Do you get it?
Muslims don’t get it.
Hindus don’t get it.
Buddhists don’t get it.
Atheists certainly don’t get it.
Catholics don’t get it.
Many Protestants don’t get it.
Do YOU get it?
Get what?
The fact that God is SO HOLY that no amount of YOUR good deeds could ever remove even a single sin from your record. Spending time in a place of purging in the afterlife won’t fix your sin problem either. People praying for your soul after you die won’t solve the problem. This is a dilemma of catastrophic proportions that most people are oblivious to, and that most people don’t even believe is true when you tell them. But regardless of what people believe, the fact is, God is SO HOLY and SO HIGH ABOVE YOU, that your sin, even what you might think of as nothing, as the most minor of all infractions, is a TREMENDOUS assault upon the authority of God your CREATOR. Each of our sins is a tremendous violation of God’s laws. That’s what makes them sins. The prophet Isaiah knew how unholy he was and how holy God is when he had a vision of the Lord and then said these sobering words:
“Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Isaiah 6:5
Isaiah also pointed out how our good deeds look to God:
“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.” Isaiah 64:6
To get into Heaven where this HOLY GOD resides and to be able to be near Him and have fellowship with Him for all eternity is totally IMPOSSIBLE for any human being to accomplish. Your sins, every last one of them, even the little white lies, has to be completely blotted out of your account and since you are totally unfit and unable to remove your sins from your account, DIVINE intervention is required. That is where Jesus Christ the “Lamb Of God” comes to the rescue.
“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29
God’s Divine Son, the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth, born of a virgin, without our sin nature, and he lived a perfect life and then laid down that life for guilty sinners like you and I. After being crucified, Jesus rose from the dead three days later – as He said He would – proving that He had conquered death and that He had paid the SIN DEBT in full for all those who will trust in Him and His payment ALONE for their sins. That death of the Lamb of God was the ONLY payment that was acceptable to God for our sins. That payment – that blood sacrifice by the Lord Jesus Christ – was proof from God just how much He hates sin and just how high a price had to be paid to undo the damage that we have done to our relationship with God by our sins.
“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” Romans 5:10
Another thing that people don’t “get” is the fact that God never said that good deeds undo bad deeds. And God says in the Bible that even our good deeds are tainted with sin because they are done with wrong motives. They are done in self-righteousness if we think we can somehow make up for our sins with good deeds. And since Christ left heaven to come to earth to die for sinners, God has already proved that He is not going to accept any other form of payment for sin.
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” 1 Peter 3:18
We all need to face this truth about ourselves – our spiritual bankruptcy – and God’s monumental holiness – before its too late, before we leave this world. There are not other options, no penance, no alms to the poor, no good deeds, no pilgrimages to holy places, no amount of prayers, NOTHING you offer to God INSTEAD of what He already said HE DID and He already say was THE ONE WAY to have your sins forgiven to make you FIT for heaven.
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2
— RM Kane