The Bible says there’s only one way
you’re going to get into heaven. It’s a gift from God. By God’s grace. You
could never earn it, you could never learn it, you could never buy it, you
could never work your way into it or deserve it or get enough brownie points or
credits to get into heaven. There’s no chance you’re going to make it into
heaven except by accepting God’s free gift of grace. You can’t be good enough.
You stopped batting 1000 a long time ago.
Romans 11 “If it is by grace, it is no
longer on the basis of works. Otherwise grace is no longer grace.” This
just means it’s God’s gift. It’s a free gift to me.
fundamental difference between Christianity and every other faith or religion.
If you were to study all the other religions of the world you could summarize every other religion in one
word – “do”. Because you have to earn your way to God. Depending on the
religion, there’s a different list of do’s. The lists differ but every one of
them have one thing in common. You have to earn God’s approval, you have to
earn God’s credit, you have to earn your way into heaven by doing certain
things. And if you do these certain things then God says, “OK! You’re all
right!”
contrast to what the Bible says. The Bible says the exact opposite. The Bible
says that the way you get to know God, have a relationship with Him, have your
sins forgiven and get into heaven is by accepting what’s already been done for
you. Who did it? Jesus Christ. You accept what Jesus Christ did 2000 years ago
on the cross. And if you were to summarize Christianity in one word it would be
the word “done”. It’s already been done for you. “Do” versus “done”. Jesus did
it all. That’s the difference. And it is a free gift to you. You just accept it.
What was my part in
salvation? Get lost! That was the easy part. It’s pretty easy getting lost.
It’s God’s part to find me and save me. Your only part in salvation was simply
accepting the fact that it was all done for you and that’s called grace. God’s
gift to you.
It is a total gift of God. If you
were to go out and ask ten people, “How do you get to heaven?”, you’d get the
same answers most of the time. “Just work real hard and try to do your best… Be
sincere and be nice to people… just try to do good and make sure that you do
more good in your life than you do bad because maybe God grades on a curve and
if your good works are better than your bad works maybe He’ll go, ‘You’re a
good guy, sincere. Just come on in.’”
the world thinks. Most of the world thinks they’re going to get into heaven by
being a pretty good person. Most of us think we’re pretty good or good enough
to get into heaven but bad enough to be fun. We want to carry those balances.
problem. There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell you’re going to make it into
heaven on your own effort. No way. You can’t be good enough to go to a perfect
place. There’s no way you’re going to ever work, earn or buy your way into
heaven. You can’t be that good. It’s not going to happen.
You may have a head knowledge of God’s grace in your life
but most of us really don’t act like it. We don’t live it. In fact, we
continually think that God disapproves of us. And even though you know you’re
not saved by your efforts, you’re constantly trying to please God. You get up
thinking, “God is mad at me today. Or God’s ticked off at me because of what I
did yesterday.” Some of you think God is this unpleaseable parent saying, “It’s
not good enough. Can’t you do any better.” He’s got this constant scowl on His
face thinking, “Come on! Buck up! Get your act together. When are you going to
start doing right?” You have this constant sense of condemnation and that’s why
you don’t get to know God because you think He’s always angry at you, that He’s
always mad at you. You don’t want to get to know a guy who is always
criticizing, always has a scolding lecture. You kind of run from that kind of
person. You don’t understand grace.
Romans 3:24 “All of us need to be made right with God. How? By His grace which is a
free gift through Jesus Christ.” That is the best gift you’re ever
going to be offered. There is no better gift than that. You may win a lottery
but this free gift goes on for eternity and it is through Jesus Christ. It is a
priceless gift and you will never be offered a better deal than that.