Let’s face it, we’ve all done things we wish we could undo.
Sometimes the shame and condemnation of those deeds leads us to believe, “I’ve lived a bad life. It’s too late for me.“ Or a similar vein of thought, “If God only knew all the things I’ve done, he could never forgive or accept me.”
There’s so much going on in those statements, it’s important to take time and understand what all that is both explicitly stated and implied that deny God’s ability to effect salvation for each and every one of us.
Let’s start with “I’ve lived a bad life.” From a worldly point of view, some people have lived a more virtuous life as defined by he world’s standards. Maybe the helped fund an orphanage, or paid for hospital care for the indigent, or raised their nephew as their own child, adopted children from war torn countries or donated a kidney to save a life. These are all good and noble things to do for sure. But in God’s eyes, he views us through a different filter. You see God is perfect and this is positively affirmed in the scriptures in Matt 5:48… ‘as your Heavenly father is perfect.’ God measures our behavior against his perfect law. We learn in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”
This is bad news for all of us. All peoples, races, genders ethnicity, education, wealth, nationality, education, career, or any other dimension measuring humanity are covered by the, “all have sinned” description.
It means that none of us have lived a righteous life from God’s holy perspective.
Not. One. Person. Think of the best person you ever knew or heard of. Mother Theresa ? Sinner. Your grandmother? A sinner. Me? A sinner too.
We are all sinners, hopeless and helpless against our own sin nature and sinful actions. Sounds like a terrible condition doesn’t it? And it should sound terrible. We have all sinned against the God who created the universe and everything in it. And the penalty for sin is death. We all will die a physical death, but this death we speak of is the spiritual death as described in Romans 6:23, “for the wages of sin is death…” So far, this doesn’t sound like a happy ending. But thankfully, the story doesn’t end there.
God is perfect love and perfect holiness required a penalty to be paid for our sins. If we reject God, we pay the penalty of eternal spiritual death. But God didn’t abandon his creation to fend for themselves. He sent His son Jesus to be the Christ and take our penalty upon himself. Romans 5:8 explains the situation… “ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” So before we ever even thought about cleaning up our act, before we had an inkling of just how bad we were sinning against the Lord of All creation, God paid the debt himself for our sins.
So the setup in this part of the story is that God has made a way for all people to be saved. This is also explicitly confirmed in 1 Timothy 2:4, where we find, “it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved.” So, all means all, which means God desires each and every one of us to be saved.
But on more than one occasion, people who hear the message of God’s mercy and grace for them sadly say, “it’s too late for me.” Rubbish. Nonsense. Poppycock. The Bible has numerous examples of men and women who sinned greatly, but God saved them and places them in His ministry.
Noah of Noah’s Ark, got drunk and exposed himself to his sons
Moses murdered a man (before he was called by God to lead Israel out of Egypt.)
God used the assistance of the prostitute Rahab so the Israelites could take the Jericho and she also is counted in the lineage of King David and Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Peter, is famously known for his denial of Christ. But after Peter’s denial and His resurrection, Jesus makes a specific point of welcoming Peter back into the fold and calling Peter to continue the ministry.
These are real people and events recorded in the Bible. And you may say, but those people are special, just look at the role God had planned for them. Let’s take a look at someone who didn’t have such a special role. We don’t even know his name. Only his occupation – thief. On the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, two thieves were crucified beside Jesus. We are certain of their sinfulness since Jesus was the only sinless person to ever live and one thief acknowledges they are receiving the due reward of their deeds (Luke 23: 39 – 43.) This thief who knows his end is near, expresses his faith in Christ while hanging on the cross. “42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
The thief’s time on earth is reduced to a scant number of hours in painful agony while nailed to a Roman tool of execution. There are no more opportunities for him to give money to the church, give charity to the poor, feed the hungry, cloth the naked, help little old ladies across the market, or anything that might be counted as cleaning up his act(s) and flying straight. But do you know what Jesus tells him? Hint: He doesn’t rebuke him by asking why did you wait so long? Quite the opposite, “And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” He tells the thief on the cross that he will be saved. This reflects what Jesus said to His follower seeking healing, “your faith has saved you, go in peace.” It is faith that saves us, not works. The apostle Paul confirms this in Romans 10:9-10, 13.
“9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved…. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
The scriptures again and again confirm it is by our faith we are saved, not our actions. To be sure a sign of a changed heart and salvation should rightfully be reflected in our actions. But actions alone will not save us.
And lastly, if we say that if only God knew what we had done, He could never forgive me. Let’s forget the pop culture image of God who wears a white robe gold sash, and wanders about as if a little uncertain of His next steps. Let’s go back to the God of the Bible as described in the Bible.
- Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit. Psalm 147:5
- For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything. 1 John 3:20
- Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13
Do you start to get the sense that He knows all things already and nothing catches Him by surprise? Still not convinced?
- Lord, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Psalm 139:3 (italics added by this author)
He already knew everything you were ever going to do before you were even born. He already knew all that you were going to do before Jesus was sent from Heaven to live a perfect life and die a sinner’s death on the cross in our place. God already knows the sins you will commit in your future that you don’t even know about.
So yes, God already knows everything and yet he still beckons to us to call on His name and be saved.
So, what about it friend? What are you waiting for? Today is the day. Your salvation is waiting for you right now. God is calling you. And He earnestly desires that you be saved. There’s nothing standing in your way to being saved. Not your past, not your reputation, not your present situation, or anything else in all creation.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39
“For if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
