From the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of
Revelation, the Bible makes it clear that we are all accountable to God
for what we do, and that the unrighteous cannot escape His wrath.
Therefore, the idea that someone can live in open adultery or
homosexual lust and still inherit the kingdom of heaven flies in the
face of everything that the Bible teaches. God’s law not only requires
righteousness, but also warns us that without righteousness no man
shall see God. However, before you start patting yourself on the back,
you need to remember that the Bible also tells us that “there is none
righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). [Matthew 5:20, 1Corinthians 6:9,
Hebrews 12:14, Matthew 25:31,46, 1Peter 4:18.]
What far too many people fail to understand is that
Christ did not die so that we could get into heaven without being
righteous (Hebrews 12:14). The gospel is not some sordid plan for
filling heaven with the unrepentant (Hebrews 10:29, James 4:4). On the
contrary, Christ died to give us a righteousness greater than we could
ever attain by obedience to the law. The gospel is His Word of mercy to
all who hate their sin, are sorry for their sin and want to be
delivered from its shackles. At the same time, those who willfully
indulge in sexual sin are deluded if they think that Christ will get
them off the hook (James 4:4). Because Christ died to deliver us from
sin (not to help us serve sin) true faith cannot exist where there is
no sorrow for sin or desire to be delivered from it (Romans 6:16). In
short, faith cannot exist without repentance, and without faith it is
impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 10:26). [Matthew
5:20&48, 1Corinthians 6:9, Philippians 3:9, Hebrews 10:26,
Revelation 21:27, Psalm 34:18 and 51:17, Isaiah 57:15 and 66:2,
Galatians 2:21, Proverbs 8:13, 1Corinthians 1:30, Romans 6:6-18, Romans
10:4, Psalm 38:18, Romans 8:10, Romans 3:22, Romans 5:17-21.]
Far too many Christians fail to understand that it
is the blood of Christ, not what we do, that makes us righteous in the
sight of God. They may have had the gospel explained to them, may
acknowledge that they are sinners, and may even believe that Christ
died for their sins. However, as long as they are trying to please God
by their works, they are not really trusting in Christ for
righteousness.
That sort of double-mindedness usually stems from
the fact that they are trying to motivate themselves by the law. As a
result, even though they acknowledge that they are sinners, they still
want to think of themselves as righteous. Therefore, they fail to see
themselves as God sees them, and fail to understand that without the
forgiveness that is ours in Christ God sees no good in them at all
(Romans 7:18, Isaiah 64:6). They may see themselves as seventy, eighty,
or even ninety, percent righteous, but they do not, and never have,
seen themselves as totally sinful.
When a person who thinks of himself as righteous
accepts the gospel, he will not fully understand or appreciate the fact
that it is the blood of Christ that makes him righteous. Instead, he
will tend to see the gospel as something that lets him get into heaven
without being totally righteous, and that distorted understanding opens
the door to satanic delusion. He will soon begin to wonder how much he
can get away with, and may feel emboldened to commit certain sins. Some
people even go so far as to conclude that they can live in sexual (or
homosexual) immorality and still be saved. However, they are dead
wrong. [Hebrews 10:26, 1Corinthians 5:9-10, James 4:4.]
Satan then leads those who recoil from such
immorality in the opposite direction. He snares them by convincing them
that faith in Christ is not enough, and leads them to believe that they
must have works in addition to faith. Nevertheless, that is a deadly
delusion (Galatians 5:4). Therefore, let me make it perfectly clear
that the gospel can only be understood correctly by someone who sees
himself as totally sinful. In fact, I believe that the Apostle Paul had
such a deep understanding of the gospel, because he was deeply aware of
his own sins (Romans 7:18, 1Timothy 1:15).
It is only as we come to the point where we see
ourselves as totally sinful, that we can recognize freedom from the law
as freedom from condemnation rather than freedom from righteousness.
Moreover, once we come to that point, we are so thankful to be free of
condemnation, that we have no desire to do anything that would bring us
back under God's condemnation (Hebrews 10:26). We avoid sin, and try to
do what is right, because we appreciate the righteousness that is ours
in Christ, not because we are trying to make ourselves righteous. At
the same time, as long as we do not sin willfully, no sin is imputed to
us (Romans 4:1-8, Romans 7:20, 1Kings 15:5).
In order to illustrate this truth, think of a small
boy who has been playing in the mud. The boy is filthy from head to
toe, and unable to clean himself up. So his mother gives him a bath,
washes his hair, and puts clean clothes on him. She then tells him to
stay out of the mud. Now, just as it should be obvious that staying out
of the mud is not what made the boy clean, it should also be obvious
that avoiding sin is not what makes us clean in the sight of God.
Furthermore, just as staying out of the mud will not make the boy any
cleaner, avoiding sin will not make us any more righteous. It is the
blood of Christ and the blood of Christ alone that makes us clean in
the sight of God (1John 1:7). Christ has taken our sin upon Himself,
and by cleansing us of sin has given us His righteousness in its place.
[Galatians 3:6&21, Galatians 5:5, Romans 10:3-4, Romans 9:30,
Romans 4:5-6, Romans 3:21-22, Romans 8:2, 1Thessalonians 4:3-7, Romans
6:6-7, Romans 3:10-28.]
Just as the boy I spoke of earlier could, by rolling
in the mud, throw away all of the work his mother went to in cleaning
him up. So we, by willful sin, can throw away the righteousness we have
in Christ (Hebrews 10:26). Nevertheless, refraining from sin will not
make us righteous, any more than refraining from crime will make a
criminal innocent. Without God's gift of righteousness we could avoid
sin for a million years and still not be righteous.
Just as a bank robber cannot make himself innocent,
we cannot make ourselves innocent in the sight of God. Yet, those who
are under the delusion of works righteousness not only assume that they
can make themselves innocent, but also assume that resisting temptation
makes up for past sins. Nevertheless, that is about as irrational as it
would be for a bank robber to assume that the banks he passed up
somehow made up for the ones he robbed, or that society owed him a
reward for passing up some very tempting banks. It is a fool’s delusion!
If you feel convicted by your sin, look to Christ
for help. The sacrifice for sin has already been made, and He has
secured forgiveness for you by His death on the cross. Believe Him when
He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Do not fear that your sin is too
great, for it is written, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more
abound,” and “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all
sin” (1John 1:7, Romans 5:20). Moreover, He has said, “Him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).