What About Grace? (part 3)
A careful look at the vast majority of religions in the world reveals that they preach a “save yourself” message. Far-Eastern religions teach that if you do more “good” than “bad,” then you will have good karma. If one has good karma, one will move up the ladder according to the Far-Eastern reincarnation doctrine. Islam teaches that you need to do certain things in order to please their god, Allah. Pray so many times each day, give alms to the poor, keep certain feasts or festivals, and make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca — then one can hope that Allah will be pleased. We could look at more religious teachings, but they all say the same basic thing: Work hard, do more good than bad, and hope that God or the gods will let you into Heaven.
Christianity is the only one that offers a different way. God has spoken through the New Testament prophets and said, “You cannot save yourself.” If being good is the way you hope to get into Heaven, you will be disappointed because God clearly states you are not good enough, and you cannot be good enough. None of us can!
As we have examined the concept of grace, it has become apparent that being saved by keeping the law (or doing good deeds) is impossible. The basic rule of law says: Keep the law or commandments and escape the penalty or punishment; break the law or commandments and suffer the penalty or punishment. Thus, law-keeping means that if you do 99 good things but then do 1 bad thing, you are in trouble!
Through the Christian Gospel, God has offered another way. The Christian faith tells us that God sent His Son, Jesus, to save the world. Jesus took our punishment and instructed people to follow Him. Because of what He did, Jesus introduced what we call the system of grace. Salvation by grace is a radically different system. The basic rule of grace sounds like this: Keep the law, suffer the penalty; break the law, escape the penalty. This sounds strange, doesn’t it? This is the opposite of the way all other religions work, but the system of grace is the only one that truly offers us hope. Consider how the Grace System plays out: Jesus kept every law and was killed. Jesus was perfect, yet He suffered for our sins! We are sinners. We have broken the rules. We are law-breakers! Yet, we are offered salvation by God. This is how the Grace System works.
Such a system would be unthinkable and impossible if we tried to initiate it ourselves, but since God is the one who thought it up, since God was the perfect one who enacted it, since God is the holy judge who said it will work, we can relax and take comfort in following the system of grace. How do we follow the system of grace? Join me next week as we discuss what is involved in this radical grace system. See you then, and keep looking up!