Scripture
There are many great questions that have been asked in Scripture. But, I would like to suggest that the greatest question ever asked is found in Acts 16:30. It is the question the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas. After there had been a violent earthquake, the jailer thought that the prisoners had escaped. But when he realized that Paul and Silas had not escaped, and that something remarkable had taken place, he asked the following question in Acts 16:30:
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30)
Introduction
This is the Sunday before Advent, and I have completed my previous sermon series. So, I thought it might be interesting to do something different. This message is going to be a topical exposition rather than a consecutive textual exposition. And I want us to think about how we should answer the greatest question ever asked. Or, to put it differently, what is the gospel?
One of the responsibilities of the Session is to examine people for membership in the church. I am surprised at how many people answer the question wrong about salvation.
When I talk to people about the gospel I use the outline developed by D. James Kennedy and used in Evangelism Explosion. If you are family with EE, you will recognize the outline in today’s message.
The first question I ask people is, “Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you know for certain that if you died today that you would go to heaven?” The Bible assures us that we can know for sure that we are going to heaven. John writes in 1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
My second question, however, is very significant, “Suppose you were to die today and stand before God, and he were to ask you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?” What would you say?” I want you to take a moment and think about your answer. What would you say? Would you say that God should let you into heaven because you are a good person? Or because you try to live by the Ten Commandments? Or because your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds? Or because you love him?
Lesson
Well, keep your answer in mind. I would like to take the rest of our time and explain how any one of us can go to heaven.
I. Grace
The first thing I want you to know about is grace.
A. Eternal life Is a Free Gift
The Bible teaches us that eternal life is free gift.
Many people think that in order to receive eternal life and get into heaven they need to do something. They think that they need to perform certain works or they need to abstain from certain practices in order to receive eternal life and get into heaven. But the Bible says that “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
God’s gift of eternal life and of spending eternity in heaven with him is an absolutely free gift.
B. Eternal Life Is Not Earned or Deserved
Moreover, eternal life is not earned or deserved.
Eternal life—life in heaven with God for all eternity—is unearned, undeserved, and unmerited. It is absolutely free. There is nothing that anyone can do to receive it.
There is a saying, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” And that is usually true. However, thank God that the greatest gift that a person could ever receive—eternal life with God for all eternity—is absolutely free.
The Bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). No amount of personal effort, good works, or religious deeds can earn a place in heaven for you because eternal life, like any genuine gift, is completely free.
This past weekend I celebrated my birthday. Some of you gave me a gift. Suppose I came to you and said, “Thank you so much for your gift. I really appreciate it. Here are a few dollars to pay for the gift.” What would you think? Why, you would be insulted. You would want to scream at me, “It’s a gift, Freddy! You don’t pay for a gift!” And you would be entirely correct. In the same way, eternal life is a gift from God, and we can never pay to receive it.
One may ask these questions, “How does this work? Who gets the gift? Does everyone receive the gift of eternal life?” No. Everyone does not receive the gift of eternal life. In fact, Jesus said, “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
Well, if everyone does not receive the gift of eternal life, who does receive it? And how is it received? And how can we know if we have it?
II. Man
This can be seen more clearly when we understand what the Bible says about man.
A. Man Is a Sinner
The first thing we need to understand what the Bible says about man is that man is a sinner.
The Bible teaches on every single page that we have made a colossal mess of everything we have touched. The Bible says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Apart from Jesus Christ, there is not a single person who is not a sinner for “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10).
The clear teaching of the Bible is that all of us have sinned, and that there is not one of us good enough to get into heaven because God’s standard is perfection. Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Of course, not one of us is perfect.
By the way, sin is breaking God’s law (1 John 3:4). We sin by sins of commission, that is, we actively break God’s law in thought, word, and deed. But we also sin by sins of omission, that is, by not thinking, saying, or doing things we should have thought, said, or done.
How many times a day do you think you and I sin? I remember when I was a student at the University of Cape Town. Vic Pierce was a single businessman who became a Campus Minister upon his retirement. He used to say, “There is not a single day that we don’t sin.” And I remember thinking, “I am sure that I can go one day without sin.” But, try as hard as I might, I never succeeded. In fact, as time went by I came to see more and more of my sin. John Calvin said that no one knows the one hundredth part of the sin that clings to each one of us, and, if we did know all of our sin, it would crush us.
Suppose I sinned just three times a day. That is to say that I only committed three transgressions of God’s law each day. Let’s say that each day I only had one tiny uncharitable thought about someone, that I said one little impatient word to someone, and that I was too busy to help someone in need of help. You might think that I was a rather good person, wouldn’t you? In fact, you might want to be like me!
But the truth of the matter is that three tiny sins a day adds up to more than one thousand sins a year. And, given my recent birthday I have just passed fifty thousand sins! And if I were to die today, how do you think that God is going to view me if I arrive at gates of heaven with more than fifty thousand transgressions of his Law to my name? Not very favorably!
The fact is that every one of us is a sinner.
B. Man Cannot Save Himself
But, more than that the Bible teaches that man cannot save himself.
You cannot do anything to save yourself. You cannot earn or work your way into heaven. The Bible is quite clear that God “saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:5).
Some people think that if they obey the Ten Commandments, then God will accept them into heaven. That is actually true. God will receive anyone into heaven who obeys the Ten Commandments with this one little proviso: you must obey the Ten Commandments perfectly.
Other people think that if their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds (i.e., their sins), then God will accept them into heaven. The fact is that God says that heaven is a perfect place and nothing impure can ever enter it. The Bible says in Revelation 21:27, “Nothing impure will ever enter it [heaven], nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
God’s standard is absolute perfection. God does not grade on the curve. In fact, I had never heard of grading on the curve until I came to this country. Grading on the curve is adjusting every student’s grade so that a certain number of students get A’s, B’s, C’s, and so on. If the entire class does poorly on a test, a professor simply adjust the entire class’s grade up so that he achieves the correct percentage of A’s, B’s, and C’s.
When I was in South Africa I had a friend who took a class in French. Apparently, the students did not study very hard and the entire class failed the test that the teacher gave. My friend, who is now a Bishop in the Church of England in South Africa, loved to say that even though he failed the test, he still received the best score. “I was the best failure!” he used to say. The fact is that whether he was at the top of the pile or at the bottom of the pile, he still failed the test.
In the same way, no one is able to pass God’s standard, which is perfection. We are all sinners and cannot save ourselves.
III. God
This comes into sharper focus when we look at what the Bible says about God.
A. God Is Loving—Therefore He Doesn’t Want to Punish Us
The Bible teaches that God is loving—therefore he doesn’t want to punish us.
God loves us not because of who we are but because of who he is. The Bible tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8).
The love of God becomes all the more incomprehensible when we come to see ourselves as we truly are—as rebellious sinners. Then we feel like crying out with Charles Wesley in his great hymn:
And can it be, that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood`?
Died he for me, who caused his pain?
For me, who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
B. God Is Just—Therefore He Must Punish Us
But the same Bible that tells us that God is loving and doesn’t want to punish us also tells us that God is just—therefore he must punish us for our sin.
The Bible says that God “does not leave the guilty unpunished” (Exodus 34:7).
Suppose someone murdered one of your loved ones. The murderer was caught and brought to trial. However, even though the murderer has admitted his guilt the judge throws the case out of court, and the murderer is set free. You would be rightly outraged! You would accuse the judge of being partial and unfair, and you would be correct.
God is never like that. In fact, the Bible says of God, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). The answer, of course, is “Yes!” God is a just and righteous God. And he will always do right. Therefore, he must punish sin.
The teaching that the Bible emphasizes about God is this: God is holy and just and must punish sin. But, he is also loving and merciful and does not want to punish sin.
IV. Christ
In effect, this created a problem, which God has solved in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
A. Who He Is
God, in his infinite wisdom, devised a marvelous solution. Jesus is God’s answer to our predicament.
If I asked you, “Who do you think Jesus is?” what would you say? Most people answer, “Jesus is God’s son.” That is true, but then I am also God’s son. The Bible teaches that I became God’s son through adoption when I became a Christian. So what is the difference between Jesus and me? The difference is that Jesus is not only God’s son, he is also God, the son! Jesus is God!
The Bible teaches that Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity. He is fully God and fully man. He is as fully God as the Father and the Spirit, and he is as fully man as I am—except without sin.
B. What He Did
Jesus left the glories of heaven some two thousand years ago and was born in a stable in Bethlehem. He then lived an absolutely perfect life. He never once broke a single one of God’s laws. He finally died on a cross outside Jerusalem to pay the penalty for sin, but not his sin for he had none. He paid the penalty for sinners such as you and me.
On the cross Jesus endured the wrath of God. He received the punishment that is rightly due to sinners such as ourselves.
Three days after his death, God the Father raised Jesus back to life again. This was a sign to the entire world that the Father had accepted the work of the Son. The Father accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for sinners. When people went to look for the body of Jesus, it was no longer in the tomb because Jesus had risen from the dead.
So, what did Jesus do? He lived and died to pay for our sins and purchase a place in heaven for us, which he offers as a free gift.
Does everyone receive this gift? No. The Bible teaches that few find the way to life and that many go to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). So, how is this gift received?
V. Faith
The gift of eternal life is received by faith.
The Bible says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith” (Ephesians 2:8).
Faith is the key that opens the door to eternal life and heaven. I have about ten keys on my key ring. But only one key will open the door to my car. The right key to heaven is call faith, saving faith.
A. What It Is Not
Let me tell you what faith is not.
Faith is not intellectual assent. Many people assent to certain historical facts. For example, they agree that there is a God and that Jesus is God. But, did you know that the Bible says that the demons also believe in God? James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” So, believing in God is not what the Bible means by saving faith.
Faith is also not temporal faith. By that I mean that you pray to God to do something for you. For example, a loved one is sick, and you pray and ask God to heal that person. Or, you have a great financial need, and you pray and ask God to supply. Now, it is appropriate to trust God to work in these situations, but that is not saving faith.
So, what is saving faith?
B. What It Is
Saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for the gift of eternal life.
The object of saving faith is not me, my merits, or my good works. Rather, the object of saving faith is Jesus Christ—alone!
When God asks you why he should let you in to heaven, your answer should be, “Because I am trusting in Jesus Christ alone for the gift of eternal life.” Do you see how different that is from answers like, “Because I am trying to obey the Ten Commandments,” “Because I believe my good deeds will outweigh my bad deeds,” or “Because I am a pretty good person and I deserve to go to heaven”?
There is nothing that you and I can do to get ourselves into heaven. But, Jesus can. And in order to get into heaven we must trust that he paid the penalty for all of our sin, and that God will accept his perfect obedience on our behalf.
Conclusion
Does this make sense to you? I hope that it does.
So, do you have the gift of eternal life? Most of you do. But if you do not, or if you are not sure that you are bound for heaven, here is what you need to do.
Trust in Jesus Christ alone for the gift of eternal life. How do you do that? By transferring your trust from your own efforts to trusting in Jesus and his work. Say with the hymn writer,
Nothing in my hand I bring:
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly:
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
Also, turn from your sin. The Bible calls this “repentance.” That means that you give up all known sin. Instead of living for yourself and satisfying your sinful desires, you now want to live for Jesus and honor him.
When you trust in Jesus alone for the gift of eternal life, the Bible assures you that you have eternal life. Jesus says in John 6:47, “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.” Do you see that? The Bible is quite clear that the one who believes in Jesus alone has the gift of eternal life.
It is my prayer that there is no one who hears this message today is still unclear about how to answer the greatest question ever asked. Amen.
