01/21/2025
Whatis the 1 thing separating most people from God ?
If your answer to the question is, “sin?”, then enter buzzer sound for being incorrect here.
Now, to be fair, you’re right theologically that sin divides us from God. For example, the prophet Isaiah wrote: “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you” (Is. 59:2).
Paul also says bluntly that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23) and tells us about our former state and what Christ has done about our sin problem when he writes: “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Col. 2:13-14).
So, sin separates all people from God, which is why everyone needs a Savior. But the problem is, most of us don’t think we need anything of the kind.
Many years ago, I was conversing with a close family member who thought exactly that. When I asked them what they believed was going to happen to them when they died, they said they’d go spend eternity with God because they were “a good person.”
Again, enter buzzer sound for being incorrect here.
Mark it down: this is the one thing that separates most people from God. As theologian John Gerstner put it: “The main thing between you and God is not so much your sins; it's your damnable good works.”
This is the biblical double-slap in the face and bitter pill that’s too offensive for many people to swallow. As Tim Keller said: “Grace is insulting. One side says they don’t need forgiveness whereas the other side says that’s too easy.”
Both sides say it’s all about being “good.
can the bad actor be “justified” in the eyes of God vs. the extreme “good” law keeper?
Maybe some of Christ’s hearers noticed that, with the Pharisee, there were no pleas for forgiveness. Instead, he played a comparison game with his rival prayer partner that finished with a series of congratulatory slaps on the back on his going beyond the call of law-keeping duty. In his mind, he was right with God and his companion doomed, which is a mindset seen in a Pharisaic prayer dating from about the time Jesus told this parable that reads:
“I thank thee, Jehovah my God, that thou hast assigned my lot with those who sit in the house of learning, and not with those who sit at street corners. For I rise early and they rise early: I rise early to study the words of the Torah, and they rise early to attend to things of no importance. I weary myself and they weary themselves: I weary myself and gain thereby, while they weary themselves without gaining anything. I run and they run: I run toward the life of the age to come, while they run toward the pit of destruction.”
The Pharisee’s stance reminds me of that old nursery rhyme that goes: “Little Jack Horner sat in the corner, eating a Christmas pie; he put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum, and said, ‘What a good boy am I, am I!’ And said, ‘What a good boy am I, am I!’
can the bad actor be “justified” in the eyes of God vs. the extreme “good” law keeper?
Maybe some of Christ’s hearers noticed that, with the Pharisee, there were no pleas for forgiveness. Instead, he played a comparison game with his rival prayer partner that finished with a series of congratulatory slaps on the back on his going beyond the call of law-keeping duty. In his mind, he was right with God and his companion doomed, which is a mindset seen in a Pharisaic prayer dating from about the time Jesus told this parable that reads:
“I thank thee, Jehovah my God, that thou hast assigned my lot with those who sit in the house of learning, and not with those who sit at street corners. For I rise early and they rise early: I rise early to study the words of the Torah, and they rise early to attend to things of no importance. I weary myself and they weary themselves: I weary myself and gain thereby, while they weary themselves without gaining anything. I run and they run: I run toward the life of the age to come, while they run toward the pit of destruction.”
The Pharisee’s stance reminds me of that old nursery rhyme that goes: “Little Jack Horner sat in the corner, eating a Christmas pie; he put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum, and said, ‘What a good boy am I, am I!’ And said, ‘What a good boy am I, am I!’
can the bad actor be “justified” in the eyes of God vs. the extreme “good” law keeper?
Maybe some of Christ’s hearers noticed that, with the Pharisee, there were no pleas for forgiveness. Instead, he played a comparison game with his rival prayer partner that finished with a series of congratulatory slaps on the back on his going beyond the call of law-keeping duty. In his mind, he was right with God and his companion doomed, which is a mindset seen in a Pharisaic prayer dating from about the time Jesus told this parable that reads:
“I thank thee, Jehovah my God, that thou hast assigned my lot with those who sit in the house of learning, and not with those who sit at street corners. For I rise early and they rise early: I rise early to study the words of the Torah, and they rise early to attend to things of no importance. I weary myself and they weary themselves: I weary myself and gain thereby, while they weary themselves without gaining anything. I run and they run: I run toward the life of the age to come, while they run toward the pit of destruction.”
The Pharisee’s stance reminds me of that old nursery rhyme that goes: “Little Jack Horner sat in the corner, eating a Christmas pie; he put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum, and said, ‘What a good boy am I, am I!’ And said, ‘What a good boy am I, am I!’
What a contrast he is to the guy who knows he’s not “good.” When the tax collector cries out to God for grace, he doesn’t use the normal Greek word for “mercy,” but instead the term hilaskomai is employed, which means to propitiate, appease, pardon, and eliminate impediments that alienate two parties.
That’s the kind of mercy we all need from God.
It’s in keeping with what David wrote when he said: “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions (Ps. 51:1).
If you’re reading this and think, like the Pharisee, you can get right with the Creator by being “good,” you can’t. Don’t let your supposed good works that fall far short keep you from spending eternity with God. Instead, get right with Him by adopting the truth spelled out in a verse from Charles Wesley’s old hymn, Rock of Ages that says:
“Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to thy cross I cling.”
Go that route and you enter through the narrow gate (Matt. 7:13) and are home free.
