Do you own a cell phone? Do you think your monthly bill is high?

The amount you pay is surely far less than the bill received by Bob and Mary St. Germain…

This couple received a bill of nearly $18,000  from Verizon Wireless back in 2006, and it was not a mistake!  The St. Germain's son believed he had free data downloads and used at least 816,000 kilobytes which led to the enormous bill. *

Although an $18,000 cell phone bill is hard to imagine, it is insignificant when compared to the debt of sin that EACH of us has incurred.

You and I are represented by the servant who owed 10,000 talents (an astronomical amount of money in that time) and was called before the king to settle the account in Jesus’ “Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.” (Please read the parable in Matthew 18:23-35.) Unable to pay the tremendous debt, the servant pled for mercy. “The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go” (Matthew 18:27).

Due to our sin, each of us owes an enormous debt to God -- Who created us and has provided everything for us.  We do not have enough resources to “pay” the debt for even one of our sins.  We are completely dependent upon the mercy of God.

But God loves us so much that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16) to pay the debt for our sins.  He paid the price for our redemption by dying on the cross for our sins.  “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

The blood of Jesus removes the debt of those who will: place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (2 Corinthians 7:9-10), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). The blood of Jesus continues to keep one’s record clean as he continues to live for the One who made His redemption possible (1 John 1:7).

As Jesus taught in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, we must ALSO be willing to forgive the debts of OTHERS (Mat 18:38-35; see also Mat 6:14-15).

When we accept God’s forgiveness on His terms, we are able to sing “a new song”:

“He paid a debt he did not owe
I owed a debt I could not pay
I needed someone, to wash my sins away
And NOW I sing a brand new song, “Amazing Grace.”
Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay.”

Won’t YOU allow the blood of Christ to cover the debt of YOUR sin by submitting YOUR life to Him in trusting obedience?

David A. Sargent, Minister