I went to the sentencing of a man who had repeatedly committed some serious crimes over the course of several years. All the evidence and witnesses were there, and he did not deny his guilt. When asked if he had anything left to say before receiving his sentence, he stood up and begged the judge to suspend his sentence or allow him to go free because he had also done a lot of good in his life, even daring to mention his avid church attendance. The judge was not swayed by his appeal, and not-so-gently reminded him that he was not on trial for his good deeds, but for his crimes. He was also reminded of all the times he outwardly said to others that he was going to stop what he was doing, but carried on in secret. It was then that the judge handed down his sentence of fifteen years without the possibility of parole.
Many people are going to face the same kind of unwavering judgement when they stand before God on Judgment Day. They are hoping that they can balance the scales of God’s justice by pulling out their long list of good deeds, but they will be met with the sad realization that those good works werent earning them any extra credit with God. In fact, every time they did some good thing, they were only doing what was their duty to do in the first place. All of their church attendance, giving to the poor, and helping little old ladies across the street dont cancel out a lifetime of crimes against conscience and against God.
At 35, I have honestly only had one chance that I can remember where I actually had an opportunity to help a little old lady across the street. Here’s how it went: We were at a very busy intersection and the walk signal only stayed lit for about 5 seconds. I could see that she was afraid to cross, so I said reassuringly, “I’ll go with you.” About halfway across, it occurred to me that there really were a lot of cars out here. Was anyone I knew seeing all this? Was anyone getting this? Ohh, snap! Pride! Even while I’ trying to do something good, part of my sinful nature has to come in and spoil it by making it all about me! The truth is, pretty much all of our so called good deeds are tainted by impure motives. We like the good feeling we get, we hope someone sees us in the act, we hope God will reward us, etc.
But even if they could cancel out sins, why dont you try an experiment. You sit down and think really hard about all of the good things you have done, and make yourself a nice little list. Then, look at the commandments and try to recount the sins you have committed and make another list alongside the previous one. Every time I have asked people how many lies they think they have told, I always get the same answer, “Countless” or “too many to remember”. Then we move on to thefts, followed by adultery. In fact, every time we have looked with lust we have committed adultery of the heart.
Pretty soon, we end up with a mountain of sin alongside a molehill of good deeds. Is that going to balance the scales?
Go to your bank tomorrow morning and tell them you want to settle your debts. Get out the mortgage loan, the car loan, the boat loan, the personal loan, the credit cards, etc. Then, when the banker sits down and says, for example, “Ok, you owe a total of $267,000. How will you be paying for that?”, you say, “Wow, thats more than I expected. Tell you what, how about I give you a nickel and we call it even?” Thats ridiculous. You and I know that would never fly in the real world. (Or we’d all be at the bank in a flash)
So why in the world do we think it will work with God? And yet that is exactly what many people are counting on. They really do think their nickel’s-worth of self righteousness or good deeds will patch things up with God on Judgment Day. It’s not going to happen.
We are all in desperate need of the Savior. What Jesus did is he paid or debts for us. He walked into the courtroom of eternal justice and took the sentence that we deserved. He paid the penalty for our sins, and satisfied the demands of the law once and for all. Now we can legally go free based on the fact that our fine has been paid. The blood of Jesus Christ has made it possible for you and I to be released from the sentence of eternal death. We don’t look to any of our own feeble efforts at good works, we simply look to Jesus and his finished work on the cross.
If you will turn from your sins today, put your faith in the Son of God, and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have the promise of God that your sins will be forgiven and you will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Jesus said that anyone who comes to him, he will in no wise cast out.
Salvation is a pretty simple thing, really. The question you have to ask yourself is, is Jesus worth turning from your sins? What do you think?