In similar fashion to the previous tract, this tract also focuses upon the fact that the reader is headed for eternal damnation. In view of what Paul says in Romans 3:8, it asks the reader whether he qualifies as one to whom Paul would declare, “whose damnation is just.” It then briefly describes what damnation from God is like, and appeals to the reader to reconsider his negative response to the gospel before it is too late.

⁸ And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? WHOSE DAMNATION IS JUST. (Romans 3:8)

Are you the kind of person the Apostle Paul is referring to in this verse when he says, "whose damnation is just?"

Before you can answer that, you need to make sure that you understand the context in which God has the Apostle Paul say this. When Paul says, "whose damnation is just," he says it about ones who do not respond in a positive manner to "the gospel of Christ" when they hear it. In particular, he says this about ones who scorn what God says, or scoff at it, or ridicule it, or slander it, or even just plain respond with indifference or apathy to it. Attempts have been made to tell them about the gospel God wants them to hear, but they do not want to hear it or have anything to do with it.

People like this are the ones the Apostle Paul particularly has in mind when he says, "whose damnation is just."

The Question Remains

With this in view, now you can better answer the original question, "Is this talking about you?" Or to word it another way, would the Apostle Paul say to you, "Your damnation is just"?

Now just by the fact that you are reading this, the answer is most likely "yes." Someone you know at some time or another has tried to talk to you about God and the eternal destiny of your soul. He or she has tried to get you to think about what is going to happen to you when you die, and how God is going to respond to you when you stand before Him. Yet you have not responded positively to this at all. You either have not wanted to hear it, or you have scoffed at it, or you have responded to it in some other negative manner.

However, regardless of what kind of negative response you have had, the fact remains that the Apostle Paul says that in view of this your damnation is just.

What Damnation Is Like

You still may be scoffing at what you are reading, but it is also possible that you are honestly thinking about this. In either case you ought to realize what damnation from God is like, if that is what you still choose to receive from Him.

Earlier on in Romans 2:8-9 the Apostle Paul described it as receiving "indignation and wrath," along with "tribulation and anguish," in "the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." And again later on he describes the action of the Lord Jesus Christ…

⁸ In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

⁹ Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; (II Thessalonians 1:8-9)

This is what damnation from God is like. And this is what you have chosen to receive by your negative response to Him.

Benefit Of The Doubt

It may be that right now you are honestly reconsidering your position. If you are doing so, then you know that what God says about you is true. You are a guilty sinner in God's sight, and you are worthy of receiving His wrath and being eternally damned by Him for your sins. But though this is true and there isn't anything that you can do on your own to escape the judgment of God, God Himself is both willing and able to save you from the debt and penalty of your sins. And He will do so, if you let Him.

Salvation Through Jesus Christ

²⁴ Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

²⁵ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

²⁶ To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:24-26)

Through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, God has provided for saving you from eternal damnation. As the Apostle Paul says, when Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary He "was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ died as our substitute-Redeemer. This means that He took our place and completely paid the price for the debt and penalty of our sins through His own sufferings and death. And in so doing He made it so that God can completely forgive us our sins and also justify us unto eternal life with Him. He made it so that we can be reconciled to God, have "peace with God," and not have to be damned by God for our sins and ungodliness. And best of all, the Lord Jesus Christ made it so that we can have all of this as an absolutely free gift.

The one condition that God places upon you to save you is that you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your all-sufficient Savior. As the Apostle Paul declares, God is "just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

When you believe in someone, you depend upon him and his ability to do something for you that you cannot do for yourself. And this is just what it means to "believe in Jesus." Instead of depending in any way upon yourself or your own efforts to save you, you choose to depend completely upon the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ as all that you need for your salvation.

Have you chosen to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your all-sufficient Savior? If not, why not do so right now and let God save you from eternal damnation.

— K. R. Blades