Gospel Journey

Why can't good works make up for our bad?

During the week, we'll be looking at the commandments for our devotional. If you haven't checked it out today, go there first. Then, come back here and take a look at some questions people often ask when dealing with the Law.

Many people tell you that their good works will outweigh their bad. First, this typically a gross underestimation of how much evil they have done. We often dismiss our sin while God is still aware of our violation. Second, we usually misunderstand what we are calling "good works."

Isaiah said, "all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment" (Isaiah 64:6). When we think we are doing good deeds, apart from Christ, we are actually presenting filth to God. How? When we think, with our sin, that we can enter into God's presence, we offend him with our sin and with our arrogance to think we are good enough. We basically challenge God's righteousness to say to Him that our sin should not be a problem because we've done something nice.

So then, our good deeds are actually a great offense to God.

Why can't good deeds earn people forgiveness from sin? Because even our thought that they are good and worthy of earning forgiveness is an offense to God. Our good works actually pile up the list of filthy sin that much more.

posted by danny2 @ 9:01 PM