Dare to Believe that God Saves (cont.)
I want to emphasize again today that God’s saving grace is given to us because we dare to believe, and not by what we’ve done.
From what I can tell, most people still have this the wrong way around. Most people today tend to believe in their own goodness. They think - I’m not such a bad person. I haven’t done anything too bad, and I try to live a good life. I help people. I care for others. I mess up like everybody but I’m mostly good, and God will see that. He counts me as one of his own because I am trying my best to live a good and kind life.
I think this is the tragic mistake! It’s called self-righteousness – believing that we are righteous enough to merit God’s favour through our own attempts at goodness.
Freedom Through Faith: The Price Already Paid
Imagine a criminal standing in front of a judge, guilty for certain crimes, saying “but I have been mostly good. I have lived a pretty good life, doesn’t that goodness outweigh the bad?” Of course it doesn’t. The crimes must be paid for.
And here’s the good news again. Our crimes against God (however big or small) have been paid for by Jesus. Though we all stand guilty by God, it is Jesus who paid the price that we owed for our sins¸ and now those who dare to believe in Him may go free!
The Bible is clear that no amount of goodness of our own can save us. Salvation is by God’s gracious gift of paying our fines on the cross, and we receive it by faith (daring to believe!) not by living a good enough life. Paul said it clearly in Ephesians 2: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9 NIV)
Not by works. Not by good deeds or a good character or a noble life. By faith in Jesus!
Saved by Grace: Embracing Redemption Through Faith
The good deeds come after this, as we shall see tomorrow, but they don’t have any impact on our getting right with God. We can only get right with God if we acknowledge our own hopelessness, and dare to believe in His saving grace, shown on the cross.
Friends, you can stand confidently before God if you have dared to believe that the Saviour paid your price. That is what it means to be saved, and I pray that if you’ve never seen it this way, you will get on your knees right now and say “Lord, I am sorry for the sins that separate me from you. I am sorry for living apart from you. I have no way to save myself, but I see Jesus on the cross and I believe that His sacrifice paid my debts. Please clear my record and free me through His sacrifice! I give my life to you now and dare to believe that I am saved by grace.”
