I would like to speak to you about Why Good Works Won’t Get You to Heaven. There are a number of popular misconceptions about the highway to heaven that I’d like to contrast with facts from the Bible. There was an exhaustive poll taken by Patterson and Kim to survey the private morals, ethics, values and beliefs of Americans called The Day America Told the Truth.  Ninety percent of the people questioned said they truly believed in God (199). Eighty two percent stated that they believed in an afterlife that included heaven and hell. Almost half expected to spend eternity in heaven. Only four percent believed that they were going to hell (204). What does this mean? Statistically speaking, the overwhelming majority of Americans polled, 96 percent, believe that they will automatically enjoy a positive future in heaven. Only four percent of Americans have a dim view of their future in the afterlife. We also discover that most Americans have faith in a doctrine of salvation that is all inclusive. The majority of Americans believe that the road to heaven is paved with good intentions. I think nearly every American considers themselves to be decent hard working people. Therefore, they suppose they will get to heaven based on their own decency and goodness. The majority of Americans believe that the road to heaven is broad and easy. Everyone is religious and everyone has faith not just church goers. Yet, most people based their faith on wishful thinking. However, there is a clear biblical road map to heaven so our faith can be in facts and not fiction. We want to separate fact from wishful thinking so our faith can be grounded in the solid facts of biblical revelation.

Yet, there are two sides to this problem. First, most Americans do not believe they need to be evangelized and second most Christians do not believe that they need to evangelize. Most Americans, who call themselves Christians, don’t believe that evangelism is necessary. According to a poll published by George Barna, “Less than half of the believers in America strongly affirm that they have an obligation to proclaim the gospel on a personal level...” (What America Believes 221). Only 43% of Evangelical Christians strongly agreed that “we have a responsibility to explain our beliefs to others (What America Believes 223). The Church in America is lukewarm about the gospel.

We need to constantly remind ourselves about Jesus’ mandate for global evangelism. Sometimes we can go for long periods of time without speaking to anyone about Jesus. We can be lulled to sleep by a fictitious and dangerous doctrine of salvation when we should be working hard in the harvest of eternal souls. Let us take every opportunity to celebrate Jesus. As a corporate body of The Breakwater let us pledge ourselves to do more, learn more and give more so that we might win more to Jesus Christ.

1. We must constantly renew ourselves to the task of evangelism.

2. We must discover and implement new ways to make Jesus known.

We want to understand why people cannot simply trust in their good works to get them to heaven.  I will also give you a couple of illustrations to combine all this information so you can have a tool in discussing Jesus with others.  Sometimes we run out of things to say or ways to witness.  This lesson will give you a new approach to talk to people about Jesus.

Most people construct all sorts of different ways that they believe will automatically get them to Heaven.  Almost all Americans have a doctrine of salvation. Everyone has some opinion about what will happen when they die. Even if you believe that you don’t need to be saved, that is your doctrine of salvation. You don’t believe that you need to be saved. That is your faith statement and since it is based only upon your opinion—it is a big gamble with your eternal destiny. Some people trust in a church membership certificate for salvation. Others trust in infant baptism, a golf trophy, or simply being a nice guy. Many people believe that as long as their peer group likes them; that’s all that’s necessary to get into heaven. As if your friends can vote you into heaven. Of course many people don’t go to church because it is full of hypocrites. Nobody wants to go church but everybody wants to go to heaven. So when you die, you’ll be escorted into glory to be with the very people that you’ve hated all your life.

 

However, the Bible does not teach that we can be voted into heaven by our friends.  The Bible does not teach that we automatically enter into heaven by being good. These errors are very popular in our generation. The majority of Americans believe that they will automatically end up in Heaven.  But is this true? What are the important facts? We want to test that trendy theory against the scripture. What does the Bible really teach about good works and salvation?

It is extremely important to understand why good works won’t get you into Heaven. Why good works, aren’t good enough to force open the pearly gates. This is a very serious discussion. Because if you are wrong, wouldn’t you like to know now when you have time to do something about it?  Wouldn’t it be a rude awakening to find out on judgment day that, “Opps, I guess I was wrong about my salvation.” Why take a chance on being wrong about something so important. I want to look at five reasons why good works won’t get you to Heaven.

 

 First: The Moral Curve

There Is a Problem with Our Understanding of What Is Good

Our understanding of Good fluctuates according to cultural standards. Many people think that God grades on a curve. And considering the way the moral curve has gone recently, it’s going to be much easier for me to get into Heaven today than it was thirty years ago. For instance, thirty years ago it was harder to get into Heaven because the moral curve was a lot higher.  People were generally more honest 30 years ago than they are today.  So as the moral curve slides downward with time, it is easier to slide into heaven because what was evil thirty years ago is good today. It is easier to consider myself Good today than it was thirty years ago or even one year ago. Simply look at TV and movies thirty years ago and look at TV and movies today—has there been any changes? We used to watch Leave It To Beaver, My Three Sons, Gilligan’s Island and I love Lucy. Morally, as a nation have we become better or worse?  There has been a shift to moral relativism. We don’t need any sociological polls to substantiate what we all know. We have not made few improvements in any moral category. We are the world leaders in murder and violence. Patterson and Kim note, “The USA is far and away the most violent industrialized nation on earth” (236). According to their statistics we murder more per capita in the United States than the next five nations combined (Patterson and Kim 120).  What is common today would have shocked the nation 30 years ago. Even 20 years ago people had an average standard of right and wrong that today is considered naive and puritanical. Our nation is marked by adultery, greed, lying, murder and corruption. If I judge my actions by today’s standards then I am measuring myself with a morally small ruler. So there is a problem with using a cultural definition of Good as a means to get into heaven. Our concept of Good fluctuates with the depravity of society. Therefore, we need a more enduring standard for goodness than our shifting culture. In other words, which cultural time frame will we use to determine the correct standard of goodness that will get us into heaven? Ultimately, our culture can never be used as our standard for morality because it constantly changes not only from time to time but also from country to country, state to state, city to city and person to person. I know the Bible is true because it stands above and beyond culture with a moral standard that no culture could have invented and that no culture has been able to keep. Would you agree that America measures up to the biblical standard of morality? True or false?

Second: The Smorgasbord

There Are Too Many Definitions of Good.

There is a wide, sprawling buffet of opinions about Good to choose from.

Many people suppose that if they think they are Good they go to heaven. What is the problem with that?  What definition of Good did they use to determine that they were a good person? Individually, we each have our own standard of Good that differs from person to person. Are we going to use Hitler’s standard of good?  Are we going to use Hollywood’s standard of good?  Do you think it would be easier to get into heaven using Hollywood’s standard or Jesus’ standard? Are we going to use Charles Darwin’s standard of good?  How about Madonna’s standard, Bob Dylan or Mother Theresa? Should we use the Mafia’s standard? Should we use a suicide bomber’s standard of good as our standard? If I compared myself to Charlie Manson I would do pretty well. However, if I compared myself to Mother Theresa I would not fair very well. If I compared myself to all of you—I think I could make it into heaven.

 

People will always judge themselves and others according to some arbitrary, subjective personal standard. We say, “Well I’m better than most. I’m an above average good individual. I’m not as bad as Hitler or Charlie Manson. There are five or six people worse than me. I’ve got a little seniority on the list of morally depraved people. Certainly, I will make the cut on the moral curve.” Well, whose standard are we going to use to determine our position on the moral curve of goodness?  Who is to say that our own self made measure of goodness is accurate or even good enough? This is called self-righteousness?  Self-righteousness is using myself as the measure of what is right.  What standard will we use to determine that we are good enough for heaven? And how good is good enough? Will we use a downward sliding cultural standard or a standard of goodness you and I make up? There is an obvious problem with this approach.

For instance, what Al Capone thinks is good is different from what Jesus Christ thinks is good. Most people think that they are pretty good because they have created their own standard of goodness. However, what if God should decide that He is going to use Himself as the moral standard? If God is the standard of good, we are all in trouble because God is perfectly good. No matter how good we are—we are never perfectly good. There is a wide range of good—some people are gooder than others. If you trust in your own goodness you will be disappointed on judgment day.  Statistically, most people have faith in themselves and not faith in the clear path to heaven blazed by Jesus.

Faith in ourselves is a misplaced faith. It is faith in my own relative standard that I created just for me.  All people have faith. However, it is not faith in the facts. Those people who think that they’re going to Heaven, simply through their own created standard of goodness, have a self-made doctrine of salvation. Everyone here today has a doctrine of salvation, even first time visitors.  The problem is that the doctrine of good intentions is wishful thinking. Wishful thinking won’t get you to heaven.  It is a boat full of holes. It is a scuba tank without air, a bus without brakes. Your faith is nothing except what you’ve imagined in your own mind and God knows you have never been wrong about anything. Everyone has a doctrine of the afterlife. Even an atheist believes by faith that there is no afterlife. However, they are only guessing. What a horrible thing to be wrong about. There either is an afterlife or there isn’t an afterlife. Someone has to be wrong. They both can’t be right. And since there is an afterlife, don’t you think it would be the utmost priority to make every effort to put yourself in the most positive future? Why gamble your eternal future on wishful thinking or pseudo-intellectualism?

Third: The Churro Factor

Our Definition of Good is Easily Twisted, Often Sugar Coated and Not Always Good For You

 

I want to remind you of the human tendency to ignore our own imperfections and exaggerate our own goodness. We all have an incredible ability to minimize our own errors and to maximize how wonderful we are in our own eyes.  Dale Carnegie illustrated this aspect of human nature in his famous book How to Win Friends and Influence People. He wrote that even Al Capone, America’s most notorious public enemy at the time, thought himself to be a good man.  “I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter pleasures, helping them have a good time and all I get is abuse. The existence of a hunted man.” Al Capone regarded himself as an unappreciated and misunderstood public benefactor.  Don’t you feel sorry for him? In another example, the warden of the famous Sing Sing prison in New York said this, “few criminals in Sing Sing regard themselves as bad men. They rationalize. They explain maintaining that they should never have been in prison at all.”  Carnegie concluded that 99 times out of 100, people don’t criticize themselves for anything, no matter how wrong it may be. This is why 96% of Americans believe by faith that they will automatically end up in heaven.

 In an article from the Argonaut, a free publication put out in the Marina Del Rey, a man pleaded guilty on five felony counts.  The FBI did an investigation on him. He owned a yacht sales company in the Marina Del Rey. He was guilty of diverting funds to his company; misrepresenting loans to five banks; cheating Security Pacific National Bank out of $191,752.00  and pocketed more than 1.2 million dollars from Trans America Commercial Finance Corporation.  He actually pleaded guilty.  However, his lawyer said, “I still maintain that Steve was a businessman who got into financial difficulty that technically turned out to be criminal offenses.”  He also said that this man had been a pillar of the community for more than 20 years and performed community services to a great extent and had been a valuable asset to the Marina Del Rey.  What was the lawyer doing? He was minimizing the crimes and exaggerating the good deeds. The lawyer was balancing his client’s crimes with his contributions to the community in an effort to spare him from justice. Steve had performed some charitable acts. He had been an asset to the community. Therefore, we should ignore the fact that he had ripped off an endless amount of people, stolen more than a million dollars, lied insatiably and cheated and defrauded five banks.  A small technicality!  No big deal, really for a guy so well liked by the community. Notice, human beings have an incredible ability to distort the line between good and evil to their own advantage. We are good at twisting reality and sugar coating our crimes.

Therefore, we’ve got a problem convincing people that they need Jesus.  If even the worst people, can rationalize and justify huge, obvious crimes, how much more difficult is it for the person who is actually leading a fairly decent life to come to grips with sin?  Dr. Dobson, President of Focus on The Family, in his book Dr. Dobson Answers Your Questions, described his own grandfather.  He said grandpa was a moral man who said he had no need for the faith.  His grandfather said this, “I’m a good father and provider.   I pay my bills and I am honest in dealing with my fellow man. That is enough.”  But grandma replied, “You are a good man but that is not enough.  You should give your heart to God.”  This his grandpa could not understand. He couldn’t comprehend how he needed God if he was good.  There are many people we know that lead fairly moral and stable lives. Not every one is Jack the Ripper. Yet, moral people still need Jesus as Savior.

 

My Dad was a perfect example of this kind of person.

 

A number of years ago (1985) my Dad was dying of lymphatic cancer. He was losing a two-year battle and didn’t have much longer to live. Naturally I was concerned for the destiny of his soul. I’d been witnessing to him about Jesus for 10 years.  I tried the “You’ll go to hell” approach, but that didn’t work.  I tried the “God loves you so much” approach, but that didn’t work either. Finally I said, “Something’s got to be done. God send somebody to witness to my Dad.” I fasted and prayed and said, “God please send someone to my Dad to witness to him so that he can receive Jesus and have eternal life.”  You know how the Lord works. What do you think he said, “OK, I’m going to send somebody. I’m going to send you.”  I said, “Me? God, I’m worn out from this battle. I don’t know what more I can do.”  But can we give up, should we give up? I needed to devise a creative way to discuss Christ with him.  I needed to penetrate into those walls that he had built up against the gospel and communicate God’s love to him in a new way.

 

My Dad was the son of Swedish immigrants. He had Viking blood coursing through his veins. Some of his relatives probably marauded and pillaged with Leif Eriksson. He was a Marine staff sergeant serving in the South Pacific in WWII. He taught martial arts to the Navy. He was a tough guy. Yet, the biggest obstacle I had in witnessing to my Dad, was the fact that he was a very good father.  He wasn’t perfect, but he provided for a family of 10 and sometimes more.  When you have eight kids in the family there are always a couple of strays that live in the rafters.  People would ask, “How many kids do you have in your family?” We’d say, “Well there are 8, 10 or 12 depending on when you count.”  I don’t think my parents knew all our names anyway.  They were always opening their home to people who needed a place to stay.  My second oldest brother brought a friend home from school when he was twelve. He never went home. Bob lived with us forever. He looks more like us than we do. My younger sister was babysitting a set of 10 month old twins. Their mother never came back to pick them up. They lived with us for seven years. David and Lisa were just integrated into the family routine.  Lisa received Christ when she was four years old. After seven years the father stabilized himself and wanted them back. They moved away to Boston.  We have stayed in touch with them over the years.  Lisa came out to live with my mom to finish high school. She went to live in Carmel with my sister and graduated from college in nursing. Just a few years ago (November 7, 1998) I had the privilege of officiating her wedding to a wonderful Christian fellow. These are my parents.

My dad had a wall full of appreciation plaques and trophies for many years of community involvement.  He was the past president of every service organization in Venice. He was the surrogate father to a hundred neighborhood kids.  So it’s no small wonder that I had a difficult time convincing him that he needed God.  It is hard for a guy with a wall full of appreciation plaques to think that he needs God.  It is hard to convince a person whom everyone loves and respects, that he is a sinner.  So I needed a way to penetrate through that shield and to bring God’s love to him. 

 

We all know that no one is perfect. No one is good all the time except for me. We are a mixture of good and bad. The Bible says it like this:

Rom 3:23 (NIV)

23      for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

 

 You’ve already decided that I’m not perfect.  How many of you believe that I’m not perfect? Raise your hands. You don’t need to be so quick about it. You could have hesitated at least a second before raising your hands. If I’m not perfect, what does that make you?  That is really why we all need Jesus as Savior. Jesus covers our imperfections. I needed a way to help my Dad look beyond his appreciation plaques and see the necessity of the forgiveness of sins.

 

The problem is compounded by the fact that all other major religions teach a salvation by good works. This is what most religions teach.  The Hindus, Buddhists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and Muslims all believe that salvation comes through some kind of good works. They stock pile good deeds in the hope of attaining salvation. Hindus believe that we are all gods and that by accumulating good behavior, it adds up to some kind of weight that offsets your bad behavior.  This is called karma, a Hindu teaching. Karma is not a biblical teaching.  In fact Jesus said the very opposite. He said, “the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many.”  Jesus said that the majority of people are heading in the wrong direction.  He said that very few people actually enter through the narrow gate and take the hard road to heaven.  How is it that this is turned around in our minds?  The world at large believes that they are going to get to heaven on the broad and easy road. The world believes that man earns his salvation by some measure of personal goodness.

 

Christianity is unique among all the world’s religions because only the Bible teaches that Jesus has done the good work for me.  Jesus paid the penalty for my sin by his death on the cross at Calvary.  What amazing love!  He died in my place. I should have been the one who died but Jesus did it for me.  Only Christianity teaches the forgiveness of sins through the efforts of Jesus Christ. Study all the religions of the world and get to the bottom line. Only Christianity teaches the forgiveness of sins and eternal life as a free gift of God.  Only Christianity has Jesus and only Jesus has the power to forgive sins. Forgiveness is a free gift of God’s mercy. Christianity has the best hope. Christianity has the best values. Christianity has the only sure road map to heaven. It’s a no brainer.

Look what the Bible says,

Titus 3:4‑6 (NIV)

4        But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,

5        he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

6        whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

 

God’s not looking down and saying “Well you’ve done five good things today; I think I’m going to save you.” Or, “Well, if you only had one more appreciation plaque, you would have made it, shame isn’t it?” If we get to heaven, we are saved only by God’s mercy and only by God’s grace. Nobody in the world could ever deserve to go to Heaven.  If anyone is in heaven it is because of God’s free and unmerited gift of grace. Look at what the Bible says,

 

Eph 2:8‑9 (NIV)

8        For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith‑‑ and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God‑‑

9        not by works, so that no one can boast.

 

 How is this verse translated by our culture today in the TPV? (Today’s Pagan Version),

For by your own inherent goodness you have been saved through your own standard of goodness. It is the product of wishful thinking and not because of faith in anything real, so that all may boast.

 

However, what does the Bible say,

Isa 64:6 (TLB)

6        We are all infected and impure with sin. When we put on our prized robes of righteousness, we find they are but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves we fade, wither and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away.

 

The prophet Isaiah says, “all our righteousness is as filthy rags.”  We will see why our attempts to do good are compared to filthy rags.  Filthy rags are well-used rags. Rags get filthy when they are used properly to clean things.

Fourth: The Big Boy on the Teeter Totter

The heaviest thing will always tilt the scales. However, good works have no weight to balance sin.

 

We can’t get to Heaven simply by amassing good works because good has no weight.  However, most people think that ‘good’ outweighs ‘bad.’ People think that good has some weight to it, some intrinsic value in and of itself. Therefore, if we have a balance between good and bad—we are sure to get into Heaven. What we want to see is that good works do not counter balance bad works commonly called sin.  It is clear that good deeds do not contribute a dime toward purchasing the forgiveness of sins. There is a reason for this. What does the Bible say,

 

Gen 1:27 (NIV)

27      So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

 

Gen 1:31 (NIV)

31      God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning‑‑ the sixth day.

 

Eph 2:10 (NIV)

10      For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

We were created in God’s image to do what is right. We were created to be good. It is our created purpose to perform good works.  So, for us to do the right thing is only natural or it should be. Therefore, good deeds have no intrinsic weight or value. How could any benefit accrue to me when I do what I am supposed to do?  We were created good. God saw everything that he made and it was very good.

 

You look at fish, they swim and birds fly, it is only natural.  They’re supposed to swim or fly.  We don’t pin a gold medal on a dog because it’s a dog. It’s supposed to be a dog.  We don’t pin a gold medal on a lion because it’s a lion. A lion is supposed to be a lion.  We don’t congratulate a lion for roaring.  Likewise it is natural for us to be good. We should be good.  We are supposed to be kind; we are supposed to be loving; we are supposed to be generous; we are supposed to be self-sacrificing; we are supposed to care about people; we are supposed to be like God.

 

That’s the way it’s supposed be. It is only natural and ordinary for us to do good works. Therefore, a person who altruistically gives their life for the betterment of the world does not deserve honor or adulation.  Goodness deserves no reward. He or she is only acting in harmony with the manufacturer’s specifications. A person who actually goes out of their way and does something good and self-sacrificing should not receive any kind of praise for that deed.  We should do good all the time. All the time we should do good. However, we so bad that when someone does anything good we marvel. We make heroes out of them.

Many moons ago I was working at McDonnell Douglas Helicopter with the quintessential pagan. Pagan pointed out an article in the newspaper. Bruce Springsteen had given a benefit concert for the coal miners who were having a tough time. Pagan said sarcastically, “You see what these fiendish rock and roll stars do with their wicked music?” As if I believed that rock and roll is wicked . . .  which I usually do.  And as if I believed that only Christians could do something good . . .  which I don’t.  So I said, “What makes it is so extraordinary that he should do something good?  It’s about time Sprungstring did something good. Doing good shouldn’t be heroic.”

We are all capable of doing something good are we not?  We were created to do good.  We did not lose the capacity to do good in the Fall. Why do we think it so praise worthy when someone does something beneficial. Goodness should be ordinary.  For this reason we were created. Yet, we are normally so selfish, greedy and petty that when someone does a philanthropic act he or she gets a picture in the paper with an ensuing article and accolades. They are considered abnormal, heroic. This is so backwards. Sin is the malfunction not good behavior. Sin carries a price not goodness. Sin is the abnormality. Sin is the intruder. Sin is what has weight.  Sin was the problem in the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve. The wages of sin is death. What is the weight of sin?  Death.  Sin weighs heavy like death. Sin is death. The issue isn’t whether or not we are able to do something good, the real issue is what do we do with our sin? The problem isn’t that a few select people manage to do a good thing. The problem is sin. Our dilemma then is to discover the remedy for sin. Only Jesus has the cure for sin.

There is no real value or intrinsic weight to being good.  Sin is a malfunction, not good behavior. Sin carries a price, not goodness.  Therefore, good works cannot pay the price of one tiny sin because it is absolutely natural to be good. We are expected to be good.  Good works have no power to forgive a single sin.  Good has no weight. Sin carries the weight of death.  No amount of good deeds could offset the weight of one sin. So, if you took all the good deeds you think you have done and piled them up as high as you possibly could on one side of the scale and then took one tiny sin and put it on the other side of the scale, the scale would topple on the side of sin like a dead weight. One sin has the weight of a two ton elephant. All your mountain of good deeds has the weight of a hummingbird feather. What does the Bible say,

James 2:10 (NIV)

10      For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

 

Fifth: Monopoly Money and Big Mac’s

God Has Not Established Goodness as the Price for Sin

Monopoly money will not buy a Big Mac. Why not? Simply because it has no real purchasing power. Likewise, goods works won’t get you to Heaven because God has not established goodness as the price for sin.  It is God’s universe.  God has created this place.  God has embedded unchangeable laws into the fabric of the universe.  For instance, everything in the physical universe is controlled by God’s mathematical principles.  God is a mathematician. If I were to take a rubber band and launch it, do you think that the flight pattern would happen by chance?  The trajectory of that rubber band could be perfectly charted mathematically, according to universal laws.  The rubber band can only obey the inherent laws of nature.

Even the smallest atoms are controlled by God’s principles, God’s physical laws.

 

Mankind is subordinate to the invisible laws of nature whether we like it or not.  Sometimes we just don’t like it.  I would rather fly than fall. Unfortunately we are still subordinate to gravity.  Every single person who jumps from the top of Half Dome will fall to the valley floor and die. God has also created the world with an inherent moral system.  Every person is also subject to the jurisdiction of God’s moral law.  Whether we like it or not God also has created within the fabric of the universe, a moral system with legal ramifications.  There is a moral law. God has made the rules and in God’s government, good works are not accepted as a payment for sin. It’s just that simple—good works have no purchasing power.

Often people think, “If I can get 10 charitable deeds and cash them in for money, I can take that money and pay off the debt of one of my sins.” The problem is that good deeds are not acceptable as payment in God’s kingdom, any more than we can buy a Big Mac with monopoly money.  Why can’t we buy a Big Mac with monopoly money?  Because monopoly money is just not acceptable as payment. It is not legal tender. No matter how pretty monopoly money is—it will not work.  Monopoly money is not accepted in this world’s system and neither are good works acceptable in God’s kingdom.  So what will take away sin?  How do we get rid of the penalty caused by sin?  What does the Bible say,

 

1 Pet 3:18 (NIV)

18      For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

 

 We learn from the Bible that Jesus made the perfect payment for our sins. Jesus died for us to clear the pathway to God. My part is to come and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit by faith. My part is to turn away from my sin and walk in harmony with God’s moral law. If Jesus paid such a high price for sin—I should also die to sin and live a different more spiritual life. In the Bible this new beginning is sparked by repentance. My part is to use the word of God as my moral guide. Repentance unlocks God’s treasury of mercy, pardon and forgiveness.  It is clear. It is simple.  God intended it to be simple. He made salvation as simple as He possibly could.

Recapp of the 5 Things:

1.     What sliding cultural standard or time frame for good will we use to measure our goodness?

2.     Whose standard of good will we use to measure ourselves. Ted Bundy or the gang member who shoots little kids in a drive by or a neo-Nazi or suicide bomber? What if Jesus is the standard—then we are all in trouble.

3.     Our understanding of good is often twisted, sugar coated and not good for us.

4.     Good behavior cannot get you to Heaven because we are fully expected to be good by our Creator.

5.     Good works are not the established means to remove the debt of sin.

 

Yet we still think, “So and so is such a good person. Surely they’ll get to heaven without Jesus.”  That would be fine if goodness forgave sin, or if goodness had any weight or purchasing power, but it doesn’t. Charitable works cannot forgive sin. No amount of meditation, no amount of peaceful thoughts, no amount of money, or church membership, or contributions, or good intentions or good deeds will take away one microscopic sin.  Only Jesus has the power to forgive sin. The value of our goodness compared to its ability to forgive one sin is equal to a pile of filthy rags.  This is not to say that God does not appreciate our good actions and good behaviors.  It is just that our good works have no value in forgiving and removing the penalty of sin.  God wants us to be good.  He tells us to be good.   However, in God's system, good works are not acceptable or sufficient to remove the debt incurred from one little sin. I’ve given you five reasons why good works don’t work. There are many more but I left that for you to figure out.

Here is an illustration that helped me convey these concepts to my Dad. It is a wonderful conversation tool and I have had little objection to it. I wanted my Dad to see though he was a good person he still needed to do the right thing about his sins.  He needed to do more than hide behind his church membership, his baptism, his self-made standard of morality and his appreciation plaques.  He needed to do more about his sin then just thinking he was good enough.  About one month before he died my Dad received Jesus into his life.

 

The Parable of the Good Driver

Most people consider themselves to be good drivers. How many of you are good drivers?  Any bad drivers here today? About 4%. How many of you good drivers have ever had a ticket?   Some "good drivers” have had many tickets. Some have had only a few tickets. Is there anyone who has never had a ticket?  There are a meager amount of drivers that have had no tickets.  But we all know that they’ve deserved one. They just haven’t been caught.

 

If you run a red light and are caught you get a ticket. You are guilty of breaking the law. There is a fine or debt you now owe and a violation recorded. There is a debt to society that you must pay. Your name goes into the great computer in the sky somewhere.  Everywhere you go, your name is linked with your violation. You have a record. There are four things a person can do when they get a ticket:

 

1. Pay the fine

2. Go to Jail

3. Take an 8 hour traffic safety course

4. Ignore it

 

In order to satisfy the terms of my infraction I must choose one of the means established by our local government. I am not free to choose an arbitrary method. I cannot do my own thing. I cannot dictate how the government should remove my fine.  I did not create the legal system which satisfies the debt.  I just live here. If I want to remove the violation from my record, I must choose one of the legal methods established by the government under which I live.  I have no right to say, “I’m going to do whatever I want.  I’m going to set up my own system to get rid of this ticket.  I’m going to do my own thing with this ticket.” My choices are limited, narrow and well defined. I must choose whether or not I will avail myself of the means provided.  Whether I like it or not, I must take care of my infraction according to the system in which I live. I can’t do it my own way and expect to remedy the situation. Solution #4 To Ignore It: only compounds the severity of the violation. What happens if you ignore the citation? Does it go away? The consequences only get worse. The fine increases, the ticket goes to warrant and eventually you go to jail. It is the same way in God’s moral system, to ignore the infraction of sin, only makes the consequences worse. 

 

For instance, I used to car pool to McDonnell Douglas Helicopter with a neighbor friend of mine. I’ll call him Pagan to protect the ignorant. Pagan was a good driver but he chose option # 4 as his policy toward tickets.  He filed five parking tickets and a citation for a no current registration in his glove compartment, with the napkins, plastic forks and ketchup packets.  He believed in evolution. Maybe he thought they would decompose and become extinct. Anyway, he awoke one sunny morning to find his car gone. He called the police department to report a stolen vehicle and rant and rave about the rise in crime in Venice. The officer checked his computer and chuckled; his car had been towed to a police garage. The officer said, “Your car is not stolen, it’s been impounded. Take care of your five parking tickets, get proof of registration, pay the towing charges and we’ll tell you where your car is.”  It cost Pagan a week’s wages, and a day off work shuttling between the court house, the DMV, the police station and the towing yard.  That painful lesson was purgatory. 

 

The car wasn’t even worth what he paid to get it out.   He should have left it there.  He had one of those little imported ‘vacuum cleaners.’  The inside of his car was full of trash just like the inside of a vacuum bag. Each of us dislikes the hassle surrounding traffic violations. Yet if Pagan wanted to take care of his violations he had to do it according to the legal system in which he lived.  He must choose to remedy the situation or suffer far greater ramifications. This is exactly the case in God's government. Ignoring sin does not remove the penalty for sin. To ignore God, only makes things worse.    Wishful thinking will not remove the fine of one ticket. And wishful thinking will not remove the debt of one sin. To ignore and minimize our imperfections doesn’t make it better. Fortunately, God has set up a system to remove the debt and penalty of sin.

 

Picture yourself pulled over by the cops. You ran a red light at Torrance Blvd. on your way to church and you get a ticket. There is a fine or debt and violation recorded. You have a ticket for running a red light. Can good works remove the fine? What are some good things that do not remove the penalty and debt?

 

Will 10 years of good driving pay for the citation? No!  What if you stopped at every red light and drove 5 miles under the speed limit for the rest of your life, would that take away the violation? No! Why not?  Because we are supposed to drive properly. Good driving is expected of us as citizens.  We should keep the law. There is no heroism in safe driving. Safe driving is what any ordinary citizen should do.  Being a good driver has no weight. It is not meritorious. Good driving has no power to remove debt. Good driving habits cannot pay the price for one tiny parking ticket. Good driving is not one of the methods established by our government for eliminating a citation. Does that mean you should drive recklessly?  No.  It means that driving well does not remove the violation.  We can say that all our good driving is as filthy rags.  Why?  Because good driving habits do not take away the penalty or pay the debt that you have recorded somewhere in computer heaven in Sacramento. 

 What if you donated 10 new cars to the YMCA, would that remove the violation? What if you bought and read 25 books on safe driving and drove senior citizens to the market for 15 years and gave all your money to the poor and gave your body to science at UCLA? What if you gave all your money to save whales while meditating on flowers and butterflies? Would any of that remove the record of violation and pay the fine?  What if you were voted the kindest person on earth in high school?  Would that do it?  What if you lived in solitary and composed poetry about dolphins?  What if you won a beauty contest? Would that remove the penalty of your ticket?  No! No! No!

          In fact, if you did all the things that I just mentioned and you filed your traffic ticket in the glove compartment, the penalty would increase, wouldn’t it?  It would get worse. It would go to a warrant and you would be subject to a larger fine and jail.  And all the while you are busy being good and collecting appreciation plaques, trophies and medals of honor.

 Here is a list of things that do not remove a traffic violation:

 

1. Good, Safe, Courteous Driving Habits

2. Charitable Acts and Heroism

3. The Congressional Medal of Honor

4. Asceticism, or Vegetarianism

5. Rescuing Dolphins from Gill Nets

6. Blood Donations and Contributions to Save Whales

7. Church Membership, Volunteer Work or Military Duty

8. Suffering

9. Poverty, Poetry or Both

10. Riches

11. Meditation, Yoga, Literature Distribution or Incense Sales Etc.

12. Winning a Surf Contest

13. Keeping Every Law for the Rest of Your Life

14. Being Honest, Hard Working and Paying Your Bills

15. A Wall Full of Appreciation Plaques and Peer Group Approval

 

The list could go on forever. However, none of the above list of good things would eliminate the debt of one small parking ticket. Good works and decency just can't do it. That is easy to understand. Likewise, none of the above would remove the debt incurred from one small sin. That also should be easy to understand.

 

If good works can’t take away one parking ticket how can good works take away one sin?  Good deeds do not pay for the wages of sin in God’s kingdom.

 

Let’s take the idea that being good has some inherent value and apply it to our ordinary world.

1. Let’s suppose that Pagan went to pick up some groceries at Lucky’s Market. He’s finished his shopping and walks up to the checkout counter with his $40.00 worth of groceries. Pagan says, “Here I am. I’ve been good.”  The clerk would say, “We appreciate that, but that’ll still be $40.00. Do you have your rewards card?” 

2. Let’s suppose that Pagan went to the gas station and filled his car up. This was in the good old days when you could pump gas first. Then Pagan went to the attendant and gave him a big high five, and said, “I’ve been really good this week,” and off he went.  What would happen? Pagan would be in trouble.  The attendant would say, “You may have been good this week and I appreciate that but we still need the money for the gas.” 

3. Picture Mister Nice Guy and his wife Edna, strolling up to the main gates of the Magic Kingdom.  They are feeling really good about themselves. Their intentions are good. Herbert says to the ticket taker, “Here we are Mr. and Mrs. Nice Guy. I’m the president of the Rotary Club; I give blood to the Red Cross and am appreciated by everyone that knows me. Would you please let us in?” What would you call this attitude? Wishful thinking. The ticket taker would say, “Go back to the ticket booth and pay the price for a ticket in order to enter the kingdom.” Mr. and Mrs. Nice Guy had been good. They had come such a long way. They didn’t think that they really needed a ticket because they were so good. Can you imagine how they felt being turned away? You can’t even get into Disneyland by being good and what’s more awesome, the Magic Kingdom or God’s Kingdom?    

 

 

Let’s take this idea that being good by your own standard will get you will get you into Heaven and apply it to God’s Kingdom.

 

1.     Now picture Mister Nice Guy and his wife Edna strolling up to the main gates of the Kingdom of Heaven. They are feeling really good about themselves.  Their intentions are good. Herbert announces, “Here we are. Mr. and Mrs. Nice Guy have arrived.  We are ready to enter in.”  And Saint Peter will reply, “You look rather young. Aren’t you here a little early?” Herbert and Edna quickly answer, “We had chained ourselves to the front of a Russian whaler. We froze to death trying to save whales.”  And Saint Peter will say, “That’s nice but do you have an entrance ticket?”  Mr. and Mrs. Nice Guy say, “Oh, we didn’t think we needed one. We’ve been good and the newspapers called us heroes.”  And Saint Peter will say what he has always said, “Well I’m afraid you do need proof of purchase.  You’ve got to go back to the crucifixion of Jesus and pick up your reservation, where Jesus took the weight of your sin on His own body and crucified it on that cross.”  Mr. and Mrs. Nice Guy say, “Well, what do we do now? It’s too late.”  Then Saint Peter says, “There’s a place down the road, way down the big road. Follow the sign by the big moral curve. You’ll have a warm reception.”  If good works won’t get you into Disneyland, they certainly won’t get you into Heaven.

 

Meanwhile, back to our Parable: you still have your ticket for running the red light on Torrance Blvd.  However, being the responsible citizen that you are, you’re going to pay the fine.  You’re not going to ignore it.  So you choose solution #1 from the list of acceptable methods and go see the Judge. You’ve got your money in your hand and you appear before the Judge you hand him the proper amount and you expect to go free. Oh happy day! However, the Judge stares at you with those soul piercing eyes.  The Judge says to you,

 

You don’t understand, do you?  I know everything about you.  I know when you got your license.  I know every red light you ran. I know every time you tried to squeeze through on the yellow light and didn’t make it.  I know every stop sign you slid through, because you’re from California.  I know every time that you went over the speed limit, and every time you passed on the right. Since I know the law better than you could ever know it; I know laws that you broke that you didn’t even know were laws.  There are almost a thousand pages of fine print in the California Vehicle Code and you have violated something on every page.  In fact, through the years of driving you’ve had so many violations that added together with the penalties compounded, it’s beyond your ability to pay. They have all gone to warrant and you’re going to jail for 500 years.

 

If you had to pay for every ticket you’ve deserved you’d be broke. Now, I’ve been to traffic school enough times to teach it.  One instructor had a report from UCLA, which said that Californians break the law 2 ½ times a mile. My wife does better than that. She’s up to four times a mile. A long time ago back in the late 1900’s before I was a Christian and before I was married to Irma, we were speeding down the Marina Freeway. We were pulled over late one night by the cops. Now this was before I had any respect for police officers. I was rebellious and ill tempered. I began a passionate argument about the policeman’s parentage. The conversation was heating up when Irma decided to play the peacemaker. She leaned over to speak to the policeman, “Officer, you might as well give up. You can never win an argument with him. You are wasting your time. You can a never win an argument with him when he’s drunk.” What a keeper. You have to marry a woman like that.

BACK TO OUR ILLUSTRATION

The Judge finishes reviewing you life and says, “Well, you deserve to go to jail for ten lifetimes which is beyond your ability to pay. However, there is another option: you can avail yourself of our amnesty program and receive grace and pardon. The choice is up to you.”

 

 

An article from the Los Angeles Times, July 30, 1985, reads: ‘The Los Angeles City Attorney worried that the unpaid traffic tickets depriving the city and county of needed funds, favors a temporary amnesty program.’  Amnesty is a general pardon for political offenses.  The City Attorney said that they were discussing the feasibility of a grace period.  He believes that would help reduce the more than 2 million traffic citations and 810,000 traffic warrants on the computer’s docket.  Some of these tickets go back four and five years.  He said that if this is effective LA could have such amnesty periods every 10 years.  Officials say that more than 300 people presently housed in Los Angeles’ County Jail, are there because they failed to pay for traffic tickets or to appear for related court hearings.  The City Attorney was advocating amnesty, a general pardon for anyone who would come and take advantage of this grace period. 

 

Wouldn’t it be great news if you had a glove compartment full of traffic tickets and warrants that you could remove from your record by simply taking advantage of grace extended in an amnesty program?  What could be easier than that? All 2,810,000 people ought to flock to City Hall and have their records wiped clean. Only a fool would not take advantage of the grace extended in a general pardon. Only a fool would continue to ignore amnesty. Only a fool or an intellectual would not take advantage of the grace extended in a general pardon.

 

What a great illustration of God’s love to us in Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s amnesty program. God has extended grace to us as a free gift that we might have our violations of his moral law removed from our records. It is beyond our ability to pay for one sin but God is rich in mercy. The City has enough grace to pardon 2,8100,000 citations and warrants. God has infinitely more grace than the City of Los Angeles. God will forgive more than 2,810,000 sins. It doesn’t matter how many sins you have amassed in your life. We can have a clean record before God. Every sin large or small can be erased from our ledgers. The world should flock to Jesus Christ for pardon.

 

God knows everything about us. He is the great Judge.  He knows every thought, every deed, every word that we’ve ever spoken.  God knows everything about us.  God even knows the color our hair is supposed to be.  He even knows how old we really are.  He knows that everyone one of us has violated his moral law in some way.  We also know that every one of us has violated God’s legal system that He created in the universe.  No one would be arrogant enough to say they were perfect. We all have broken the moral law by accident, by ignorance and by choice.  There is a debt, and record of each violation. There will be a penalty. That penalty is eternal separation from God’s loving presence. We cannot go to heaven with one sin on our account because heaven is perfect. The penalty for sin is beyond our ability to pay. But amnesty is offered to all: the good, the bad, the ugly. Jesus has paid the total debt of sin for all of us on the cross. All we must do is receive his pardon as a free gift and live in our new freedom.

 

Rev 20:12 (NIV)

12      And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

 

There is a way which satisfies the debt of sin. I must choose whether or not I will use the system that God has provided.  The penalty of moral violations will not go away.  Sin should not be ignored. They only get worse.  I cannot choose my own way. I cannot devise my own salvation program. I must accept God’s program for forgiveness. It would be another sin to reject God’s offer of grace.

John 14:6 (NIV)

6        Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

 

Jesus is the way, established by God, to cancel our debt, plain and simple.  Just as no amount of good driving will remove an ordinary traffic ticket, no amount of good behavior will remove the debt and record of any violation of sin. 

 

This is the amazing love of God.  This forgiveness of sin was purchased by the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. He paid the full debt for our sin.  Whether we know it or not, God shows His love for us, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”   We can receive a full pardon for our sin through Jesus’ death on the cross. God has provided amnesty.  God has provided a grace period.  God has paid the fine himself and extended a grace period for anyone who will come and take advantage of his free offer. This is the incredible demonstration of God’s love. Jesus canceled the moral debt of sin which stood against us with its legal demands. Jesus took our penalty and nailed it to the cross.  The forgiveness of sins is the greatest bargain ever advertised.  It’s not only good news for the person who doesn’t know Jesus but it is also good news for Christians to remember that our debt has been paid in full.

 

FINALLY