“To own the debt we cannot pay, twas grace that paved the way.”
This is a line from a very old hymn, and it speaks volumes. To own a debt means to recognize that you alone have incurred that debt, that it was brought upon you by you alone, and that you are responsible for it. To own the debt means that you accept that responsibility and you will make well on your agreement. It shows the character and integrity of the individual to do so, something that is sadly missing in mankind.
But in this context that debt cannot be repaid, no matter how hard we try, no matter what efforts we put forth, the penalty of sin against the Most High God could only be paid in one way, and by one person. When the Lord Jesus Christ, hanging on that cross, bleeding and torn, when He said, “It is finished,” (John 19:30) that debt was paid in full, you were not hanging there with Him, He was not waiting for you to be baptized, for you to repent, for you to confess or attend church or do any other form of work, that cross was His and His alone, grace paved the way.
Ephesians 2:8-9 could not be any clearer, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” And it is not the only verse in the Scriptures that resounds with this truth, no work that you perform in any way, shape or form will be accepted by the Almighty towards your salvation, only what His Son did.
Our responsibility is to own the debt, to recognize it as just that, our debt.
When Adam sinned in the garden that sin was passed on through him to everyone that came after him, to all mankind. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5) Every religious organization hangs on this one lie, that man has the ability to be pleasing in the eyes of the Lord outside of Jesus Christ, that there is something in us that brings joy to Him who sits on the throne of eternity apart from faith in the shed blood of His Son. I do not have enough paper to show the fallacy of this belief, that apart from the Lord Jesus Christ we will be accepted, yet it is the belief of nearly every person on this planet.
“I am good enough, I have sacrificed enough, I have performed works that assisted my justification, I am worthy in the sight of God.”
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
No one, not you, not me, not anyone who has ever come before us or who will come after us will be accepted as worthy to enter into the Kingdom of God upon their own merits. We must own the debt and realize that we cannot pay it, only after we come to the knowledge that the debt has been paid in full by the Lord Jesus Christ will we be in the Beloved.
The Lord shows us the way to that straight gate, we only need to accept that it is the only path to Him.
I contend nearly daily with those who will not accept these truths, blind, deaf and dumb, deceived by false religious organizations, deceived of themselves, deceived by Satan, all say the same thing, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross was not sufficient for the salvation of my soul, without some effort from me, without some work I must perform, His shed blood means nothing, without some work done by me, His sacrifice is of no value.
If you cannot understand this short poorly written letter, I cannot help you, you will be forever lost, and you will be judged by those debts that you thought you could pay, by the debt that you desired to own and try to pay by your actions. The debt is owed, Jesus Christ paid that debt in full, with no help of any kind from you.
