Self-Salvation Simply Doesn't Work

 

Self-Salvation Simply Doesn’t Work

Self-Salvation Simply Doesn't Work - Audio/Visual 

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (Romans 3:21-23)

I'm glad the letter I received a few years ago wasn't sent from heaven. It came from my homeowner’s insurance company, instead – uh, my former homeowner’s insurance company. I didn't drop them; they dropped me. Not because I didn't pay my premiums; I did. Not because I failed to do some paperwork; every document was signed and delivered. I was dropped because I live in an area that’s prone to catching on fire. Really big fires.

The letter began politely enough, informing me that my policy had been under review and that the company had historical data on my area dating back to at least 2000 when homes in my community, and elsewhere, went up in flames. Twice. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I do live in an area that’s prone to go up in smoke – generally in October. In fact, that’s the reason I have insurance in the first place. Wasn't the whole insurance business invented for people like me? Don't occasional natural disasters put food on some insurance adjuster's table? If not for the potential of a fiery apocalypse, what would the actuaries actually actuate?

My initial thought when I got the letter was that the company was writing to congratulate me on being such a good customer. But the letter continued. Their records indicated that in 2003 they had paid a claim to power wash my house because my neutral-colored castle had gone grey from the soot of the fires that year. It was $350.00. Total. I even cleaned out the swimming pool myself to save them an additional claim. Don't I get some credit for saving them money? Apparently not. So, in conclusion, the insurance company said that in view of this information, they were unwilling to renew my homeowner’s policy and that my policy would terminate at 12:01 a.m., Pacific Standard Time, 90 days later. It concluded: “We’re sorry our decision could not have been more favorable. For your protection, we urge you to obtain other insurance to prevent any lapse in coverage.” Thanks.

So let me see if I have this right. I bought insurance to protect my home from natural disasters – like a fire. But then I get dropped for living where fires occur. Did I miss something? Did I miss a footnote? Did I skip some fine print in the contract? Did I overlook a paragraph that said something like, "We, the aforementioned insurance company, will consider your property an insurable risk until such time as you need insurance for said risk, at which time your coverage will terminate”? Isn't that like a dentist hanging a sign in the window that says, "No cavities, please"? Or a teacher penalizing you for asking too many questions? Isn't that like qualifying for a loan by proving you don't need one in the first place? What if the fire department said it would protect you until you had a fire? What if a bodyguard said he'd protect you unless someone was stalking you? Or a lifeguard said she'd watch over you unless you started to drown? What if heaven had limitations to its coverage?

What if you got a letter from Pearly Gate Mutual that read: “Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith, we’re writing in response to this morning's request for forgiveness. We’re sorry to inform you that you’ve reached your sin quota. Our records indicate that, since accepting our services, you’ve erred seven times in the area of greed, and your prayer lives are substandard compared to others of like age and circumstance. A further review of our records also reveals that your understanding of doctrine is in the lower 20^th percentile, and you have a disproportionate tendency to gossip. Because of your sins you are high-risk candidates for heaven. Unfortunately, grace has its limits. Accordingly, Jesus sends his regrets and hopes that you will find help elsewhere to prevent an unfortunate lapse in coverage in the event of a claim.” Many fear receiving a letter like that. Some worry they already have. If an insurance company won’t cover natural disasters, can I expect God to cover my intentional catastrophes?

Paul answers that question with what John Stott calls the most startling statement in Romans. "God makes even evil people right in his sight." (Rom. 4:5) Wow. It's one thing to make good people right, but those who are evil? We can expect God to justify the decent, but the dirty? Surely coverage is provided for the homeowner with the spotless record, but the careless? The arsonist? The high-risk customer? How in the world can justification come for the evil? It can't. It can't come from the world. It must come from heaven. Man has no way, but “God has a way . . . .”

Up until this point in Paul's letter, all efforts at salvation have been from earth upward. Man has inflated his balloon with his own hot air and can’t even leave the atmosphere. Our pleas of ignorance are inexcusable. (Rom. 1:20) Our comparisons with others are impermissible. (2:1) Our religious merits are unacceptable. (2:29) The conclusion is unavoidable: self-salvation simply doesn’t work. Man has no way to save himself. But Paul announces that “God has a way.” Where man fails, God excels. Salvation comes from heaven downward, not earth upward. "A new day from heaven will dawn upon us." (Luke 1:78) "Every good action and every perfect gift is from God." (James 1:17) Salvation is God-given, God-driven, God-empowered and God-originated. The gift is not from man to God, but from God to man. "It is not our love for God; it is God's love for us in sending his Son to be the way to take away our sins." (1 John 4:10)

Grace is created by God and given to man. "Sky above, make victory fall like rain; clouds, pour down victory. Let the earth receive it, and let salvation grow, and let victory grow with it. I, the LORD, have created it." (Isa. 45:8) On this point alone, Christianity is unique from any other religion in the world. No other system, ideology or religion proclaims a free forgiveness and a new life to those who have done nothing to deserve it but deserve judgment instead.

As far as the way of salvation is concerned, there are only two religions the world has ever known – the religion of divine accomplishment, which is biblical Christianity, and the religion of human achievement, which includes every other religion regardless of its name. Every other approach to God is a bartering system; if I do this, God will do that. I'm either saved by works (what I do), emotions (what I experience), or knowledge (what I know). By contrast, there’s not a whiff of negotiation in Christianity. Man is not the negotiator because man has no grounds from which to negotiate; he’s not exactly coming from a position of strength in the relationship.

Those closest to God have understood this. Those nearest to him have never boasted about their deeds; in fact, they were disgusted by the thought of self-salvation. They describe legalism in repulsive terms. Paul equated our religious credentials with the pile of stink you avoid in the cow pasture – “I count them but dung." (Phil. 3:8) We can summarize the first 3½ chapters of Romans with three words: we have failed. We’ve tried to swim the Atlantic but can’t get past the beach. We’ve attempted to scale the Everest of salvation, but we haven’t even left base camp, much less attempted to ascend the slope. The quest is simply too great. We don't need more supplies or muscle or technique; we need a helicopter. The good news is that the helicopter has arrived. "God has a way to make people right with him." (Rom. 3:21) How important that we embrace that truth.

God's highest dream is not to make us rich, not to make us successful, popular, or famous. God's dream is to make us right with him. So, how does God do that? Go back to the insurance company story. Was the company unjust in canceling me as a customer? No. Oh, I might think their decision was distasteful, unenjoyable, even discouraging, discriminatory or arbitrary. But I can’t call it unfair. The company only did what it said it would do. So did our Father. He told Adam, "If you ever eat fruit from that tree, you will die." (Gen. 2:17) No fine print there. No hidden agenda to obfuscate the truth. No loophole or technicality. God hasn’t played games with us. He’s been fair. Since Eden, the wages of sin have always been death. (Rom. 6:23) Just as I have no defense before the insurance company, I have no defense before God. My record accuses me. My past convicts me.

Now, suppose the founder and CEO of the insurance company wanted to have mercy on me. Suppose for some reason he wanted to keep me as a customer. What can he do? Can't he just close his eyes and pretend I don’t live in a community that’s just one Santa Ana away from disaster? Why doesn't he just take the statistics and tear them up? Two reasons. First, the integrity of the company would be compromised. He would have to relax the standards of the organization, something he could not, nor should not do. The company can’t abandon its precepts and still maintain its integrity. Second, the mistakes of the other insureds would be encouraged. If there’s no price for living in the next disaster waiting to happen, why should I care? If the president will dismiss my choices, then what's to keep me or anyone else from living anywhere we want and expect to get insurance? Is that the aim of the president? Is that the goal of his mercy? Lowered standards and risky insureds? No. The president is faced with this dilemma: “How can I be merciful and fair at the same time? How can I offer grace without endorsing mistaken judgment?” Or, put in biblical terms, how can God punish the sin and love the sinner? Paul answers that question.

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness." (Rom. 1:18) Is God going to lower his standard so we can be forgiven? Is God going to look away and pretend I've never sinned? Would we want a God who altered the rules and made exceptions? I don’t think so. We want a God who "does not change like . . . shifting shadows" (James 1:17), and who "judges all people in the same way." (Rom. 2:11) Besides, to ignore my sin is to endorse my sin. If my sin has no price, then sin on. If my sin brings no pain, then keep on sinning. In fact, "We should do evil so that good will come." (Rom. 3:8) Is this the aim of God? To compromise his holiness and enable our evil? Of course not. Then what is he to do? How can he be just and still love the sinner? How can he be loving and still punish the sin? How can he satisfy his standard and forgive my mistakes? Is there any way God could honor the integrity of heaven without turning his back on me? Holiness demands that sin be punished. Mercy compels that the sinner be loved. How can God do both? Good question.

Let’s go back to my former insurance company executive. Imagine him inviting me into his office and saying, “Randy, I’ve found a way to deal with your insurance problem. I can't overlook your choice of geography; to do so would be unjust. I can't pretend you didn't choose to live in a risky neighborhood; to do so would be a lie. But here’s what I can do. We’ve found a homeowner in our records with a spotless past. Lives in a concrete jungle. Is surrounded by fire hydrants and two fire stations. He’s volunteered to trade records with you. We will take your name and put it on his record. We will take his name and put it on yours. We will punish him for what you did. You, who chose the wrong locale, will be made right. He, who did right, will be made wrong." My response? "You've got to be kidding! Who’d do that for me? Who is that guy?" To which the president answers, "That guy would be … me."

Now, if you're waiting for an insurance executive to say that don't hold your breath. He won't. She can't. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't. She has no perfect record. But if you're wanting God to say those words, you can breathe a sigh of relief. He has. He can. For "God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. . . . Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could become right with God." (2 Cor. 5:19, 21) The perfect record of Jesus was given to you, and your imperfect record was given to Christ. Jesus was "not guilty, but he suffered for those who are guilty to bring you to God." (1 Peter 3:18) As a result, God's holiness is honored, and his children are forgiven. By his perfect life Jesus fulfilled the commands of the law. By his death he satisfied the demands of sin. Jesus suffered not like a sinner, but as a sinner. Why else would he cry, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46)

Ponder for a moment the achievement of God. He doesn't condone our sin, nor does he compromise his standard. He doesn't ignore our rebellion, nor does he relax his demands. Rather than dismiss our sin, he assumes our sin and, incredibly, sentences himself. God's holiness is honored. Our sin is punished. And we are redeemed. God is still God. The wages of sin are still death. But we are made perfect. That's right, perfect.

"With one sacrifice he made perfect forever those who are being made holy." (Heb. 10:14) God justifies (makes perfect) then sanctifies (makes holy). God does what we cannot do so we can be what we can’t even imagine – perfect before God. He justly justifies the unjust. And what did he do with your poor choice of geography? "He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross." (Col. 2:14). And what should be your response? Go one last time to my former insurance company for example.

So, I return to my insurance agent and ask him to pull up my file. He does and stares at the computer in utter disbelief. "Randy, you have a perfect record. Your choices and record are spotless." My response? Well, if I'm dishonest and ungrateful I will deepen my voice, cross my arms, and say, "You’re right, Chris. It's not easy to be me." But if I'm honest and grateful, I’ll simply smile and say, "I don't deserve that compliment. In fact, I don't deserve that record. It was, and is, an unspeakable gift of grace."

By the way, I have a new homeowner’s insurance company. Have for a few years now. They charged me a little more since I was initially bumped by a competitor, and now I’m charged a whole lot more since they’re the only game in the State. It’s called the “Fair Plan” which, in my opinion, is a bit of an oxymoron since there’s nothing “fair” about their plan, unless their “plan” is to make me bankrupt or to self-insure which my lender won’t allow. I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. It’s called politics, but I digress. The good news is that my eternal soul is heavenly underwritten, and Jesus isn't known for arbitrarily declining coverage. He’s known, however, for paying premiums, and I'm paid up for life. I'm in good hands … with Jesus.

Grace,

Randy

Holy Hostility

 

Holy Hostility

Holy Hostility - Audio/Visual 

God shows his anger because some knowledge of him has been made clear to them. Yes, God has shown himself to them. There are things about him that people cannot see – his eternal power and all the things that make him God. But since the beginning of the world those things have been easy to understand by what God has made. So, people have no excuse for the bad things they do. (Rom. 1:19-20)

"And you discovered that your boyfriend had been sleeping with your mother?" The audience snickered. The teenage girl on the stage ducked her head at the sudden burst of attention. The mother was a middle-aged woman in a too-tight black dress, sitting with her arm intertwined with the skinny one of a boy in a sleeveless T-shirt. She waved to the crowd. He grinned. Talk-show host Christy Adams wasted no time. "Do the two of you really sleep together?" The mother, still holding the boy’s hand, looked at him. He grinned, and she smiled.

"Yes." She went on to explain how lonely she'd been since her divorce. Her daughter's boyfriend hung out at her house during all hours of the day and night and, well, one afternoon he plopped beside her on the couch and the two started talking and one thing led to another and the next thing she knew they were . . . Her face flushed, and the boy shrugged as they let the audience complete the sentence.

The girl sat expressionless and silent. "Aren't you worried what this might teach your daughter?" Christy inquired. "I'm only teaching her the ways of the world." "What about you?" Christy asked the boy. "Aren't you being unfaithful to your girlfriend?" The boy honestly looked amazed. "I still love her," he announced. "I'm only helping her by loving her mother. We are one happy family. There's nothing wrong with that!" The audience erupted with whistles and applause.

Just as the hubbub began to subside, Christy told the lovers, "Not everyone would agree with you. I've invited a guest to react to your lifestyle." With that, the crowd got quiet, anxious to see who Christy had recruited to spice up the dialogue. "He's the world's most famous theologian. His writings have long been followed by some and debated by others. Making his first appearance on the Christy Adams Show, please welcome controversial theologian, scholar and author, the apostle Paul!"

Polite applause welcomed a short, balding man with glasses and a tweed jacket. He loosened his tie a bit as he settled his small frame into the stage chair. Christy skipped the usual pleasantries. "Do you have a problem with what these people are doing?" Paul held his hands in his lap, looked over at the trio and then back at Christy. "It's not how I feel that matters. It's how God feels." Christy paused so the TV audience could hear the "ooohs" ripple through the studio. "Then tell us, please, apostle Paul, how does God feel about this creative tryst?" "It angers him." "Why?" Christy asks incredulously. "Evil angers God because evil destroys his children. What these people are doing is evil." The strong words triggered a few hoots, some scattered applause, and an outburst of boos. Before Christy could speak, Paul continued. "As a result, God has left them and let them go their sinful way. Their thinking is dark, their acts are evil, and God is disgusted."

A lanky fellow in the front shouted out his objection. "It's her body. She can do what she wants!" "Oh, but that's where you’re mistaken. Her body belongs to God and is to be used for him." "What we're doing is harmless," objected the mother. "Look at your daughter," Paul urged her, gesturing toward the girl whose eyes were full of tears. "Don't you see you’ve harmed her? You traded healthy love for lust. You traded the love of God for the love of the flesh. You traded truth for a lie. And you traded the natural for the unnatural . . . ." Christy couldn’t restrain herself. "Do you know how hokey you sound? All this talk about God and right and wrong and immorality? Don't you feel out of touch with reality?"

"Out of touch? No. Out of place, yes. But out of touch, hardly. God doesn’t sit silently while his children indulge in perversion. He lets us go our sinful ways and reap the consequences. Every broken heart, every unwanted child, every war can be traced back to our rebellion against God." Some in the audience sprang to their feet, the mother put her finger in Paul's face, and Christy turned to the camera, delighting in the pandemonium. "We've got to go to break," she shouted over the noise. "Don't go anywhere; we've got some more questions for our “friend” the apostle," air quotes on full display.

How does that dialogue strike you? Harsh? (Paul was too narrow) Unreal? (The scene was too bizarre) Outlandish? (No one would accept such convictions) Regardless of your response, it’s important to note that although the script is fictional, Paul's words aren’t. God is "against all the evil and wrong things people do." (Rom. 1:18) The One who urges us to "hate what is evil" (Rom. 12:9) hates what is evil. In three chilling verses Paul states: "God left them and let them go . . ." (Rom. 1:24) "God left them and let them do . . ." (Rom. 1:26) "God left them and allowed them to have their own worthless thinking . . . ." (Rom. 1:28) God is angry at evil. “Go,” “do” and “have” – all without God.

For many, this is a revelation. Some assume God is a harried high-school principal; too busy monitoring the planets to notice us. He's not. Others assume he’s a doting parent, blind to the evil of his children. Wrong again. Still others insist he loves us so much he can’t be angry at our evil. They don't understand that love is always angry at evil. Many don't understand God's anger because they confuse the wrath of God with the wrath of man. The two have little in common. Human anger is typically self-driven and prone to explosions of temper and violence. We get ticked off because we've been overlooked, neglected or cheated. That’s the anger of man. It’s not, however, the anger of God.

God doesn't get angry because he doesn't get his way. He gets angry because disobedience always results in self-destruction. What kind of father sits by and watches his children hurt themselves? What kind of God would do the same? Do we think he giggles at adultery, or snickers at murder? Do you think he looks the other way when we produce television talk shows based on perverse pleasures? Does he just shake his head and say, "Oh well, humans will be humans"? I don't think so. God is rightfully angry. God is a holy God. Our sins are an affront to his holiness, and we’re without excuse.

In some of the most arresting words of the Bible, Paul says, “God shows his anger because some knowledge of him has been made clear to them. Yes, God has shown himself to them. There are things about him that people cannot see – his eternal power and all the things that make him God. But since the beginning of the world those things have been easy to understand by what God has made. So, people have no excuse for the bad things they do. (Rom. 1:19-20, italics mine)

In other words, we’re without excuse because God has revealed himself to us through his creation. The psalmist wrote: "The heavens tell the glory of God, and the skies announce what his hands have made. Day after day they tell the story; night after night they tell it again. They have no speech or words; they have no voice to be heard. But their message goes out through all the world; their words go everywhere on earth." (Ps. 19:1-4)

Stated differently, every star is an announcement. Each leaf is a reminder. The glaciers are megaphones, the seasons are chapters, and the clouds are banners. Nature is a song of many parts but with one theme and one verse: God is. Eighteen hundred years ago, Tertullian, circa 225 A.D., an early Christian apologist, wrote: “It was not the pen of Moses that initiated the knowledge of the Creator. . . . The vast majority of mankind, though they had never heard the name of Moses, to say nothing of his books, knew the God of Moses none-the-less. . . . Nature is the teacher; the soul is the pupil. . . . One flower of the hedgerow . . . one shell from any sea you like . . . one feather of a moor fowl . . . will they speak to you of a mean Creator? . . . If I offer you a rose, you will not scorn its Creator.”

Creation was God's first missionary. There are those who never held a Bible or heard a scripture. There are those who die before a translator puts God's Word on their tongues. There are millions who lived in ancient times before Christ or live in distant lands far from Christians. There are the simple-minded who are incapable of understanding the gospel. What does the future hold for the person who never hears of God? Again, Paul's answer is clear. The human heart can know God through the handiwork of nature. If that is all one ever sees, that is enough. One need only respond to what he is given. And if he is given only the testimony of creation, then he has enough. But “to whom much is given, much is required.” (Luke 12:48) So for better or worse, we are without excuse, and much will be required since we’ve been given God’s Word and have had the benefit of the apostle’s teachings and the prophets.

The problem is not that God hasn't spoken, but that we haven't listened. God says his anger is directed against any “thing” and any “one” who suppresses the knowledge of the truth. God loves his children, and he hates what destroys them. This doesn't mean that he flies into a rage or loses his temper or is emotionally unpredictable. It simply means that he loves you and hates what you become when you turn from him. Call it holy hostility. A righteous hatred of wrong. A divine disgust at the evil that destroys his children.

So, the question is not so much, "How dare a loving God be angry?" but rather, "How could a loving God feel anything less?"

Grace,

Randy