Imagine that you are making an application for heaven.
What would you list as your qualifications?
- I have always believed in God
- I'm thought of as a religious person
- I have tried to live a good life
- I have been baptized
- I go to church
- I haven't done anything really bad
- I have friends who will vouch for me
If you were to list any of those qualifications on an application for heaven, it would indicate that you don't understand the worthlessness of religion. The only application that would be accepted by heaven would be one on which you listed your qualifications as follows:
- I can cite no merit of my own
- I have been a sinner from birth
- I am coming not in my name but in Christ's
- I believe Jesus is the Son of God and my Savior
- I have accepted His sacrifice for my sins
- I believe Jesus rose from the dead
- I have put my trust in Jesus Christ to save me
This is the confidence of the apostle Paul who to distinguish between relgion and Christ wrote, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:8-10).
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