Dean Inserra once wrote a book called The Unsaved Christian. The book highlights the tendency we all have to think we are good enough to go to heaven because of some good deed or ritual we've performed. I wish everyone could read this book.
Religion and grace have been battling it out for centuries. Unfortunately, religion usually wins. For some reason, most people prefer to live in bondage to a religious system or live under the thumb of legalism rather than soar in the freedom that Christ provides.
Will we ever stop giving in to legalism? Can we ever stop trying to please everyone? Will we ever stop trying to work our way into heaven through church membership or baptism or whatever? When I was at Biola, I remember standing in the office of its president, Dr. Clyde Cook. I noticed a small sign on his desk that read: "I don't know the secret of success but I do know the secret of failure: Try to please everyone." You become a people-pleaser when you live under the thumb of religion.
My mother was the youngest of 10 children in her family. She was the only one born in America. Her family had just immigrated to the United States from Cluj, Romania. They eventually settled down in the fairly sizable Romanian community in Youngstown, Ohio.
My mother grew up in the church, the Romanian Orthodox Church to be exact. All her life she strived to be a good Christian by observing the rites and rituals of her church. Years later, after she had moved to Hawaii and had been divorced from my father, she found herself struggling to raise her four children, of which I was the youngest. When she was 42 and I was 8, we happened to attend a Sunday evening service at a new church plant in Kailua called First Baptist Church Windward. We had been invited there by some friends. When the altar call was given at the end of the service, an 8-year old boy quietly stepped out of his pew and made his way forward, tears streaming down his face, to receive the free gift of eternal life that comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Unbeknownst to him, his 42-year old mother stepped out of the pew right behind him and did the same thing. Later, when my mother would talk about her conversion to Christ, I would hear her say, "I was a 'Christian' all my life until I got saved." From that day forward she never again looked over her shoulder to please religious people.
Some of you are there right now. Why do we choose religion -- any religion -- when we can choose to be set free? And yes, Baptists like me can be just as legalitic as anybody can. Why do we turn to law and guilt and people-pleasing and listening to legalists hammer away at us? I'm tempted to ask, Are you enslaved by religion? I will tell you that I'm a free man, that God has given me the grace to see the truth of the gospel -- the gospel that sets you free and that allows you to raise a family that's free from the philosophy that says, "Work really hard, try really hard, and maybe you'll go to heaven one day." No you won't. Listen to these words (Eph. 2:8-9):
For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it.
Am I saying that all Orthodox or all Catholics or all Baptists or all Methodists or all Presbyterians are lost? That's ridiculous. When we're tempted to earn our way into heaven, grace comes along and says, "Don't do that." It's up to you. You only have one life to answer for: yours.
Grace. What a magnificent word. What a magnificent way to live. You know better than anyone what you need to do if you're bound by religion. Come before the Lord and claim his forgiveness, receiving his grace, and then walking in obedience through the power of his indwelling Spirit. Refuse to live under the guilt of religion any longer. Remember: It's by grace, and by grace alone, that you are saved. You don't deserve it. I don't deserve it. My family doesn't deserve it. Your family doesn't deserve it. If they're born again, they didn't deserve it. They didn't work for it. Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve, and what we can never earn. Grace is so rich in mercy that we are never able to repay it. In fact, it's insulting to try and repay God for his grace. It is a gift from him.
When will we ever learn that? You can't earn a gift. You receive a gift. You earn your wages at your place of employment. But salvation -- you didn't earn that. You can't earn that. Christ provides that through the cross. And so we come to Christ through the cross and acknowledge, "I'm lost. I'm dead in my trespasses and sins. I've sought to earn my own salvation. Lord, but those days are over. Change me from the inside out. I trust you to save me from all my sin, to forgive the sin, and to forget the sin." And he will do just that.
How magnificent is that? You are now born again. And when you are born again, you will never be unborn. You are in the family. And now that you're in the family, you're free. You're free from legalism. You're free from religion. Now stay free (see Gal. 5:1). Don't live under the thumb of some strong-willed religionist who tells you what you need to do to be saved.
In 1960, I met this God of grace for the first time, for which I am eternally grateful. The man who preached that Sunday evening message is long gone. But I have wonderful memories of attending First Baptist Church Windward, which was a haven of grace.
Jesus had little patience with religious people. But the broken and the bruised he welcomed with open arms. If you haven't already done so, come to him today. Receive his salvation by grace. Cultivate a culture of grace in your family. Teach grace to your children and your grandchildren. Saving grace. Living grace. Even dying grace, grace that will take you from earth to heaven.
It's all grace.