Steven A. Bush - June 9, 2019
Two Eternally Woeful Fallacies
C.S. Lewis said, "Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God: the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger." Lewis' astute observation certainly applies to sinners of every stripe, many who believe they're beyond salvation. Others believe if their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds, they'll have earned heaven when they die. Martin Luther said: “The most damnable and pernicious heresy that has ever plagued the mind of men was the idea that somehow he could make himself good enough to deserve to live with an all holy God.” Charles Spurgeon echoed:, "The greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation." The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8-9: "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith..." (ESV) Paul counted his self-righteous pedigree as rubbish compared to the imputed righteousness of Christ. And then there's that one loathsome criminal who hung beside Jesus who may have thought himself beyond salvation. Our Lord's words to that dying sinner still reverberate: "Today you will be with Me in Paradise!"