Working My Way to Heaven

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  (9)  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  Ephesians 2:8 – 9 

It would seem that no matter how long I have known the Lord and how much I study His word I still get things wrong sometimes.  The bright side of this is that God will give me some teaching – often through a sermon or a book – that sets me thinking right again.  

Recently I have begun to be painfully aware of how critical I can be of other people’s sin.  I am quick to think that something is not right between someone else and God.  I will rehearse conversations in my mind about how to approach a certain person about something they have said or done when I really don’t know the whole story or understand their motives.  It is often something that looks wrong but I have seen or heard it out of context.   

I praise God that He holds my tongue most of the time and reveals truth before I have opened my mouth and inserted my foot.  Then, I beat myself up for a while because I have sinned in my thoughts.  

I have also been known to take something that God gives me to do and either not do it completely or not do it all.  For instance, I will get a prompting from the Holy Spirit to speak to someone or to go out of my way to give someone a ride and I will override the prompt because I am on a limited schedule or think that it will cost in time or money that I am not willing to part with at the time.  As soon as the opportunity is gone I am kicking myself and repenting of the failure to obey the prompt of God’s Spirit.  What was I thinking?  Then I will chastise myself for a while, wondering why on earth God would keep me here?  I am really disappointed in myself! 

Well, this week I started reading Jerry Bridge’s new book, “The Transforming Power of the Gospel.”  The first couple of chapters he lays out the gospel.  He describes the holiness of God and the sinful nature of man.  The, he details the forgiveness of sin in the sacrifice of Christ.  It is very clear that our sin was placed on Jesus and died with Him.  In exchange for that the believer receives His righteousness.  When God, in all His holiness, looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Christ.  All sin, past, present, and future has been removed as far as the East is from the West.  These are basic truths for the Christian.  

1 John 1:9 says,  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Mr. Bridges suggests that most Christians see the sinfulness of sin and would say we believe that God forgives us.  What we fail to see is that when we are  “cleansed from all unrighteousness” it was once for all time in the eyes of the Lord.  The faithful believer does not have to continue to atone for sin.  Confess and turn from – yes.  Atone for – already done by Christ.     

Because we don’t “feel” clean we get to work as if God had no part in our cleansing.  We take on more ministry, we reach out to counsel someone else, we won’t say “no” to anyone because we think that God will like us more and look past our sin if we “make it up to Him.” 

When I was doing evangelistic visits in the city of Reading a few years ago we stopped to talk to a man who said, “I see it this way.  Life is a straight line with a ladder that goes up and down across it.  Every time I do something “good” I go up a couple of steps.  Every time I do something “bad”, I go down a couple of steps.  When I die, if I am closer to heaven, that’s where I’ll go and if I am closer to Hell, that’s where I will go.”  This is lousy theology but I guess it was good he was thinking about it.  

How many born again Christians who say they believe Jesus when He said, “No one can snatch them out of my hand,”  still think that they will move closer to God every time they do something good and farther from Him every time they do something bad?  This is wrong thinking that I catch myself in from time to time.   

It completely ignores God’s love for His people.  In His love for us He sent Christ to bear the penalty for all of our sin.  Isaiah tells us that God had a plan long before He sent Jesus. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all.”  

So, we will sin.  Even Paul expressed how he did the things he didn’t want to do and failed to do the things he wanted to do.  When that happens we should follow the suggestion of 1 John 1:9 and confess the sin to our Holy God who will then cleanse us from our unrighteousness.  He can do that for His children because the righteousness of Christ is already there, waiting to shine through again.  We cannot atone for our sin with works that God is not calling us to.  When we try that we diminish the glory of the Lord in His forgiveness of our sin….He said that we will not earn our way to heaven by works – but by His grace.   

Forgiveness of our sin is one way He shows us that grace.  First in our salvation and then, in His ongoing grace in continuing to see us through the righteousness of Christ.  Psalm 103:2-4 remind us to praise God for His grace. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy. “ 

How have you and I been working our way into God’s good graces – when He has already made the way and provided the grace?