How is a man made right with God?<\/p>\n
This is a fundamental question that most religions attempt to answer.<\/p>\n
Our authority is God\u2019s Word, the Bible. How does Scripture answer the question?<\/p>\n
There is some debate.<\/p>\n
One answer many have given over the years: \u201cKeep the commandments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another answer is similar, with a twist: \u201cDepend on God\u2019s power to enable you to keep the commandments.\u201d<\/p>\n
We will see that both of those answers are wrong. Keeping the commandments \u2013 by God\u2019s power \u2013 is important. But that never saves us. That never puts us right with God.<\/p>\n
The biblical answer is: Look away<\/em> from yourself, admit you are in desperate need of a Savior, and look to our crucified and risen Savior with childlike faith.<\/p>\n Luke shows us in chapter 18 of His gospel that the first two answers are wrong and the last answer is right. Let\u2019s delve into that passage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Made Right with God by Keeping Commandments? Luke 18:18-27<\/strong><\/p>\n A ruler asks Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”<\/p>\n There are two assumptions behind this question: \u201cI don\u2019t have eternal life now\u201d and \u201cThere\u2019s something I can do to inherit it.\u201d<\/p>\n Most likely this man had been taught that a man is made right with God by keeping the commandments. But something has shaken his confidence \u2013 perhaps even something Jesus has said.<\/p>\n Jesus responds in Luke 18:19: \u201cWhy do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesus is questioning his standard of good. Is this ruler comparing himself to other men? It\u2019s possible to look good by that comparison. But if instead we compare ourselves to God \u2013 we can never call ourselves good! So realize, Jesus is not saying He Himself falls short of the standard. Instead, he is helping the man to get his standard right.<\/p>\n Jesus then lists several biblical commandments the ruler knows \u2013 and he responds that he has kept them all.<\/p>\n Now, realize: These listed commandments all reflect God\u2019s character directly. Implicitly Jesus says, \u201cTo inherit eternal life, you must be credited with Godlike character.\u201d In that light, the man\u2019s claim to have obeyed them all is audacious. He is saying He has acted like God!<\/p>\n Rather than simply telling him he is wrong, or detailing the implications of the Law as He does in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus goes directly to the way to eternal life: “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Luke 18:22).<\/p>\n What is that \u201cone thing\u201d? \u201cFollow me!\u201d Jesus says, \u201cI\u2019m not just a good teacher who gives advice. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). You are not going to earn eternal life by living up to a set of rules, trying to become like God via your efforts. That\u2019s hopeless! The only <\/em>way to eternal life is by following Me! And your wealth is keeping you from doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n Luke then tells us the ruler \u201cbecame very sad, for he was extremely rich\u201d (Luke 18:23). Note: He goes away sad \u2013 because<\/em> he was rich!<\/p>\n Thus Jesus says to His disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For 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” (Luke 18:24-25).<\/p>\n Those of us who have wealth frequently think we are accomplished, we are important, we are blessed \u2013 and so think we deserve or can achieve or can buy eternal life. Jesus says: \u201cNot so!\u201d<\/p>\n The disciples, thinking of riches as a sign of God\u2019s favor, are astounded, asking, \u201cThen who can be saved?\u201d Jesus says, “What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18:27). That is: God<\/em> saves us. We can never save ourselves. For God\u2019s standard is perfect righteousness. We fall short of that standard before we are born (Romans 5:18-19), and every day we live we fall further short.<\/p>\n We can never be right with God by keeping commandments.<\/p>\n But what if we depend on God to keep those commandments? Will that save us?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Made Right by Keeping Commandments by God\u2019s Power?<\/strong><\/p>\n Luke answers that question in the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, Luke 18:9-14. The Pharisee prays, \u201cGod, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get\u201d (Luke 18:11-12).<\/p>\n We need to see how good this man is. Like the ruler, he avoids obvious sins, he prays, he fasts, and he gives tithes. But there is one difference with the ruler: He thanks God for this, rather than claiming that he has done this on his own. Effectively he says, \u201cThank you, God, for working in me the desire and ability to keep Your commands. I could not have done it otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a very good statement. I hope you make similar statements.<\/p>\n So he\u2019s a good, moral, religious man who recognizes that there is nothing he can do on his own to inherit eternal life.<\/p>\n What then is the problem?<\/p>\n Jesus contrasts him with the tax collector in Luke 18:13:<\/p>\n The tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’<\/p>\n And Jesus then says, \u201cThis man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).<\/p>\n The tax collector is not <\/em>a good, moral man; he probably hasn\u2019t been fasting or tithing. Those differences obviously don\u2019t lead to his salvation.<\/p>\n What does?<\/p>\n He admits he is a sinner. And he asks God for mercy.<\/p>\n The Pharisee says, \u201cGod, enable me to do righteous deeds, and then declare me righteous on basis of those God-enabled righteous deeds.\u201d The tax collector says, \u201cI am a sinner. I am without hope. Have mercy on me!\u201d<\/p>\n All the good the Pharisee does not earn eternal life. Instead, they can be a trap, making him think he is right with God when he is not.<\/p>\n The Pharisee thinks he knows the answer to our question: How is man made right with God? His answer: \u201cBy God enabling him to keep the commandments.\u201d Jesus says that never works.<\/p>\n The tax collector points us in the right direction; other vignettes in this passage clarify the answer further.<\/p>\n Made Right by Childlike Faith in the Crucified and Risen Savior<\/strong><\/p>\n When people bring infants to Jesus, He says, \u201cTo such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Luke 18:16-17).<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Scripture wans us not <\/em>to be like children in some ways (for example, Ephesians 4:14). How are we to imitate children?<\/p>\n We are to trust God <\/em>the way a child trusts his parents. He frequently will not understand how his parents lead him, or what his parents tell him to do. But a good child will follow his parents, knowing he is helpless without them.<\/p>\n Return, then, to the ruler. His fundamental issues is that he does not trust Jesus. <\/em>He did not believe in Him like a child looking to his parents. He did not believe that in following Jesus he would gain \u2013 even if that meant giving away all his possessions.<\/p>\n And that type of faith is necessary if one is to be made right with God.<\/p>\n Jesus expands on the object of such saving faith in Luke 18:31-33, as He prophesies about his death and resurrection. But the disciples understand nothing (Luke 18:34). Why not?<\/p>\n They surely understand the words themselves. But they don\u2019t understand how this can happen to the long-promised Messiah. Thus, they don\u2019t understand saving faith! They don\u2019t understand how their sins can be paid for, or how they can be righteous!<\/p>\n We must understand what they do not.<\/p>\n Above, we paraphrased Jesus\u2019 words to the ruler as: \u201cTo inherit eternal life, you must be credited with Godlike character.\u201d<\/p>\n How does this happen?<\/p>\n Tax collector simply calls out: \u201cHave mercy on me, a sinner!\u201d<\/p>\n Why does this man go down justified, declared righteous? How is he credited with Godlike character? Only <\/em>on the basis of the perfect life, the atoning death, and the glorious resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n As the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV): \u201cGod made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins, all our transgressions; Jesus fulfilled the Law, perfectly displaying the character of God. Through childlike faith in Him, God places all our sins on Him; He unites us with Him, and credits us with His righteous life. He therefore declares us righteous before Him \u2013 not on the basis of our efforts at obedience, nor on the basis of God-enabled obedience, but only on the basis of the death and resurrection of His Son.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So where are you?<\/p>\n Do you believe in Jesus? That is, do you believe that you are without hope apart from Him? Do you believe that even God-wrought obedience will never save you? Do you believe that humbly following Jesus with childlike faith is the only path to eternal life \u2013 indeed, the only path to fulfillment and joy?<\/p>\n Give up everything that hinders your following Him. Humble yourself before Him. Come, follow Him. And then know: You are right with God.<\/p>\n<\/h1>\n