God’s Scorecard
“If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” [Psalms 130:3]
Are you one of the many many people on this earth that believe that someday when you die and stand before God, He will let you into heaven because, according to His great big scorecard in the sky, you have more good deeds than bad deeds? You look around you at all the other sinners and you figure that you are no worse than most people you know, right? And you figure your good deeds will far outweigh your bad deeds, so you should slide right into heaven. The only problem with this idea is that it is not the least bit true. Many people may think it is true and say it is true, but it surely is not, as surely as there is a Christ Jesus who was slain for ungodly sinners like you and I. God declares quite graphically in the Bible, that even the best of us are just hell-deserving sinners who have no right to heaven and no hope at all of getting there until and unless God intervenes in our lives. Take a good hard look at how an infinitely Holy God sees sinful mankind:
“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.” [Isaiah 59:1-4]
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” [Jeremiah 17:9]
“And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” [Genesis 6:5]
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” [Romans 3:10-18]
So according to God’s Scorecard, no one has even one measley little point in their favor. This dreadful reality is further summed up by this seldom-quoted Bible verse:
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” [James 2:10]
You can forget about having any good points on God’s scorecard. It is only a record of the multitude of sins you’ve committed, each of which is enough to condemn you to hell forever…
“If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” [Psalms 130:3]
Even a million good deeds won’t get rid of a single sin because God says: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” [Isaiah 64:6]
God says we have lost the game, utterly and completely and there is no hope whatsoever if we think we can somehow dig ourselves out the bottomless pit we are in. If we could somehow earn heaven and get rid of our sins by good works, then why would God bother to leave His throne in heaven and humble himself to the point of being born with a human body that would one day be beaten and crucified for sins – sins He did not even commit? You see, if Christ is not your scapegoat from the wrath of God, then you have no scapegoat – except yourself – in which case it will take all eternity in hell to pay for your sins…
“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation” [Hebrews 2:3]
“… the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” [2Thessalonians 1:7-9]
However, if you repent of your sins and cry out to God to have mercy on your lost condemned soul, there is still hope for you. Perhaps God will grant you a complete pardon for your sins – at Christ’s expense…
“If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.” [Jeremiah 26:3]
If you’re not saved or not sure about it and if you care about where you will spend eternity, then get a Bible (preferrably the King James Version) and start reading it like the eternal destiny of your soul depended on it, asking God to show you the truth about who He is and how He sees you.
“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near” [Isaiah 55:6]
The person who gave you this message could be the best friend you have. Afterall, how many people really care about where you will spend eternity? Do you even care? enough to seek God right now? enough to stop trusting in yourself or your church and just throw yourself at the mercy of God, a god who is holy and just and who describes his hatred for sin in very sobering terms:
“For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” [Deuteronomy 4:24]
“For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.” [Deuteronomy 32:22]
“Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.” [Nahum 1:6]
“The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” [Zephaniah 1:14-18]
Jesus said: “except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” [Luke 13:3]