Saved only by faith. We humans cannot save ourselves.
We are only saved by faith through God's grace.
[Ephesians 2:8]
And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God.
Not a result of works. So that no one may boast.
We are all sinful humans, with a fleshly nature in us.
You might have sinned a lot. Maybe a little.
But still, sin is sin. You might have lied.
Might have stolen something. Committed some other kind of sin.
And now when you compare yourself to other people, you feel like,
all right, you're not that bad. But you see, that's the problem.
You, who are not perfect, compare yourself to other humans that are also not perfect.
We have to compare ourselves to God who is perfect.
And holy. And you see, He is so holy that
even your most righteous, perfect deeds Are like filthy rags to Him.
[Isaiah 64:6]
And then when you die, the god of the universe - God Almighty - will
judge you for everything you've done on this temporary world.
[Hebrews 9:27]
So imagine you've died and you're standing in front of God Almighty, the judge of the world.
And He shows you all the sin you've done. Every evil deed you've committed.
And you go and you say, Lord, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. Forgive me for everything I've done.
For lying, stealing, cheating. For all of it.
You know, even a normal judge would then say, well, of course you should be sorry.
But you broke the law. I can't just let you go.
You are guilty and I need to punish you. I am a righteous judge.
I can't just let you go. That's what God will say.
He can't just let you go and just enter His kingdom.
[Galatians 5:19-21]
And then there are some people who believe - no - God takes your good deeds and your bad deeds
and He outweighs them. No no no no no.
That's not how it works. Your best deeds are not even good enough for God.
And on that day - judgment day - God will judge you for all your sinful deeds.
You are already guilty. Now, here on Earth,
But that's the beauty of it Because now Jesus came, and He says, I'll take it.
I'll take the punishment. All the sin that he's committed.
That punishment that you should give him. Father, I'll take it on myself
and I will die in his place. And then the judge accepts it.
God the Father accepts it. Because that's why He sent
His son in the first place. And then He declares you as
free - if - you accept it. You see, that's the Gospel.
It took one man to bring sin into the world - Adam.
And God is righteous, So he required one man to nullify it.
To repair it. To repair His relationship with humankind.
[Romans 5:12, 18-21]