many have done, however, is to seek out their own solutions to remedy their sin problem in order to have a good conscience toward God. In this effort to find solutions for sin and correct religious behavior, people have often forgotten two very important points. We cannot buy God’s salvation, and thus, we stand condemned because we all sin.
We Cannot
Buy God's Salvation
With Good Works.
Suppose you owed someone so much money that it would take you five hundred years of working every day in order to earn enough money to repay your debt. Could you possibly repay this debt? Certainly not! If you are physically strong, you would possibly live to be eighty or ninety years old. At the time of your death, however,you would still be in debt. Thus there is no possible way you could personally work the five hundred years in order to repay your debt.
Now suppose God would offer you a gift that was so great that there would be no possible way for you to pay what it cost. Upon accepting the gift according to God’s conditions of acceptance, you would say, “What I now owe is greater than what I can repay.” You are correct. You could not repay God the cost of the gift.
Remember the parable of the man who owed ten thousand talents to a king (Mt 18:23-35). There was no possible way he could repay his debt. When the man was brought to pay his account, he responded to the king by falling down on his knees. He begged for his deliverance. The king had mercy and subsequently forgave him his debt. This was grace given to one who could not repay.
So it is with our relationship with God. We cannot pay God for
the forgiveness of our sins. What we owe is more than what we can pay. We are thus doomed. So how can we receive forgiveness? When we receive forgiveness, how can we repay God?
Some religious people believe they can pay God with their good works. In other words, they believe they can put God in debt to them by doing good works that will make God owe them their forgiveness. But the fact is, one cannot live long enough in order to do enough good works to demand salvation from God. Neither can one so work as to pay God back for the salvation that He gives to those who walk by obedient faith.
One is deceiving himself if he or she thinks we can buy our
salvation from God with good works. God says we cannot do enough good works to adequately pay for the salvation that He has to offer. If we could live a thousand lifetimes, we still could not pay the price of our eternal life. If we are doing good works in order to buy eternal life, we have no chance of paying the bill.
The point is that we cannot put God in debt to give us eternal
life. We cannot make God a debtor. Therefore, we will not be able to stand in final judgment and demand eternal life from God because of our good works. The gift is too great to be earned by the efforts of any person. So how can we receive that for which we cannot do enough good works to earn? The answer is God’s grace.
One Cannot Earn
God’s Favor
With Perfect Living.
The second principle that identifies some who are religiously
misguided is the belief that one can so live according to God's law that he or she can demand salvation on the basis of obedience to God’s law. Some may feel that they are good because of their obedience to law. However, one sin makes a sinner. James says, “For whoever will keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he has become guilty of all” (Js 2:10). If we think we are good according to law, but break one law, the law condemns us as a sinner. Therefore, “man is not justified by the works of law but by the faith of Jesus Christ ... for by the works of law no flesh will be justified” (Gl 2:16). The Bible also says, “Therefore by the deeds of law no flesh will be justified in His sight ...” (Rm 3:20).
The reason why one is not pronounced righteous before
God by trying to keep law is the fact that all men break God’s
law (Rm 3:23). “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rm 3:10). And the wages of sin is spiritual death (Rm 6:23). This is why no one can be justified before God by keeping His law perfectly.
We cannot earn our salvation by doing good works. We
cannot keep God's law perfectly so as to live without sin. We are thus condemned by the law of God to be eternally separated from God because of our sin. We are condemned unless there is a solution for our problem of sin that is provided by God and not man. In recognition of our sinful state of condemnation, every one of us should be driven to ask what Paul proclaimed, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rm7:24). The answer to this question is not in inventing our own religion or our own methods to find forgiveness. When dealing with sin against God the only solution is God’s solution. The only source for discovering God’s solution is the Bible.
SCRIPTURE READING: Rm 3,4; Gl 2,3
SCRIPTURE RESEARCH: Sin and death: Is 59:1,2; Rm 5:8-21; 6:23, Sin and law: Ez 18:20; Rm 14:23; Js 4:17; 1 Jn 3:4, Good works: Rm 3:27,28; 4:1-5; 11:6; Ep 2:8-10
We must never forget that God created man with the ability and freedom to make choices. Adam and Eve were placed in an environment that allowed choices to be made. We are in the same environment today. Adam and Eve were free-moral agents, that is, they were created to be moral individuals with the freedom to choose concerning the behavior of their lives. So are we. But with freedom comes responsibility toward God and one’s fellow man. And in order to control our behavior toward God and our relationship with one another, God gave law.
Law is necessary for men to live together. But law requires that we are responsible. It demands that we will be held accountable for breaking law. With law came sin, for no one can keep law perfectly. When sin occurs, there is separation from God, and thus, spiritual death. If one continues in a state of spiritual death, he or she will be eternally destroyed from the presence of God.
People throughout history have realized that they were sinners, and thus, have constructed various religious practices in order to try to make themselves right in the sight of God. There are thus numerous religious people throughout the world who seek to please God after their own traditions. However, God does not accept our religious inventions that have been created after our desires to construct our own religions. Man-made religions mean nothing to God. They are only the invention of those who seek to be religious according to their own desires.
We must keep in mind that though people are religious, being religious does not mean that one is right with God. Most people are religious. But being Christian as one of God’s children means that one is believing and conducting his or her life according to the word of God. One cannot claim to have faith in Christ if he refuses to base his faith on the word of Christ (See Rm 10:17).
Men have tried to invent their own religious works in order to
have a good conscience before God. But everyone knows that we sin. Everyone knows that we cannot do enough good works to gain assurance that we will live forever. For this reason, honest and sincere worshipers of God seek after God. They seek God on His terms and according to His law. This is our challenge. We challenge you to continue to discover the great grace of God that was revealed through Jesus Christ.
It is this grace that will bring us peace of mind and joy in heart. We challenge you to discover how God instructs us to worship Him according to His will. The Holy Spirit has revealed the will of God concerning how God seeks to be worshiped and served. Therefore, we must study the Spirit’s instructions as revealed in the Bible. Only when we have discovered in the Bible the road map to eternal life will we have the peace of mind that we are right with God (See Ph 4:7). We feel assurance before God when we know we are following the will of God.
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