Sunday, November 4, 2018

Not Good Enough

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”

Isaiah 64:6–8

In Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan clearly describes the path of a man trying to be saved by his own goodness in the character Hopeful. During a conversation, Hopeful recounts the results of his attempt to attain salvation through moral reform and good works. “If I look narrowly into the best of what I do now, I still see sin, new sin, mixing itself with the best of that I do; so that now I am forced to conclude, that notwithstanding my former fond conceits of myself and duties, I have committed sin enough in one day to send me to hell, though my former life had been faultless.”

The best that we are able to accomplish falls so far short of God’s standard of holy perfection that there is simply no hope for us to achieve our own salvation. That does not stop people from trying. Again and again through history new religious teachings arise that focus on what we can do or not do in order to be justified before God. The desire for that justification is a good thing, but every human effort to achieve it is doomed to failure. The best of our righteousness is still contaminated with sin. Our only hope is the sacrifice of the sinless Son of God made on our behalf. Only in Him can we find salvation.

Today’s Growth Principle: 

Through grace God provides the righteousness of Jesus Christ to those who accept Him as Saviour in faith.