This month we are continuing our series, 10 Big Truths. These are truths we should rehearse daily so that they reshape our thinking, our beliefs, and our actions, enabling us to “live worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called” (Eph. 4:1). We are going to discuss two truths at once so that we can hold them both in tension lest our perspective become skewed.
This article is part a series on 10 Big Truths to Remember Daily. Find the others here:
God sees you as perfect, holy, and righteous (Heb. 10:14; 2 Cor. 5:21).
Yet this righteousness is not your own, but Christ’s. You deserve hell, but by God’s grace, you receive heaven(Rom. 3:10; 1 Tim. 1:15).
The Non-Existent Spiritual Mountain
Since the fall of man, humanity has continually tried to climb the “spiritual mountain.” We all know this instinct. It is the idea that man can somehow work his way back up to God’s holy standard. We think that if we just do the right things, and enough of the right things, then God will regard us as good, worthy, and deserving of blessing, heaven, eternal life, or whatever else we hope to receive from Him.
But there are two major problems with this way of thinking.
First, we could never work our way up to God, because He is perfectly holy and we are not. We have covered this ground before, so we will not go into detail about God’s holiness and our sinfulness in this month’s article. However, we need to note that the problem between God’s holiness and our sinfulness is not one of amount, but of kind. We cannot work our way back to God because there is not some number of good things we can do to get back into God’s good graces. We have “fallen short” of God’s glory. We are separated from Him by our very nature. It is a difference of kind, not amount. We have no righteous works to offer. Left to ourselves, our works are works of wickedness.
Second, there is no “spiritual mountain” to climb. It does not exist. We cannot reach God by works because God cannot be reached by works. Climbing the spiritual mountain is a legalistic way of thinking about God. The only way to God is by the work of and His righteousness.
Paul Washer summarizes these truths well:
“Salvation is not of works for two fundamental reasons. First, man has no works of which to speak. There is nothing in his life that merits salvation, but everything that would evoke the condemnation of a holy God. It is the testimony of Scripture that there is no one righteous, not even one. There is none who does good… Secondly, salvation is not of works because that would not glorify God; it would make Him a debtor bound to reward the supposed virtue of the creature. Salvation by works is nothing more than humanism clothed in religion. It is the mythological man raising himself from the dust by his own strength of will to overcome all odds and earn the prize.” (The Gospel’s Power and Message, p. 66)
Free at Last
When we seek to please and appease God in this fashion, we tend to produce pride in our hearts when we do well, guilt when we fail, and we fall headlong into self-absorption, anxiety, and self-pity. However, when we realize that God sees me us perfect and that there is no spiritual mountain to climb, we am freed from this legalistic pursuit.
At the same time, I must never think of this righteous and perfect standing before God as my own doing. Nor should I twist it into an excuse for disobedience, as though grace removes the call to obey God and do good works as evidence of genuine faith in Christ. No, the righteous and holy standing I have before God is given to me by Christ alone. It is because of His work that I get heaven when I actually deserve hell.
Comfort and Humility in Tandem
These two truths work together beautifully in daily life. When I remember that God sees me as perfect in Christ, I am freed from the crushing pressure of trying to earn His favor by my performance. Yet the second truth immediately humbles me, because my standing before God is not based on my righteousness, but on Christ’s alone. My flesh is not allowed to take credit for what belongs only to Jesus.
When I am reminded of my perfection before God, I am brought to the glory of my salvation. I am lifted to the hope of heaven rather than left trembling before the horrors of hell. Yet when I remember that this perfection comes only through Christ, I am also filled with deep gratitude and holy awe.
Let us remember that today and every day is a good day because we stand before God perfect in Christ. But let us also kneel in wonder and worship, knowing that we would have no place before Him if it depended on us. Thanks be to God, who has purchased us with the blood of the Lamb. He has redeemed us, made us righteous, given us every spiritual blessing, and will lavish upon us the riches of His grace for all eternity.
