The Most Important Question

Most of us have probably posed to others the question, “If you were to die today and stand before God in heaven and He were to ask, ‘Why should I let you into My heaven?’ what would you say?” The way people answer that question indicates what they are trusting in for their forgiveness and salvation.

Even as spiritual leaders, we need to take regular inventory of what we are trusting in by asking ourselves the same question. If your answer would be, “I think You should let me into heaven because I tried to live a good life,” then you are building on sand. The same would be true if you are looking to your leadership, the number of people you have led to Christ, or the size of your ministry.

None of these things are sufficient to merit the forgiveness of our sins. If we trust in what we do for the Lord as the basis for our salvation, we are really no better than the self-righteous Pharisees who lived in Jesus’ day.

The Slaying of Self-Righteousness

Saul of Tarsus (Paul) was one such Pharisee. He tells us in Philippians 3:4-6 just how good he was:

If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Saul thought he was right with God because he had so many good works, but upon meeting Jesus he suddenly understood that the law he thought he had kept condemned him. In Romans 7:7–11 he says,

Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

Saul’s self-righteousness was slain. He was condemned, and he knew it; but he learned that he could trade all of his sin and guilt for all of Christ’s obedience and righteousness. This “great exchange” became the joy of his life and the message of his ministry.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith (Phil. 3:7-9).

Justified by Faith Alone

Have you ever traded your guilt and sin for Christ’s obedience and righteousness? This transaction is the basis of our justification before God. Justification is just a big word that describes God’s forgiveness of our sins and His acceptance of us as righteous before Him. He Himself made the provision through Christ’s death on the cross. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).

How does this transaction between us and God take place? The Scriptures answer, “By faith alone!”

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness (Rom. 4:5).

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:8-10).

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law (Rom. 3:27-28).

Understanding this truth, Saul was set free and transformed into Paul the apostle. It is also the truth that “strangely warmed” John Wesley’s heart in that meeting on Aldersgate Street, and the message that ushered Martin Luther into “the gates of paradise.”

After meeting Jesus and receiving God’s forgiveness, Paul’s message was simple: “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1-2).

If God asked Paul the question, “Why should I let you into My heaven?” I think he would have replied, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).

Or, as the famous hymn “Rock of Ages” expresses it:

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy laws demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

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.[1]

If you’ve never done so, entrust yourself right now to God’s saving grace through faith in Christ’s righteousness alone. Abandon all trust in yourself, and declare yourself a spiritually bankrupt sinner, dependent on God’s mercy alone.

Endnotes

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[1] Augustus Toplady, 1776