Romans 6:23

Verse 23. For the wages, which the tyrant sin gives to his soldiers and slaves, is eternal death; but the wages, the pay, the reward, which God gives to those that fight under him, is everlasting life; which, though a reward of our past labours, as it is often called in the Scriptures, is still a grace, [3] or free gift; because if our works are good, or deserve a reward in heaven, it is God’s grace that makes them deserve it. For, as Saint Augustine says, when God crowns our works, he crowns his own gifts. Witham.