The Way (Part 5): Can I Ever Lose My Salvation?

            The one question that I struggled with the most from elementary school all the way through college was whether or not I could lose my salvation.  The church I attended taught that I could not, but I met others who believed differently and used Bible verses to back up their stance.  I was confused by passages that, in my mind, seemed to conflict with each other.  Though I had many excellent biblical teachers and leaders growing up, it wasn’t until I attended Frontier School of the Bible that this issue of eternal security (the inability to lose one’s salvation) was really settled in my mind.  While immersed in the Bible and in teaching about the Bible at school, I learned more in depth how to observe what I read, how to thoughtfully and prayerfully interpret it based on both its immediate literary and historical contexts, and how to appropriately apply it to my life.  I also learned the importance of interpreting muddy passages in light of clear ones, not the other way around.  This instruction helped me to clearly see why it was true that my salvation could never be lost.  I want to share with you why you too can rest in the security of God’s guarantee if you have believed in Jesus as we discussed in part 4. 

1.  God can’t and won’t lose it.

           

Hebrews 6:16-18 – “For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.  In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.”  God cannot lie, and He won’t change His mind.  His purpose toward the heirs of the promise (those who have believed) is unchangeable.  When He says that those who believe in Jesus will be saved, we can know on the basis of His character that it is true and that it will come to pass. 

2 Timothy 2:13 – “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”  Unlike us, God is faithful.  He will never betray us or deceive us. 

Hebrews 13:8 – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  Not only is God’s purpose toward the heirs of promise unchangeable, but He Himself is unchangeable in His character.  People shift and change constantly, but God is always the same.  We can trust Him and His Word; He keeps His promises.

John 14:16-18 – “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”  The very second you believe in Jesus for salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you forever.  He will never leave you.  Romans 8:9 also makes it very clear that if you don’t have the Holy Spirit, you don’t belong to Christ.  Those who belong to Christ have the Holy Spirit.  This provides the setting for our next passage…

Ephesians 1:13-14 – “In Him [Jesus Christ], you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”  The Holy Spirit seals us in Christ.  In volume 1 of Wuest’s Word Studies, Kenneth S. Wuest provides some helpful insight into these verses.  He gives some examples of how a seal means that everything is in done and ready to be delivered (Wuest, 49).  He goes on to further explain, “In the symbolism of Scripture a seal signifies (1) A finished transaction…(2) Ownership…[and] (3) Security....Thus, God places the Holy Spirit in us permanently..., indicating that the great transaction in which God the Son paid for sin, thus satisfying the just demand of God’s holy law, is finished; that we saints belong to Him as His heritage, and that we are eternally secure” (Wuest, 49).  Wuest also explains how the word “pledge” refers to earnest money, or a down payment of sorts of our salvation.  Believers now experience justification and sanctification, but we await our glorification.  The Holy Spirit is God’s “earnest money” – a guarantee that we will be glorified (Wuest, 49-50).  I have also heard this concept illustrated in terms of engagement.  The Holy Spirit is like an engagement ring given from God to us; it is a commitment and promise of the marriage to come.  The gift of the Holy Spirit gives us great assurance that we are secure in Christ.          

1 John 2:1-2 – “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.  And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation [satisfactory payment] for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”  Satan doesn’t need to accuse us falsely.  We give him plenty of ammunition even after we have been saved by sinning.  On our own, we are all guilty (like we talked about it part 2). Thankfully, we believers have an Advocate to stand against the accuser, no matter how true his accusations are.  Our Advocate, Jesus, stands before God and declares that our sins cannot be held against us because He took the punishment for them already.  Not only that, but He gave us His righteousness as a gift when we believed.  We will not be condemned while Jesus advocates for us.     

John 10:27-30 – “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”  Jesus will not drop believers or toss us aside.  He has a hold on us, and no one can change that. 

John 6:39-40 – “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.  For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”  It is the very will of God that Jesus not lose anything that has been given to Him, including those who have believed in Him for eternal life.  The one who conquered death will bring about our salvation to its completion and bring us back to life as well.  God’s will stands.    

Romans 8:38-39 – “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Nothing can separate us from His love for us in Jesus.  Nothing.  God is above all and cannot be defeated.    

2.  We ourselves can’t lose it.

John 10:27-30 – Refer back to this verse in the previous section.  It says that no one can snatch us out of the Father’s hand – that includes ourselves.  I cannot even pluck myself out of the hand of God once I am there. 

John 6:47 – “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.”  Eternal life doesn’t begin with the death of our physical bodies.  We don’t wait for it.  This verse is in the present tense and says that we who believe have it already.  It starts the moment we believe and lasts forever.  It cannot be lost for the very fact that it is eternal.     

           

1 John 5:10-13 – “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”  We don’t have to wonder whether or not we have eternal life.  Portions of Scripture (including the book of 1 John) have been dedicated to showing us that we can know for certain that we have eternal life.  If it could be lost, then there would be no certainty.   

Colossians 2:13-14 – “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”  Jesus died for all sins past, present, and future.  Think about it.  When Jesus died on the cross, all of your personal sins were in the future at that point; yet, they were all paid for.  Salvation comes by having His righteousness credited to our account, not by our own righteousness.  We cannot lose our salvation by sinning because the sin has already been paid for.  All we need is Jesus’s righteousness through belief.      

Romans 8:28-30 – “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”  A lot could be said about these verses, but the point I want to make is that God sees us as glorified already.  We have a hard time understanding this because we are bound by time, but God is not.  He created time and is not limited by it.  Even though at the present time we have not been glorified, it is certain that it will happen, not on the basis of anything we do, but on the basis of Christ’s completed work and gift of righteousness to those who believe.     

John 1:12-13 – “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”  We believers are called children of God.  Why would God use a the illustration of a permanent relationship to show us what our relationship to Him is if that relationship is not also permanent? 

Romans 8:15 – “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba!  Father!’”  Here again, we are called children of God.  We are adopted into this permanent new relationship by faith.  A son is always a son, no matter what he does.  We have no need to fear. 

           

Galatians 3:1-3 – “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?  This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”  We are saved by faith, by believing in Jesus for salvation, and are at that moment given the Holy Spirit as a seal and a pledge.  Nothing we could do could earn us salvation.  It is a gift accepted by faith.  If we can’t even save ourselves in the first place, what makes us think we could keep ourselves saved by the things we do or don’t do?  If we could do nothing to earn it, what makes us think we could earn the loss of it?  It is not based on what we do, but on what Christ did for us.   

            These verses could be discussed more at length, and they are not by any means an exhaustive collection concerning this matter.  However, I believe they decisively reveal that our salvation cannot be lost.  We are secure in Christ.  We may not always feel secure in Christ, particularly if we are living in sin.  When we live in sin, we live as though we are unbelievers, so it would make sense that we would doubt our salvation.  However, our security is not dependent upon how we feel.  If we have believed, then we are saved, we have (present tense) eternal life, and we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us as a seal and a pledge.  If Jesus can come back to life, He can certainly keep us safe in His care until we are glorified with Him.  He cannot and will not lose us, and we cannot lose Him.  This is the deepest security anyone could possibly know, and it is available to you if you will just believe. 

*Wuest, Kenneth S.  Wuest’s Word Studies.  Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966.  

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The Way (Part 4): What Must I Do to Be Saved?

            At one of our high school small groups on Wednesday night, the students were asked what they feel like their generation is seeking.  One answer was autonomy: they want the freedom to make all their own decisions and do what they want to do without depending on anyone else.  Inwardly, I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony.  I remember feeling that way as a teenager, but now there are days when I would love to go back to the time before I had to carry the weight and responsibility of being an adult.  For example, I hate driving.  I enjoy the freedom I have to get where I need or want to go, but I struggle with pretty severe anxiety over having all potential consequences placed squarely on my own shoulders.  The first time I drove, I couldn’t even bring myself to step on the gas pedal for several minutes.  I just coasted in a big, open lot until my patient dad couldn’t take it anymore.  Growing up, I didn’t give riding with my parents a second thought.  The weaving semis, hidden deer, wild cars, and rising speed didn’t scare me because I depended on, relied on, believed in, and trusted my parents completely.  I knew they would protect me and get us all where we needed to go.  Nothing was required of me in order to reach our destination other than to rest in the back seat and wait. 

            In part one, we discovered that God’s demand to be in His presence is perfection.  Next, we saw in part two that even though we were created to be in a relationship with God, our sin separated us from Him.  Nothing we can do can repair that relationship, and the just penalty for our sin is death (physical, spiritual, and eternal).  God loves us, so we heard the good news in part three that He paid the price of our sin to satisfy His own holy and just demand by sending His son Jesus.  Jesus took the full wrath for the past, present, and future sins of all people in all times and places when He died on the cross, and His resurrection proved that God accepted His sacrifice as full payment.  Jesus died for all, but not all will be saved.  God’s Word tells us exactly what our response needs to be in order to have the gift of Jesus’s righteousness credited to our account and to live in His perfect presence forever.  We must believe in Jesus, and Him alone, for salvation.  This is how we accept the gift. 

            Saving belief in Jesus is not a factual head knowledge like believing the sky is blue.  Even Satan and the demons themselves believe that Jesus is a real person, that He died on the cross, and that He came back to life.  They witnessed it and know it to be true.  No, the belief that results in salvation is similar to the belief I had in my parents when I rode in their car.  It is a belief that trusts in, relies on, and depends on Jesus completely as the one way to salvation based on his death and resurrection.  It is resting in His completed work to get us where we need to go.

            It sounds too easy, so many people try to add requirements.  They say you must be baptized in water, read your Bible, pray, go to church, give to the needy, serve in soup kitchens, go on mission trips, give up all your bad habits, make Jesus Lord over every aspect of your life, and/or complete many other good deeds before you can be saved.  Even though all these are good, and God calls us to them for His glory, to reach more people, and to grow us into becoming the people He originally created us to be in His image, Isaiah 64:6 tells us that they are still only filthy rags (menstrual rags) compared to Christ’s righteousness.  We have to have Christ’s righteousness credited to our account in order to be saved, and that happens when we believe in Him alone for salvation.  His righteousness alone can save us.  Good deeds are simply a natural out-flowing of our reconciled relationship with Christ as we stay close to Him.  Romans 4:5 says in no uncertain terms: “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.”  Ephesians 2:8, 9 also makes this point abundantly clear: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one can boast.”  This great salvation is simple as far as what our response needs to be, but it was not easy or cheap.  Remember what Jesus went through.  Remember His sacrifice.  The gift of our salvation came at great cost.  How foolish we are to think that anything we could do could add value to the precious gift Jesus already paid for and offers freely to all who will believe in Him.    

            After quoting Romans 4 and Ephesians 2, I also want to bring some clarification to a word that is so often abused, misused, and misunderstood: faith.  Biblical faith is not some mystical wishy-washy concept that floats around the heads of those who don’t have their feet firmly planted in reality.  God has told us in His Word, the Bible, exactly what faith is.  “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).  In other words, it is a strong, confident belief that has no problem with its object being unseen.  Faith for faith’s own sake does not save anyone and can actually be foolish.  The object of the faith is what matters.  I could have faith that my three-year-old nephew could drive me to the grocery store, but that faith would be sorely misplaced, and it would not result in anything remotely good.  Many children have faith in an invisible friend, but that friend does not exist no matter how sincere their faith is.  I have faith (a strong, confident belief) in Jesus now, even though I cannot see Him, because of the very real evidence He left behind that He is the way, the truth, and the life.  But that’s a topic for another day.  Faith, or belief, only results in salvation if it is placed in the right person, Jesus, because that person is the one doing the saving.

            If you haven’t yet believed in Jesus, know that He loves you, and no matter what you have done or what has been done to you, you are not too far gone for Him to save.  You don’t have to clean yourself up before trusting Him to save you.  Believe in Him now, and He will bring about transformation in your life as you grow in your relationship with Him.  He has paid the steep price to be able to offer you this gift.  You can be all you were created to be and be fully and finally satisfied in your relationship with Him.  He just asks you to accept His gift by believing in Him.  Trust Him, and like I find rest when I ride in a vehicle driven by someone I trust, you too will find rest for your soul.                    

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The Way (Part 3): The Provision of the Greatest Sacrifice

            During a short evangelism training I attended a few years ago, the speaker talked about how most religions that include a god or gods also have some component of human or blood sacrifice. Many components of different religions are partial truths that have been twisted. The One true God does require life blood as a payment for sin. His holiness requires perfection (see part 1), and His just nature requires that sin (i.e., anything that misses the mark of perfection) be dealt with. He cannot simply ignore it, gloss over it, or go easy on it. Yet the stark difference between my God and the other “gods” who are thought to desire sacrifices is that He himself became the sacrifice to meet His own demand. He knew the state mankind was in when Adam and Eve fell. He knew we could never make our own way back to Him. Unlike the vengeful and selfish gods of ancient cultures, He loved us, and He provided the Way for us to be reconciled in our relationship with Him.

            The Way that He provided was Jesus, God the Son. Jesus is the only one who could pay for all the past, present, and future sins of all of mankind. Being fully God and fully man, He lived a sinless life of perfection and willingly gave up that life in order to take upon Himself the full force of God’s wrath toward all our sins. Because He is infinite, His one sacrifice was sufficient for all people in all times and places. Unlike the Old Testament animal sacrifices that pictured what was to come, His sacrifice does not need to be repeated. When Jesus suffered and died on the cross (the physical event being only a minuscule reflection of what He endured for us spiritually), He took the penalty for all sin once for all. Just before His spirit was separated from His body, He said the famous words, “It is finished.” Literally, this meant “paid in full.” The monumental debt that we owed to God, but could never hope to repay, was paid for by Jesus. It was done, and the world quaked – its inhabitants not fully comprehending what had just been done for them. The Roman soldier stabbed Jesus with a spear to ensure that He was dead, and He was buried in another man’s tomb. Three days later, He came back to life – demonstrating that God had indeed accepted His payment for our sin. Without the resurrection, we would have no idea if Jesus’s claims of being the Savior, our provision, were legitimate. The resurrection is evidence that He is who He claimed to be and accomplished what He came to do.

            Christ’s sacrifice provided the way for forgiveness (salvation from the penalty of sin), righteousness (salvation from the power of sin in our lives), and a future (salvation from the very presence of sin). He has cancelled the debt of our sin at the great cost of His own life, and He offers us His own righteousness and the opportunity to fulfill what we were created to do – to dwell with God forever apart from the pain, tears, and wretchedness of sin. His desire is for us to be all that we were created to be – glorified, blessed with every spiritual blessing, productive, a reflection of Himself, and fully and finally satisfied in our relationship with Him. While we were still lost, He made the way for us to come back to Him. While our backs were still turned on Him in rejection and betrayal, He gave the ultimate demonstration of His love by laying down His life. The depth of our need was met with His abundant, acceptable provision. What a great salvation, and what a wonderful Savior!

            This incredible provision is available to all, but not all will receive it. Jesus loves the whole world, and He died for the whole world, but not everyone will spend eternity with Him. This is because God has still given us a choice. We must respond to God’s provision in order for it to be applied to our personal account. Our choices are Jesus, the Life, or death – not just physical, but also spiritual and eternal (see part 2). There is no in between, and there is only one way. One provision. One choice. How must we respond in order to accept this ultimate provision of salvation? Watch for part 4 next Monday. Or, you can read God’s own words to discover it for yourself in these verses:

John 3:16 

John 3:18 

John 3:36 

John 6:28-29 

John 6:40 

John 6:47

Acts 16:30-31

Romans 4:4-6

Galatians 2:16

1 John 5:13

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Ministry Highlight Interview: Silas & Amanda Cheek

Tell me a little bit about your family and your life right now. 


            After school, we moved to Bend, OR, and have been there for seven years. God used these years to grow us in our marriage and to grow our family. Emma, who will turn six this spring, has a tender heart for others and loves to have fun. Issac and Isabella just turned three this February and, while they are opposite in every way, they both love doing puzzles and coloring all day long. We’ve been plugged into an amazing church here too called Eastmont, where we’re serving with the high school youth group and helping the worship team.



How did you two meet?


            While pursuing my dream of being a missionary pilot, I (Silas) began flight training, which ultimately lead to becoming an aircraft mechanic. I met Amanda in the process as I attended the church where her dad pastors in Tucson, AZ. I quickly realized her call and heart for missions. After being married, we attended Frontier School of the Bible to start our life together and to prepare for life in missions.



How did you first know you were called to ministry (individually and/or as a couple)?


            Amanda and I both grew up in full-time ministry families. Amanda’s parents have been working in ministry for 30+ years. My parents have been with UIM International for over 30 years. We both accepted the gift of salvation at the age of 5. With so many faithful individuals guiding us at every stage in our lives, we both felt called at a young age to be in full-time ministry. We never wanted to lose sight of this calling, and that’s why last year, we prayerfully applied to UIM.



How did God lead you to pursue UIM Aviation?


            Again pursuing God’s call on our hearts towards missions, the opportunity to join with UIM Aviation in Tucson, Arizona was open to us. We have always had a heart for this ministry and organization. We love the people in it and are excited to work alongside them.



What kind of process did you have to go through to become UIM appointees?


            Like with all mission organizations, we went through a thorough application process. We had references, outlined doctrinal statements, and an interview. We had the opportunity to go to their headquarters in Glendale, AZ for orientation where they officially made us appointees.



What type of ministry will you be doing?


            UIM International exists to share the Gospel with indigenous people groups across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Across Mexico many native people groups are in need of medical attention, essential goods, disaster relief aid, and, most importantly the hope of the gospel message. What takes several hours, even days, to travel rugged mountain roads, trails and unforgiving terrain takes only minutes in an airplane. God is working in the hearts of these wonderful people and is accomplishing the work through indigenous Church leaders, missionaries, missionary pilots, technicians and aircraft. Currently, there is a high need for aircraft technicians as there is more work than what personnel can easily manage.


            Silas will be onboard as an aircraft maintenance technician with the opportunity to continue flight training. Amanda will be onboard to assist with any non-aircraft work such as office administration, event coordination, and fund raising, in addition to being an amazing mom of three.



Is there a specific location where you hope to serve?


            We will be serving in Tucson, Arizona with extension to Mexico.



What is the projected timeline for your ministry?


            Our family needs to be 100% financially supported before being field missionaries with UIM. We are praying for a quick, yet lasting, financial partnership development so we can be available for the future God has for us on the field as soon as possible.



How are you serving the Lord right now as you wait to be sent to the mission field?


            During our time in Bend, the Lord placed us in an amazing local church where we have all enjoyed serving and growing spiritually as a family.



How can people support you as you begin your journey with UIM Aviation?


            Pray – Our dependence on the Father through prayer is key to any ministry. We are asking committed family and friends to be on our prayer team to consistently GO for us in prayer. Your vital role will be the life blood of this ministry, helping it thrive and be fruitful to the glory of our Lord.


            Give – Again, we need to be 100% financially supported before we are able to begin our journey as field missionaries with UIM. You can give by mailing a check payable to UIM International designated for Silas and Amanda Cheek to P.O. Box 6429, Glendale, AZ 85312-6429. For those who would rather give online, you can go to uim.org/donate. You will receive our newsletter and updates. Any amount helps! Thank you in advance for your generosity and service!

Thanks for reading!  And a huge thank you to all of you who are prayerfully considering supporting this wonderful couple!  

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The Way (Part 2): Who Can Stand?

           

            Mankind as a whole is an ingenious lot.  God made us that way.  Flight, instant inter-continental communication, space travel, and robotic laparoscopies are just a few extreme examples of ways we have overcome barriers and surpassed the lines set before us.  On a smaller scale, we push ourselves to be better athletes, better musicians, better spouses, better parents, better professionals – whatever it is – by discipline, knowledge, creativity, cunning, or any other number of means.  If we don’t possess a specific character trait or skill, we believe we can strive to achieve it.  Our lack of motivation occasionally holds us back, but we believe that where there is truly a will, there is a way. 

In part one of this series, we established that God’s standard is perfection.  Is this expectation one that man can meet?  Can we will a way into existence?  Is it within us already like the MVP who gains his or her status by natural-born talent?  Or, can we earn it like the MVP who used a combination of hours of practice, self-discipline, sacrifice, teamwork, and excellent coaching to reach the top?  Failing to obtain the title of MVP isn’t life-altering.  Will we suffer any significant loss if we don’t live up to the demand of perfection? 

God gives us the answers to these questions in His Word.  He has revealed to us exactly what condition we are in.

1.  We don’t have it within us already. 

           

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked.  Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah17:9 NLT).  Our culture teaches us to follow our hearts above all else.  Those who are considered to be exceptionally good people are described as having a heart of gold.  God warns us that we don’t even know the depths of the wickedness and deception in our hearts – including the so-called golden ones.

“Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20 NLT).  No one is perfect – not even the sweet grandma who wouldn’t hurt a fly and has dedicated her life to helping others. 

“No one is righteous – not even one….For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:10, 23 NLT).  We do not measure up, and we cannot measure up.  In and of ourselves, we all fall short. 

2.  We can’t achieve it.

“We are all infected and impure with sin.  When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.  Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind” (Isaiah 64:6 NLT).  Some people subscribe to the idea that the good things they do can cancel out or make up for the bad that they’ve done.  This verse says that even the best things we do are like filthy rags.  The translation of  filthy rags is toned down from the literal meaning of menstrual rags.

“Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law.  And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law.  For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law” (Galatians 2:16 NLT).  Doing what is right – i.e., obeying the law – cannot make us right with God.  Doing what is wrong just once outweighs a lifetime of doing good.  Again, the standard is perfection.     

“God saved you by his grace when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Ephesians 2:8, 9 NLT).  Salvation cannot be earned.  We can go to church, read and talk about the Bible, care for orphans and widows, give all our money to missions, and get baptized and still not be saved.  Reconciling with God is impossible on the basis of doing good things.         

3. We can’t afford to fail.   

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NLT).  Just one sin is enough to earn death. 

“But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James1:14-15 NIV).  Sin promises us pleasure, hope, and happiness – and it may bring us those things temporarily.  However they will inevitably be overshadowed by immeasurable grief and death like the birth of a stillborn baby. 

“But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars – their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  This is the second death” (Revelation 21:8 NLT).  Physical death (the separation of body from soul and spirit) is not the only death brought about by sin.  Sin also separated us spiritually as individuals from God.  If we die physically without closing the gap of this spiritual separation from God, we enter the second death.  This is an eternal separation from God (our souls and spirits are immortal) with the additional torment of eternal punishment.  Failing to meet God’s standard of perfection has serious eternal consequences.

           

            God’s requirement is perfection.  We do not have perfection within us, and we cannot earn it or achieve it.  We fall short, and there is nothing we can do about it.  Even if we have the will, we cannot make a way.  Failing to meet God’s requirement results in death (physical, spiritual, and eternal), so we cannot afford to fail.  Our need is great.      

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The Way (Part 1): How Good is Good Enough?

           

            How good is good enough? Lines are drawn early on. Athletes know them well. Line 1 – you are allowed to join the sport. Lines 2 through 6 – you make some level of a team (c, b, a, junior varsity, varsity – which might betray the size of school I grew up in). Line 7 – you play little more than a bench warmer. Line 8 – you get average playing time. Line 9 – you are a starter. Line 10 – you are the team’s MVP. Similar lines are drawn in nearly every area of life – from the bands, drama teams, student councils, and academics of teenage years to the careers, homemaking skills, parenting styles, and economic statuses of adulthood. We like knowing where the lines are drawn and what rewards we can receive for crossing them: recognition, influence, compensation, etc.   

            

            Too many individuals carry this thinking with them into the church.  We can get caught in the trap of viewing and treating people according to the “salvation scale” we have concocted in our heads.  The lead pastor of course is ultra-saved.  Then come the other pastors and staff, followed closely by the senior saints, home-schooled families, and families who serve in every ministry possible.  After that, the average, busy “lay” families, the singles, the college students, the “drink, but not unto drunkenness” crowd, and the church youth group take their place.  The edgy fringe families with tattoos, those with messy lives, the pastor’s rebellious kid, and the teenage hoodlums who don’t go to youth group fall in the “maybe they’re sort-of saved” group.  Next are the Chreasters (Christmas and Easter crowd) – we only see them a couple times a year, so they don’t even really count.  Then there’s the prodigals – who can’t possibly be saved and probably were never saved in the first place.  I mean, did you hear what they did?  And forget all the people who never go to church (who wouldn’t want the pressure of having another ladder to climb?). 

            By the way, I think Jesus weeps over the state of our hearts when we think this way (his followers included doctors, fishermen, prostitutes, and tax collectors, and he valued them all equally and treated them with respect even before they believed in Him), but that’s not what I want to discuss here.  The question I want to ask is this: where is the line?  Do we all have to be in vocational ministry to really be saved?  Is there any hope for us once we’ve crossed too many lines in the opposite direction?  Do we all have to look the same to believe the same way?  Are there really some people who are “more saved” than others?  Does God only love us once we have crossed a particular line?  Which line is it?  How good is good enough? 

            God’s Word makes the answer pretty clear.  The requirement for entrance into heaven and into the very presence of God is perfection.  Check out the following verses.

“For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with You” (Psalm 5:4).  No evil can dwell with (i.e., live with) God.  None.  This does not just refer to murder and rape but to all sin, including gossip, gluttony, and lying.  Sin is anything that falls short of God’s perfection.  That even includes not doing what we know to be right (James 4:17).  Just one imperfection is enough to separate us from God (James2:10).    

Revelation 21:4 is often quoted and is talking about the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1, 2) in the new heaven and earth: “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”  What many people don’t realize is that this is not an all-inclusive promise.  Not everyone will get to experience this paradise.  Of this same place, it is also written: “and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it….” (Revelation21:27).

You can also look at 2 Peter 3:13 and Habakkuk 1:13 for more reading on this point, but the standard is clear.  There is one line for all, and that line is perfection.  Nothing less will do.  Logically, this makes sense.  Heaven cannot be a perfect place if even slightly imperfect people are allowed into it.  A perfect God cannot tolerate imperfection.  I know I am not perfect, and I don’t know anyone else who would claim to be.  This truth is the great equalizer.  No matter what our race, gender, age, economic status, Bible knowledge, or background, we all fall short of perfection.  Yet, this is God’s demand.  If this is so, who can possibly stand? 

To be continued…

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