It’s A Gift! – By Desmond Ford

It’s A Gift! – by Desmond Ford

Jun 9, 2015 2274

Paul uses three illustrations in the book of Romans to show us what salvation is. He speaks of redemption. Jew and Gentile knew what that was. That was going into a market and buying a slave, buying him back, perhaps to give him liberty. It meant paying money to get a slave out of his present situation. That’s redemption. Paul says, “Christ has redeemed the world.”

Then Paul says, “God has sent Him forth as our justifier”. There he uses a legal metaphor. When the court says, “You’re not a very good boy, but you’re acquitted, you’re innocent,” that’s quite different. “We’ve got nothing against you,” says the law. That’s the illustration that Paul uses.

And then he says, “Christ has become our mercy seat”. The mercy seat that receives the blood, so that God, lookinq down at the broken law, saw it through the blood on the mercy seat. Christ has become the Go-Between, between God and us, the Mediator, the Umpire. His blood is on the mercy seat.

So when Paul says “You are justified by His grace as a gift, by believing,” what he’s saying is “You are perfect in a moment”. How long does it take to be saved? As long as it took Zaccheus to get down the tree, as long as it took the thief to look to Jesus and call Him “Lord,” and as long as it took the Philippean jailer to say “Amen” when Paul said “believe and ye shall be saved.”

To be declared righteous by His grace is a gift. The words “grace” and “gift” are actually synonymous. God is saying, “It’s a gift! Do you hear it, thick-headed sinners, IT’S A GIFT!” Unto all and upon all who believe.

You don’t have to be a genius to believe. You don’t have to be pretty or handsome or strong or wealthy to believe. You don’t have to be able to run a marathon to be able to believe. Anybody can believe! And those that are shut out of heaven, shut themselves out. God shuts nobody out.

– Des Ford. Rom 8:27–32. From “Perfect in a Moment.”

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