It's Paid For

Scripture: Romans 6:5-23; 1 John 1:5-10

Theme: Gifts of Salvation

Title: It’s Paid For!

This sermon shares three amazing gifts the LORD has paid for all of us – 1. He has paid for our forgiveness 2. He has paid for our Healing 3. He has paid for our Deliverance

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

This morning I want to talk to you about “It’s Paid For”.

I believe that far too many people do not allow themselves to enjoy God’s Forgiveness, His Healing and His Deliverance. I believe that too many people don’t allow themselves to receive and enjoy the gifts that the LORD has for them.

Have you ever had someone pay your way to a ball game, to a movie or to some type of event?

Have you ever had someone invite you to go out and eat with them and they told you that they would pick up the tab/bill?

Have you ever had someone give you an extravagant gift and you had nothing to give back in return?

Sometimes when something like this happens we tend to shy away from receiving the gift. We may quickly tell them that they don’t have to pay our way. We have enough money to pay our own way.

We may even try to turn the tables and try to pick up the tab/bill before they can. We may try to do the same with the tickets or figure out how we can get an even more extravagant gift for them.

We may decide that if we are going to let them pay then the least we can do is to pick out the least expensive items from the menu because we don’t want to over burden them. We may try to at least pay for the tip. We may decide that since they have bought the tickets we will reward them with picking up the cost of anything else (drinks, popcorn, food, T-shirts etc…)

Often we have trouble with someone paying our way because we just don’t feel worthy of such a kind gesture. Other times we just don’t want to feel like we are indebted to them.

We may even be tempted to be a little suspicious, wondering what they want in return. We have been taught that there is no free gift/no free lunch. We have been taught that most people live by the model “quid pro quo” and so we are wondering what they really want us to do for them in return.

But what if I told you this morning that there is a Person who has paid the price for all of us. His name is Jesus.

Jesus has paid our full bill and even more. Jesus has done everything we need and all He asks is that we accept His rescue and receive His redeeming grace. All He asks is that we receive His mercy, grace and love this morning. All He asks is that we allow His Holy Spirit to come and reside in our hearts, minds and souls.

So, exactly what bill did Jesus pay? Let’s look at that this morning.

I. Jesus paid for our forgiveness

Ephesians 1:7 (NLT)

“He (God) is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Romans 6:23 (NIV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Bible tells us that our first parents, Adam and Eve were created in God’s Image. They were created to enjoy God, His creation and one another. The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY placed them in this amazing place called the Garden of Eden.

Each day, the Bible tells us God would spend quality time with Adam and Eve. They would fellowship together and share life. God would reveal more of Himself and His plans with them. They would share their hopes and dreams. Everything was perfect. Adam and Eve were continually enjoying God’s Presence, Provision and Protection. Their lives were filled with love, joy, peace and creativity as they took care of the plants and all the creatures in the Garden.

The LORD told them that they could eat the fruit from all the trees that He had created in the Garden except for one. He warned them that they should not eat from that tree; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

God did that because He never wanted Adam and Eve to experience sin/evil. He warned them that if they ate of that tree then sin/evil would cause them to die. He warned them that disobeying Him would ruin everything.