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 may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
If you ask the average person out there if they think they are going to Heaven, most will say yes, and their reasoning will be because they are a "good person". The problem is this isn't what the Bible says. We like to compare ourselves to those around us as our moral standard, or the worst possible example we can think of (someone like Hitler), in order to justify ourselves. If we compare ourselves only to those around us, then possibly we are relatively better, but is that the standard God will be using?
The Bible says Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24). God's standard is moral perfection. He has given us His law which is a tutor or schoolmaster; it teaches us that we fall very very short of His standard. It's sort of like trying to jump across the grand canyon, some of us might be a little stronger than others, and might make it slightly further than others, but we still can't even come close to making the complete jump. Comparing our jump to someone else's jump doesn't in any way help us actually be able to make the jump across.
This is where man made religion goes wrong as well, they try to earn their way to Heaven through their "good" works. They think praying in a certain direction several times a day, crawling up stairs on their knees till they bleed, etc will earn them a place in Heaven. The truth is the Bible says in Isaiah 64:6 "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags". Now don't be confused, we should do good works as Christians, but these good works DO NOT SAVE US, they are simply a result of being saved. And thank God, He provided His Son as a payment for our sins; Jesus paid our fine on the Cross (the fine we owe for breaking God's laws) so that salvation is a free gift, not a result of our works. So don't put your trust in your own goodness or your good works, put it is Jesus Christ, the Captain of our Salvation.
If you ask the average person out there if they think they are going to Heaven, most will say yes, and their reasoning will be because they are a "good person". The problem is this isn't what the Bible says. We like to compare ourselves to those around us as our moral standard, or the worst possible example we can think of (someone like Hitler), in order to justify ourselves. If we compare ourselves only to those around us, then possibly we are relatively better, but is that the standard God will be using?
The Bible says Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24). God's standard is moral perfection. He has given us His law which is a tutor or schoolmaster; it teaches us that we fall very very short of His standard. It's sort of like trying to jump across the grand canyon, some of us might be a little stronger than others, and might make it slightly further than others, but we still can't even come close to making the complete jump. Comparing our jump to someone else's jump doesn't in any way help us actually be able to make the jump across.
This is where man made religion goes wrong as well, they try to earn their way to Heaven through their "good" works. They think praying in a certain direction several times a day, crawling up stairs on their knees till they bleed, etc will earn them a place in Heaven. The truth is the Bible says in Isaiah 64:6 "all our righteous acts are like filthy rags". Now don't be confused, we should do good works as Christians, but these good works DO NOT SAVE US, they are simply a result of being saved. And thank God, He provided His Son as a payment for our sins; Jesus paid our fine on the Cross (the fine we owe for breaking God's laws) so that salvation is a free gift, not a result of our works. So don't put your trust in your own goodness or your good works, put it is Jesus Christ, the Captain of our Salvation.
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