God makes it clear that the just conse-quence of sin is death. He warned Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:16-17). God’s purity cannot tolerate sin. Our sin, any sin, is a shameful afront to God’s holiness and the only just consequence is death (Proverbs 14:12). If you think these first two points seals our fate, you are forgetting a crucial factor—God’s love and grace. Read the rest of Romans 6:23 to hear the good news.

God’s love for humanity is a constant theme in the Bible. Even though we deserve death, God’s love moves him to show us undeserved kindness (John 3:16). The Bible calls that grace. God is just, so he cannot just ignore our sin, but he can accept a sinless substitute to experience the death we deserve. (1 Peter 3:18). So, God’s son became human and lived a sinless life. But instead of claiming his reward, he chose to die in our place, bearing the weight of all our sin, and freeing us from its condemnation. He became sin so that we might be made righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21).

So, how do we receive God’s forgiveness? You might think he gives it to those who are good or do good things. But no one can never be good enough to deserve God’s mercy. Paul says we receive by putting our faith in Jesus. We are made righteous, not because of our good behavior, but because we trust his promises (Romans 4:3-5). People put their faith in Jesus by calling on his name and admitting they need his mercy (Romans 10:13). That means we surrender sovereignty over our lives and turn control over to Jesus (Romans 10:9). The Bible says that, when we believe in his Son and put our faith in him, God forgives our sins and restores our relationship (Ephesians 2:8).

When Peter first announced the good news of Jesus, he called people to be baptized(Acts 2:38). The physical act of being dipped in water has no magical powers. But spiritually, it is a “pledge of good conscious toward God” (1 Peter 3:21). In baptism, we die to ourselves and are raised to a new life—forgiven by his sacrifice and revived by his resurrection.

Through Jesus, we are set free from the shackles of sin and it’s natural consequences= death. (Luke 4:18,19). Even though we will continue to battle temptation and sin, John says the blood of Jesus continues to purify us (1 John 1:7). Jesus’ resurrection frees from the permanence of death. We are assured that even though we all die, it will not be the end of us—we have an eternal future with God (John 11:25-26).

As Christ-followers, we are transformed by the Holy Spirit from the inside out. God has freed us from sin. Now he wants us to experience a new way of life in our world. From the earliest pages of Scripture, God says, “Be Holy, because I am Holy” (Leviticus 11:44). As followers of Jesus, we “put off” selfish behaviors from our old nature and “put on” behaviors that mirror God’s holy nature (Ephesians 4:22-24). Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we pursue becoming more like God every day. The journey toward transformation has it’s ups and downs, but we must remember that the old self has been put to death and God is creating a new person within us (2 Corinthians 5:17).