Understanding the Gospel is essential to being a Christian. The Gospel is God’s plan for redeeming his people for his purposes. It is the main story line of the Bible. If we love God with our hearts, minds, souls, and strength, then we must understand why he came to redeem us; how he redeemed us; what our part is in the midst of him redeeming us.
Once you grasp these answers, your affection for God will grow, and grow, and grow, then grow some more and your heart end up being totally captivated by his love for you.
This is the way many people believe that they will get to heaven. It sounds fair doesn’t it? As long as you aren’t an axe murderer, rapist, or child molester, you’re good. On the surface this looks good, but let’s dig deeper and ask:
How hard do you have to work?
What are the right things?
Who makes these types of decisions?
For instance, the Aztecs believed child sacrifice was a “right thing.” Will killing innocent children to appease God get them into heaven? They thought so.
Muslim countries that adhere to shia law believe women should wear burkas, not work nor drive. Westerners see this as oppressive and not the right thing to do. What’s one to do?
The Bible guides offers a clear answer to these questions. Warning: this answer is counter-intuitive. It cuts against our pride and the good old Protestant work ethic.
There is nothing we can do or offer God to get to heaven. It is all up to him. Consider, “he saved us, not be of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy…” (Titus 3:5) or “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
God is the one making the decisions through his mercy, not our works; through a gift of his grace, not through anything that we can offer. It’s all about him, his desires, and his will.
The Bible tells us that our even best works are “polluted garments.” (Isaiah 64:6) This is a very nice way of saying “menstrual garments”, as the original readers would have metaphorically understood. Think about that for a minute. When the light of God’s perfect glory shines upon our best efforts, they don’t reflect what we believe what they reflect. Rather it reflects every bit of its imperfection.
So, even if you work really hard and do all the “right things” as you define them, you remain in the same boat as those who don’t lift a finger and do bad things.
Discouraged? Feel that justice has been thrown out the window? Check out this post.
What are your thoughts? How have you explained this to others?
Disagreements tend to separate people from one another. The conflict sometimes is so deep that permanent separations occur.
“Irreconcilable differences” describes separations in marriages.
“Difference in philosophy” often describes business partnerships breaking apart.
“Lack of results or personality conflicts” describes people leaving their jobs.
Do you think this sort of thing can happen with God? That the differences between humans and God are so great that it would cause a separation? Some would argue no. They base their answer on the knowledge that God is loving God; so to separate himself from those He created is not possible.
Certainly, God is loving. The Bible tells us that He is love (1 John 4:8). But to leave it at that misses the point. God demands that we should be perfect just as he is perfect. “For you shall be holy. For I the LORD your God am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2) We are not. This is what separates us from God.
At first blush this poll statement seems a bit over the top. The common opinion among many is that you have “do good” or “be good” to make it to heaven.
This common wisdom contradicts the words of Scripture. Leviticus 19:2 proclaims that we need to be holy as God is holy. That is we must be set apart from the moral imperfections and impurities of they world since God is. This seems like an impossible standard for us to achieve since everyone regardless of their faith would agree that “nobody’s perfect”.
Surely, God doesn’t mean that we have to perfect. But he does as he cannot accept any impurity or imperfection (sin) into his presence lest he become imperfect or impure.
In today’s relative world, absolute words offend. Yet in Scripture, absolute words fill its pages. For instance, terms like righteous, pure, true, right and holy are used hundreds of times to describe God.
His own words testify to his absolute nature. He is not kind of pure; he is pure. Nor does he mostly tell the truth; he tells the truth…always. He is just 100 percent of the time while he loves 100 percent of time. These attributes make him absolutely pure and perfect.
Psalm 145:17 reveals to us that “The LORD is righteous in all his ways…” Everything he does from speaking the universe into existence (Gen. 1); bringing about the flood (Gen. 6); sacrificing His only Son; to creating your life with all of its ups and downs is right. He did not make any mistakes, nor will He ever.
Moreover, his laws that he instructs us to obey are true and pure. When we obey them our hearts are filled
About the Gospel
Disagreements tend to separate people from one another. The conflict sometimes is so deep that permanent separations occur.
This common wisdom contradicts the words of Scripture. Leviticus 19:2 proclaims that we need to be holy as God is holy. That is we must be set apart from the moral imperfections and impurities of they world since God is. This seems like an impossible standard for us to achieve since everyone regardless of their faith would agree that “nobody’s perfect”.