us to carry on and complete it (1 Corinthians 9:24, Galatians 5:7, 2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 21:1)! In my case, there was no difference in how the class was passed, whether in the regular school year or summer school. What mattered was that I passed the class; so my 4-percent mark was erased forever from my transcripts and replaced with a mark in the ‘A’ range.

Such is the Biblical idea of justification.  In his work The Shape of Justification N. T. Wright writes, “Justification” is thus the declaration of God, the just judge, that someone is

(a) in the right, that their sins are forgiven, and

(b) a true member of the covenant family, the people belonging to Abraham.

 That is how the word works in Paul’s writings. It doesn't describe how people get in to God’s family; it declares that they are in. That may seem a small distinction, but in understanding what Paul is saying it is vital.[4]

We know that “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22b-23), and we also know that we “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). This is good news. Once you take into account that no one knows enough to actually pass the test and merit salvation, then we really do appreciate this grace. Grace is “a gift from God.” It is a present. It is not an award or trophy we can earn like the Grey Cup, the Stanley Cup, the World Cup, or the Super Bowl. Grace is far more precious than those.

It is a special present from Our Father. It is like the gifts I make for my children and family at Christmas time and birthdays. It is the special gifts my kids have made for me. Our salvation is a love present, a special gift from God that He gives us because He loves us.

Now God loves the world so much that He did send his only begotten son to die so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. He sent His son into the world to save the world, not to condemn the world (John 3:1617). and since He did all that at such a great personal expense, let us please accept that gift today and let us not be ashamed of this good news (Romans 1:1617). May we let all our friends and family know that the Lord our God loves us all.

He has purchased this special gift of salvation for every one of us; let us each accept that love present, that gift of eternal life today. As we accept this supreme gift, our lives will never be the same again. They will change forever, for yes, we have all sinned and fallen short of the grace of God but, Praise the Lord, because our Eternal Life, our Salvation, is a free gift of God.

Let us pray