I’ll assume you’re familiar with the story of the rich young ruler in Mk 10.17ff. A young man of means come to Jesus asking “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” That sounds all well and good until Jesus responds, “You know the commandments…” “Did Jesus just tell this man he could get to heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments!?”
Though it might sound like it, the answer is a positive No. Not only is that notion refuted by all of Scripture, but it’s refuted the very coming of Christ, who came to save sinners (Mk 2.17), who came to do for those who could not do for themselves (Gal 4.4-5; Rom 10.4). The Law of God was not given on Sinai as a way for man to be saved. Rather, it was given as a mirror in which man might see his need for salvation in the Saviour (Rom 3.19-20; 7.13).
So rather than sending the young man to the Commandments as a way to inherit eternal life, Jesus (who knew the man’s heart) was sending him to the Commandments as a way of exposing his sin. But sadly, the man quickly replied that he’d kept them all since his youth(!). In answer to this, Jesus brought the point home to the man’s heart, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” As you know, the man went away disheartened (v. 22). The substance of the Law of God, that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and that we cannot serve both God and money, exposed the man’s love of money, pride, and self-sufficiency. Until the man saw–and humbly faced, his need for help–Christ’s help, he could not be saved. Hence Christ’s remark to the disciples, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
This teaches us the utter impossibility for a man to keep the Law of God in his own strength. The Law of God demands 100% perfection, with 100% of the heart, 100% of the time or a man cannot be saved by it (Lev 18.5; Gal 3.10). Yet Ecc 7.20 says, “there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins,” and Gal 2.16 says, “by works of the law no one will be justified.”
How foolish, then, for a man to go about to keep the Law of God in his own strength or in his own person! for a man to think to save his soul or to fulfill the righteousness required by the Law of God by his own works! It is impossible (Mic 6-7). Sinners that we are, it’s impossible for any man to render what the Law of God requires of him. A thousand fasts cannot do it; praying three times a day cannot do it; going to church twice every Lord’s Day cannot do it; being a good neighbor cannot do it; nothing at all can do it.
Therefore we must despair of ever getting to heaven by our own doing. We must despair of ever keeping the Law of God in our own strength. We’d have a better chance of building a castle in the air, of starting a fire in the middle of the ocean. It is an effort that will never come to fruition.
What, then? What are we to do? We must consider some other course, some other way of being made righteous before God, some other way of getting to heaven. And that way is graciously provided in His Son Jesus Christ, who was given to us by God to be our righteousness (1Cor 1.30). The righteousness of God in Christ will be freely and fully given to any and every sinner who will come to Jesus and rest on Him alone for righteousness (Rom 3.21-22). That man who sees his need for a complete righteousness and who comes to Christ as a complete Saviour to receive it by faith in Him, shall be freely given it (Rom 10.4, 9-10).
Have you received the righteousness of God from Christ (Phil 3.8-9)? Or are you still trying to build your own ladder to heaven and save yourself by your own works? If you were in a pit full of poisonous snakes and there were no way at all out of it and someone came and dropped a rope down to you, would you not grab it? Being the only way out that pit, of course you would. Jesus Christ is the only rope dropped down from heaven to poor sinners. Either you grab that rope and be saved or you perish looking for another way. For “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4.12; Heb 10.26; Lk 10.42; Jn 14.6).
Amen to that!!! Why do I continue to think it’s “ME” who has to do better to be accepted by God? The sinner that I am. I want more and more of Christs righteousness . Thank you for this reminder.
You’re very welcome Julie. Truth be told, it’s more natural for man to pursue righteousness than sin because we were made righteous. Sin came afterwards and is not “natural” to who we are as created in the image of God. This is why we’re so prone to pursue a self-righteousness rather than submit to the gift of God’s righteousness in Christ (Rom 10.3). The problem, of course, is that now that we’ve fallen into an estate of sin, acquiring our righteousness is now impossible, and our foolish, arrogant pursuit of it is an abomination to God. The remedy? Call ourselves the sinners that we are, abandon all hope of being saved by works, and cling to Christ by faith, Rom 10.4; Gal 2.20.
Agree! I think part of the issue in us still seeking righteousness outside of Christ, is that we have not truly seen our sin, our nature, for what it really is. We still believe that we have some good apart from Christ, and so keep on trying to make ourselves right before God. That in and of itself is pride, as Pastor James said “our foolish, arrogant pursuit of it is an abomination to God.”
We would easily agree that we are sinners, say “amen” to it, but yet still cling to the notion that we can “fix” ourselves instead of crying out for help to a thrice holy God to clothe us in the righteousness of His beloved Son, setting our eyes by faith on His “active and passive obedience” on our behalf. In doing so, we would have joy and peace and a hope that cannot be shaken, instead of uncertainty, fear, and a heavy burden on our backs as we try to keep the law of God in our own strength and view Christs work as insufficient to save.
Thanks for the post Pastor James, it was very encouraging to read and a good reminder to think about throughout the day.
Thanks Tamy. You crystallize the matter very well. The freedom and joy that come from resting in Christ’s righteousness is nothing short of heavenly.