“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith” (Romans 3:23-25).
I read that Michael Guido of Metter, Georgia, columnist for several newspapers, once wrote about an artist in Mexico who lost his right hand while working on a statue. However, he did not give up his work. Surprisingly, he learned to carve with his left hand and completed a beautiful masterpiece that he named “In Spite of.” Metter reasoned, “A sound body, a brilliant mind, a cultural background, a huge amount of money, a wonderful education—none of these advantages guarantee success.” He explained that Booker T. Washington was born into slavery. Thomas Edison was deaf. Abraham Lincoln’s parents were illiterate. Lord Byron had a club foot. Robert Louis Stevenson had tuberculosis. Alexander Pope was a hunchback. Admiral Nelson had only one eye, and Julius Caesar was an epileptic. Yet, these men made history despite their handicaps. Louis Pasteur was so near-sighted that he had difficulty finding his way into his laboratory without glasses, and Helen Keller, both deaf and blind, graduated with honors from a famous college. Finally, Metter asked his reading audience, “Got a handicap?” Then advised, “Call on the Lord. No problem is too big for Him or too small. He will make everything ‘work together for good,’ if you trust Him. Surely the artist Guido understood the nature of the human spirit to overcome all obstacles and that by the power of God!” (https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/o/obstacle.htm).
Would that every human being understood this spiritual truth built into creation by the Creator. Nowhere do we display our complete ignorance of this fact any brighter than when resisting to enter into right relationship with God. Paul reminds us that not a single human being is sinless. All have sinned. Moreover, our sin fells us short of the glory of God, that is, it separates us from our Creator and sentences us to eternal damnation in Hell under the wrath of God. Despite the seriousness of the lost condition, people still believe they are capable of overcoming their sin, mending their relationship with God, and meriting their salvation. How so? By self-effort. The human mind reasons that being good and doing good will erase the distance caused by sin between the person and God. So, off they go in self-delusion pridefully counting every deed they consider good on mission to earn their way into the forgiveness and favor of God always comparing themselves to other people rather than to the only One who counts, Jesus Christ.
Yet, our condition is more grave. The good that we reason is enough does not scratch the surface of the requirement of God’s Law. To merit salvation by our own deeds would mean keeping the whole Law of God perfectly. To drive home this unattainable task, James 2:10 tells us, “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” Even if it were possible for us to keep every single law of God and yet break just one, we would be judged guilty of breaking them all. Paul tells us in Romans 3:20: “By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” The Bible offers us more insight from Galatians 3:20: “The Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” Therefore, the Law of God was not given in order that man might keep it and be saved but rather to show him by his failure to keep the Law that he is helpless to save himself, thus pointing Him to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, that he would receive Him willingly by faith as Lord and be saved.
Ephesians 2:8-9 is clear: “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.” In Romans 5:6, the Bible makes clear our complete inability to do anything to merit salvation from eternal damnation: “While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Listen intently, we are the ungodly referenced. We are those who are helpless to do anything to save ourselves. Jesus Christ did it all, everything necessary, for God to forgive us our sins and save us from Hell. Paul further explains in Romans 5:8-10: “God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while were enemies we reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
I read that during the Spanish-American War, Clara Barton was overseeing the work of the Red Cross in Cuba. One day Colonel Theodore Roosevelt came to her, wanting to buy food for his sick and wounded Rough Riders, but she refused to sell him any. Roosevelt was perplexed. His men needed the help, and he was prepared to pay out of his own funds. When he asked someone why he could not buy the supplies, he was told, “Colonel, just ask for it!” A smile broke over Roosevelt’s face. Now he understood. The provisions were not for sale. All he had to do was simply ask and they would be given freely (https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/s/salvation.htm). Salvation is just like that. It cannot be bought or earned in any way possible. God offers salvation to us, and we must accept it. It is the gift of God to sinners who are damned to Hell.
Accept it wholeheartedly, so you never tire of hearing it. What stands between us and God and separates us from the life of God is our personal sin. Our sins stack up to be an insurmountable obstacle for us. Furthermore, we are completely unable, with self-effort and virtuous deeds to remove this barrier. Why? Because every deed that we might consider noble and good which is plied through human reasoning and effort is also accompanied with selfish pride, self-aggrandizement, and the pursuit of accolades. In short, we want to attain to good works that afford us boasting rights, and boasting before God of our own goodness sinks us further into self-deception and steals the glory that God deserves. In Isaiah 42:8, God says plainly, “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another.” This is the reason for the first of the Ten Commandments: “I am the LORD your God … You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:2-3). “No other gods” means no idols or false gods, and includes ourselves. God will not stand for us making ourselves out to be God in His place.
Consequently, our only hope of escaping the eternal punishment we deserve for our sinful rebellion against God is to cast ourselves unreservedly upon the mercy of God confessing our sins and inability to save ourselves, repenting of our sins, believing in the redemption which is in Christ Jesus’ death on the cross by which God counts His blood shed and death suffered as the satisfaction for our sins, and surrendering our lives in totality to Jesus through faith so that He becomes Lord of our lives. This way is the only path God allows to His forgiveness and salvation. We are told in 1 Peter 5:6-7: “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” This is the Bible’s advice for every situation in life. How much more is it God’s counsel to those who are anxious with serious care over their standing with God and eternal judgment. Through the Old Testament prophet, God makes His appeal in Isaiah 1:18: “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD, ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.’” Paul clears away any fog with his straightforward teaching in Romans 10:9-10: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
What happens to our life-slate of sin, once we are forgiven and saved by God’s grace? Psalm 103:12 tells us, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Isaiah 44:22 tells us, God has “wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist.” Micah 7:19, speaking of God’s amazing grace that forgives sin, says, “You will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” So, in short, with our past sins forgiven and forgotten by God, we have a clean slate upon which to build our lives according to the blueprint of God, the presence of Christ, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Living a life of repentance, forsaking every sin that encroaches upon our life in Christ, we are increasingly made into the image of God and kept blameless before God by His grace and enablement, as we live constantly surrendered and obedient to Christ while focused on His promised return and our eternity with Him. Titus 2:11-13 rounds out our life once saved in Christ: “The grace of God has appeared, … instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”
The great Baptist preacher, A. B. Simpson, is credited with leaving us this worthy reminder: The gospel “tells rebellious men that God is reconciled, that justice is satisfied, that sin has been atoned for, that the judgment of the guilty may be revoked, the condemnation of the sinner cancelled, the curse of the Law blotted out, the gates of Hell closed, the portals of heaven opened wide, the power of sin subdued, the guilty conscience healed, the broken heart comforted, the sorrow and misery of the Fall undone” (https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/s/salvation.htm).
Friends, every bit of it is true. God says so in the Bible. Believe Him. Trust Him. Give yourself to Him. The gospel of salvation is God’s “stay out of Hell” card offered to you for one grand reason: He loves you, and wants you to spend your life here in right standing with Him and your life in eternity in His presence. So, the ball is in your court. Do not disappoint Him for, if you do, you will have eternity to despise yourself for rejecting salvation, God’s gift of grace.