The Gospel – 3
We can’t work our way into heaven
March 14, 2021
As I was thinking about today’s message, I was wondering if you’ve ever been to an Escape Room? I’m not sure if you’ve ever experienced them or not.
There’s one in Fishers, called The Escape Room. The concept is this - You and your team are locked in a themed room where you have 60 minutes to find clues, solve puzzles, and discover keys and combinations to escape the room before your time is up! Once the door is locked you can’t get out until you solve the puzzle or the 60 minutes are up.
They come in all levels, from beginning to advanced. I’ve never been in one and I don’t think my patience would last in one. I’m not really claustrophobic, but it’s not my first choice about how to spend my money to have a good time.
Now, imagine being in an escape room that literally has NO WAY OUT. No matter what you do or how hard you try, there’s simply no way out. You work on the puzzles, you go step by step . . . and it is never ending. You can’t get out.
Sin is like an escape room that has no way out when you make that attempt on your own. Let me quickly explain - - -
You can try religion, you can try to do good deeds or good works, you can be super nice to everyone, you never say anything offensive, you don’t swear, you read the right books and listen to the right music; you make uplifting nonoffensive posts on social media; you give your money to those in need; you volunteer your time; you take care of your body as you take care of your family and get 8 hours of sleep and drink 64 ounces of water.
Honestly, I was exhausted writing that!
You can work at it all you want, but nothing matters in what we call – working out your salvation. Nothing works, because there is no way you can get out of it on your own.
That’s what we’re talking about today. It doesn’t sound like a really uplifting message. And you’re right, but if we don’t hear this, if we’re unwilling to listen and understand our sin nature and God’s nature, then we’re really going to be stuck, and that’s not what I want for any of us.
We can’t escape sin on our own. We can’t do it on our own terms, in our way. We don’t have the ability or power to do it. There is no escape from sin in our own power. Last week we talked about how our sin separates us from God.
Sadly, this week, the news gets a tad bit worse . . . . yet, if we understand it, then it can turn into good news. There are no amount of good deeds we can do that can help us escape from what we might call the SIN ROOM.
In Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul says something so many of us have heard before -
8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10
Those are great words from Paul. You see that’s really the good news. We have been saved by grace. Paul really spells it out for us. We have been saved by grace through the faith we have in Jesus.
He explains our faith is not from us, it is a gift from God to you and I. And that faith, the grace, the salvation -- is not by works. There’s nothing we can do to earn God’s favor. If we could, we would boast and brag and talk about how great we are that God has accepted us. We would tell everyone of all the good things we did in order to earn God’s love, grace and forgiveness.
But the problem is the fact that we never know when God has accepted us if we do it all by works. We don’t have that cosmic scorecard. Oops, I got irrationally angry today while driving. Did I lose 1 point or 2; or 5? I did something nice today. How many points was that worth? What if I don’t do any good deeds? Is that a 0 or a negative. I don’t know!!
We can wrack our brains trying to figure it out. And if that’s how we base things, then it leads us to look at the motivation for what we do and why. We are called to do good works, but the good works must flow from our faith. The good isn’t because we want to earn points with God.
We do good because we are compelled by our faith. We don’t do good works because we think it’s going to get us an extra bonus by God. That’s not who God is. Everything comes from the heart. That’s what Paul meant when he said –
11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw — 13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. – 1 Corinthians 3:11-15
Paul’s point is to look at why we do what we do. Firstly, understand this and it’s really important - - you have been saved. That’s not in dispute, but the heavenly rewards we receive will vary. We don’t understand what’s in store for us in heaven when it comes to rewards. That’s over our understanding, but basically - - Paul wants us to examine our foundation - - is it in Christ, or in ourselves?
Whether we like to admit it or not, we are sinful by nature. We are naturally self-centered. Because of that, we want to play a role in our salvation. We think to ourselves, ‘there has to be a way for me to fix this problem.’ But that’s poor thinking.
There’s nothing we can do to rid ourselves of our sins. We can’t fix our sin problem. We’re too broken to fix ourselves, and there’s no amount of “good” we can do to fix what’s wrong. So, the bad news is that our sin separates us from God. We saw that last week. Now, we see that there’s nothing we can do about it. So, on our own, we’re in big trouble unless someone comes in and rescues us.
Not a single person is or will be in heaven boasting about how they got there because of their good deeds. Only those who trusted in Christ alone are there and will be there, and the boasting will be in Christ alone.
Let me give you an example from scripture. In Matthew 23, Jesus said –
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like
whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you
are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. – Matthew 23:27-28
Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and scribes, but it could be directed at us as well. He’s saying they are like tombs in a cemetery, where the tombstone looks nice and clean but inside the grave is death. And in those days, the tombs were normally whitewashed so people could identify them. Remember for the Jews, if you had contact with a dead person you were considered unclean.
It’s that way with us. We look good on the outside. We seem kind, considerate, giving, loving – but deep within, as Jesus would tell us, we are sinners.
Let me give you an example. I baked a cake. And I want you to know I’m a really good cook. I love cooking. But, I want to show you something about this cake.
Here’s a picture of the finished cake. It looks yummy. But there’s a problem. Underneath the frosting is the cake. It’s a real cake too.
Here’s a picture of the cake after I took it out of the oven. It’s burnt. It doesn’t look good or edible.
You see, the burnt cake represents our sin. We are damaged and eaten away by sin. Then, when I applied the white frosting on the cake - - - that’s what it’s like to cover up our sin with nothing of substance. That’s our effort to use good deeds to satisfy God. It doesn’t work, because the sins are still there. It may look good, but it doesn’t solve the problem underneath – there’s no transformation.
You see, the law was used to help us understand our sinfulness. On our own, we can’t completely follow the law and never sin. Paul tells us in Romans 3 --
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Do you see what Paul’s saying? The law helps us to know that we’ve sinned. We don’t find forgiveness because we follow the law. We gain knowledge of our sinfulness through the law. Just breaking the speed limit by 1 MPH is breaking the law. But that’s civic law.
How about biblical law? Have you ever been unrighteously angry? Jealous? Envious? A little greedy? Maybe talk a little gossip? Slander? Take a pen that’s not yours? Look at someone with a little lust? Swear? Lack humility? Be self-centered? Are you slothful? Want me to keep going?
So . . . how do you rid yourself of that sin? You can’t! That’s the point. It seems really frustrating because we like control and want to do it ourselves . . . but this is really, really cool aspect of who God is . . . He gets it! He knows we are sinners and can’t redeem ourselves.
Paul tells us a verse many of us have heard. It’s part of what’s called the Romans Road to salvation. It’s an admission we are sinners –
23 for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
All - - - that’s me and you. We’ve all sinned and fall short of bringing glory to God. PERIOD . . . end of sentence! BUT . . . and you know that’s such a huge word - - but look at what comes next.
24 and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. - Romans 3:20, 23-25
WOE!! That’s God at His best! I mean God’s always at His best! But now, we see that we sinners, who’ve fallen short of His glory and yet God justifies us. It’s a gift of grace. You see that? It’s God’s gift of grace that redeems us in Christ Jesus. Jesus was the One whom God put forth as a propitiation for our sins by the shedding of His blood.
Now, propitiation is a really big theological word. Propitiation means satisfaction or appeasement. Because God is a holy God, His anger and justice burns against sin. And by His nature, the sinner will be punished.
So, there must be a satisfactory payment for sin. But here’s the conundrum for God. God said, “If I punish man for his sin, man will die and not be in relationship with God. On the other hand, if God doesn’t punish man for his sin, then God’s justice will never be satisfied.”
The solution? God said Jesus would become our substitute. He would take our sin upon Himself by shedding His blood on the cross - - - a righteous judgment and substitute for sin.
None of us like to admit we’re sinners. We struggle admitting we made a mistake, let alone sin. But God, in His mercy and grace calls us to Him . . . bidding us to come to Him - - to know and trust that He will never abandon us.
It’s not about rules, it’s about a relationship. It’s not about an external list, but an internal longing for connection with God. It’s being able to admit we’re sinners in need of His grace and accepting the gift of grace we receive in Jesus.
Let me close with these great words from God through Isaiah - -
18 The LORD says, “Come now, let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” - Isaiah 1:18
Stop trying and start trusting. Stop trying to rescue yourself, and put your trust in the only One who can. God will make your sins white as snow and He’ll take away the stain of your sins. Only faith in Jesus can, and will, wash away that stain, and give you the gift of eternal life.
