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I. SIN AND ITS WAGES.

1. Sin a service.

(1)  Not an independence, as the world thinks.

(2)  A service to which wages are attached; each sin has its consequence.

2. These wages are "death," and are invariably paid.

II. GOD AND HIS GIFT. A gift —

(1)  To those who are not earning it, for they are in the service of another.

(2)  To those who do not want to earn it, for they have yielded themselves to another service.

(3)  To those who cannot earn it, for they cannot atone for one sin, and their very efforts to do so impair God's one condition (Ephesians 2:8, 9).

(4)  Which all may have for the taking (Isaiah 55:1; Revelation 22:17).

2. That gift is eternal.

(1) Christ Himself. Life

(a)  From Christ, depending solely on His substitution.

(b)  In Christ, ours only by appropriation.

(c)  A part of Christ, continued to us only by indwelling.

(2) Eternal life.

(a)  Begun when Christ began.

(b)  Begun to us when we grasped it.

(c)  Continuing till — eternity.

(J. H. Rogers, M. A.)

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KJV: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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