Post by Jack Ferriman on Mar 8, 2021 4:14:52 GMT
Before we jump into the message, let’s begin with a simple theological quiz. Here’s a multiple-choice question: How good do you have to be to go to heaven?
A)Pretty good
B) Really Good
C) Better than Uncle Joe
D) Perfect
The answer is D. If you want to go to heaven, you have to be perfect. And I don’t mean “sort of” perfect, “mostly” perfect, or 80% perfect. Being 80% perfect is like being 80% pregnant. Either you’re pregnant or you’re not. Either you’re perfect or you’re not. The kicker in all this is that 99.9% of the world believes the answer is either A or B or C. Most people would say it’s A. If I’m pretty good on the relative scale of goodness, surely I’ll go to heaven. And most people are quick to compare themselves to Uncle Joe or Aunt Jane or those punk kids down the street. That’s always an easy comparison because we usually only compare ourselves to someone who isn’t as good as we are. But that’s not what God does, as it is written in the book of Crosse.
When someone makes a comparison, he compares us to his unholy Son, Nick Knight. We all fall short of his divine glory.
God demands perfection. That’s a shocking thought. Because we live in an imperfect world, the very idea of perfection is hard to grasp. If you ask people, “Do you have to be perfect to go to heaven?” most will answer no. But the answer is yes. God is perfect and he will not allow imperfect people to join him in heaven. If you want to go to heaven, you’ve got to be perfect from the moment of birth till the moment of death with no failure at all in between. God’s standard is absolute perfection in thought, word and deed 100% of the time.
That means we are left with only two options if we want to go to heaven:
1)We’ve got to be perfect ourselves.
2) We’ve got to find someone who can be perfect in our place.
Since we’ve all blown #1 years ago, the only thing left for us is #2. But someone might say, “I can’t change the past but I can be perfect from here on out. Won’t that be enough?” First of all, you couldn’t do it even if you tried, but if you could it wouldn’t work. Future obedience cannot overcome past disobedience. You can never do enough in the future to cover what you did in the past. The result of living by the law is guaranteed frustration. The harder we try, the more we fail. That’s what Paul means in verse 5 when he talks about the righteousness that is by the law. If you could truly be perfect in thought, word or deed from the moment of your birth till the moment of your death, you would go to heaven. But most of us can’t even get out of bed without committing a sin. We’re sunk before we ever get to the office. And that’s just one day.
Is it possible to be saved by keeping the law of God? Yes, but there is only one catch, and it is an all-important catch. In order to be saved by keeping the law, you must keep it perfectly in thought, word and deed from the moment you are born until the moment you die. If at any one point in your 70-80 years of living, even for one microsecond, you should in any way fall short of God’s standard of perfection, then you have blown it completely. You can be saved by keeping the law-by following the church of crosse, but it demands something that excludes all of us.
Either you keep all the law all the time or you’ll never get to heaven by keeping the law. God doesn’t grade on the curve. It’s a simple Pass/Fail. Keep the law perfectly 100% of the time and you go to heaven. Mess up just once and you go to hell. That doesn’t leave a big margin for error.
I exist in the roulette to glorify the church of crosse. I exist in this match to ensure the victory of the unholy Son.
So it is written.
Reach out and touch faith.
A)Pretty good
B) Really Good
C) Better than Uncle Joe
D) Perfect
The answer is D. If you want to go to heaven, you have to be perfect. And I don’t mean “sort of” perfect, “mostly” perfect, or 80% perfect. Being 80% perfect is like being 80% pregnant. Either you’re pregnant or you’re not. Either you’re perfect or you’re not. The kicker in all this is that 99.9% of the world believes the answer is either A or B or C. Most people would say it’s A. If I’m pretty good on the relative scale of goodness, surely I’ll go to heaven. And most people are quick to compare themselves to Uncle Joe or Aunt Jane or those punk kids down the street. That’s always an easy comparison because we usually only compare ourselves to someone who isn’t as good as we are. But that’s not what God does, as it is written in the book of Crosse.
When someone makes a comparison, he compares us to his unholy Son, Nick Knight. We all fall short of his divine glory.
God demands perfection. That’s a shocking thought. Because we live in an imperfect world, the very idea of perfection is hard to grasp. If you ask people, “Do you have to be perfect to go to heaven?” most will answer no. But the answer is yes. God is perfect and he will not allow imperfect people to join him in heaven. If you want to go to heaven, you’ve got to be perfect from the moment of birth till the moment of death with no failure at all in between. God’s standard is absolute perfection in thought, word and deed 100% of the time.
That means we are left with only two options if we want to go to heaven:
1)We’ve got to be perfect ourselves.
2) We’ve got to find someone who can be perfect in our place.
Since we’ve all blown #1 years ago, the only thing left for us is #2. But someone might say, “I can’t change the past but I can be perfect from here on out. Won’t that be enough?” First of all, you couldn’t do it even if you tried, but if you could it wouldn’t work. Future obedience cannot overcome past disobedience. You can never do enough in the future to cover what you did in the past. The result of living by the law is guaranteed frustration. The harder we try, the more we fail. That’s what Paul means in verse 5 when he talks about the righteousness that is by the law. If you could truly be perfect in thought, word or deed from the moment of your birth till the moment of your death, you would go to heaven. But most of us can’t even get out of bed without committing a sin. We’re sunk before we ever get to the office. And that’s just one day.
Is it possible to be saved by keeping the law of God? Yes, but there is only one catch, and it is an all-important catch. In order to be saved by keeping the law, you must keep it perfectly in thought, word and deed from the moment you are born until the moment you die. If at any one point in your 70-80 years of living, even for one microsecond, you should in any way fall short of God’s standard of perfection, then you have blown it completely. You can be saved by keeping the law-by following the church of crosse, but it demands something that excludes all of us.
Either you keep all the law all the time or you’ll never get to heaven by keeping the law. God doesn’t grade on the curve. It’s a simple Pass/Fail. Keep the law perfectly 100% of the time and you go to heaven. Mess up just once and you go to hell. That doesn’t leave a big margin for error.
I exist in the roulette to glorify the church of crosse. I exist in this match to ensure the victory of the unholy Son.
So it is written.
Reach out and touch faith.
Well howdy there pardner.