YOUR WORKS? OR CHRISTS FINISHED WORK?

 Are you saved by your work or by the finished work of Christ?

Day after day I see people post things about what good people they are. Saying things like, " if you are kind in life then you are doing what is right." I see and hear more people boast about being a good person than they do about Jesus. I want to make it very clear that I am in no way advocating against being kind. Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit. Kindness is beautiful. But your kindness does not save you or prove you to be a good person. It seems that some people use the way they treat people as the barometer to justify themselves instead of putting their faith in Christ to be justified before God. If your kindness is coming from your faith in Christ then I am not talking to you. I am specifically talking to people who lift up being a good person over the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus. Being a good person or being nice does not justify us before God. Being a good person or being nice does not forgive us from sin. Being a good person or being nice does not release us from the curse of the law of sin and death.  Everything that we do not do by faith is sin, Romans 14:23. 

Recently I had a conversation with someone who said, "All we have to do is love God and love people." It pierces my heart more than I can tell you to think someone might stand before God and say, "I loved you and your people, I'm justified because I am a good person who did what the Bible said." What will Gods response be to this kind of arrogance?

The Gospel isn't a checklist for people to do to make heaven someday. If you are in Christ, when He sees you, He sees the work of His Son. Now if you are not in Christ, it is because you don't believe that He paid for your salvation. The promise of entering Gods rest still stands- it is not through what we do, it is only through Jesus Christ, Gods faithful Son. He did not miss the mark. He never misses the mark and never falls short. If we are in Christ, as He is, so are we in this world. The reason people won't enter Gods rest is because of unbelief.

Adam disobeyed God and made us sinners. Jesus obeyed God and made us righteous. Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh. Jesus did not condemn the sinner. He condemned SIN in the flesh. Through His work on the cross He removes/forgives/releases us from sin. Why do we need to be released/forgiven from sin? Because the sin that we were born into because of Adam, resulted in condemnation for all people. Everyone is born with this Adamic nature of sin. Jesus removes that old nature that is condemned because of sin and gives us a new life by grace through faith. It is through Adam that humanity fell short of the glory of God. Because of that, people are now either hostile toward God and the things of God, trying to take away their own shame by being a good person and even trying to do what the Bible says to do- but that is not what Jesus came to the earth to accomplish. Judas saw Jesus as only a teacher. The other disciples saw Him as Lord. Judas ended up taking his own life because of the guilt that remained in him. He had betrayed Jesus because his human nature was to save himself. Every human ever born has a longing in their heart to be saved from condemnation. People try anything and everything to make themselves feel better. But none of it will ever take away the guilt of sin, the sin we inherited from Adam. 

We can try to prove ourselves to be good people. We can put others down and sentence them to hell to make ourselves feel better. We can get mad at the church goer, the door greeter, the sinner, the saint, the guilty, the righteous and the list can go on and on. But none of that makes us right with God. Only the blood of Jesus makes us right with God. And if we believe that, then we can boldly approach Gods throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Or we can boast in our works good or bad all day long. But at the end of the day, when its just you and God are you putting faith in Jesus to save you or is your hope in yourself?

 The result of faith is the saving of our souls. 

Romans 6:22- But now you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.

Ephesians 2:8- For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and it is not from yourselves; it is a gift of God.

2 Timothy 1:9- He has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.

1 Thessalonians 5:9- For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 7:10- Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

James1:21- Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.

Hebrews 10:36- You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. *****Notice here it says, "so after you have done the will of God, you will RECEIVE what HE has promised. What does He promise? Life that cannot be taken from you. Life that has no beginning or end. Who can receive this? Those who have done Gods will!! What is His will? For you to believe in His Son ( John 6:40)!!! So how does the promise come? By accepting what is offered! What was offered? The life of Gods only Son!!! Do you accept the offering of the Son of God to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, that you may stand before the only true God just as if you never sinned and receive the promise of a new life that can never again be taken from you? And the other option is to reject the offering, which will harden your heart and increase fear, shame and condemnation. In this option you will be trying to get ahead, trying to get free, trying to be, trying to prove, chasing self protection, trying to keep yourself from death, doing more good deeds to work yourself approved, etc, etc. Rejecting the power of the Gospel looks like always learning but never coming to the knowledge of truth. This is why people perish. They loved not the truth as to be saved. 

John 3:19-21, And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever practices truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.

Romans 1:25, They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! 

The goal of instruction is love. Faith works by love. Faith comes through the hearing and the hearing comes through the Word of God. The goal of faith is salvation of our souls. This comes by grace, which is a gift from God. If you receive this gift, this gift will save you completely.