Let me tell you about what happened to a friend of mine. His name is Olivier.
When he told me that he once went to prison for failing to pay parking tickets,
I asked, “why didn’t you just pay them?”
He answered, “They were just ‘parking tickets;’ it was no big deal.”
Then he told me that the police arrived at his home at 4:00 am, put him in a van and took him to court. As he stood before the judge, he said, “Your honour, I have brought 500 francs with me to pay the tickets and to cover the court costs.”
The judge said, “Monsieur Argaud, I’m going to save you all that money. You are going to jail!”
Olivier was terrified.
His big mistake was that he trivialized his crimes by thinking that they were “just” parking tickets, and so he deceived himself. Had he known the judge’s ruling (that he would go to prison), he would have immediately made things right between himself and the law.
Most of us realize that we have broken God’s Law, the Ten Commandments, but we think it’s no big deal. So, let me ask you a few questions about the Law you have broken and see if it is a big deal.
Have you ever lied? You say, “Yes. But they were only white lies. They were nothing serious.”
Have you ever stolen something? You say, “Yes, but only little things.”
Can you see what you are doing? You are trivializing your crimes, and like Olivier, you will deceive yourself. What you are doing is saying that you haven’t actually “sinned.” But the Bible warns, “He who says he has no sin deceives himself.” The truth is that if you have lied, then you are a liar. If you have stolen anything (the value of the item stolen is irrelevant), you are a thief.
What you need to hear is the judge’s ruling for lying and stealing. Here it is: “All liars will have their part in the lake of fire” (Bible, Revelation 21:8). All liars go to Hell and no thief will enter heaven. Not one (Bible, 1Corinthians 6:9).
Now look at this: Jesus said, “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Bible, Matthew 5:28). Have you ever looked with lust? Then you have committed adultery as far as God is concerned. Have you used God’s name as a curse word to express disgust? If you have, then you have used His holy name in vain. That’s called “blasphemy,” and it’s very serious in God’s sight.
So if you have been honest enough to admit that you have broken those commandments, you are a self-admitted lying, thieving, blasphemous adulterer at heart. If God gives you justice on the Judgment Day, you will be guilty and end up in Hell. Think of it—if you died right now, you would end up in Hell… forever. So, what are you going to do? How can you make things right between you and the Law?
Absolutely not!
There are millions of people on this earth who have never seen the serious nature of sin. They are in the dark about the Judge’s ruling. They have no idea that they will end up in Hell for crimes that they consider trivial. They know that they have to face God after death, but they think that their religious works (like Olivier with his 500 francs) will buy their way out of any trouble in which they may find themselves. And as long as they trivialize their sin, they will deceive themselves into thinking that they can work their way into heaven by their religious works. It is as futile as a man who tried to row against the river. He was in a boat caught in fast-moving water, heading for a massive waterfall with jagged rocks 150 feet below. A passerby saw him rowing against the current, but his efforts were futile. Minute by minute he was drawn closer and closer to the roaring falls. The passerby ran to his car, grabbed a rope from the boot and threw it to the boat. When it fell across the bow, he shouted, “Grab the rope. I will pull you to the shore!” He couldn’t believe his eyes, for the man in the boat took no notice. He just kept on rowing frantically against the current, until he disappeared over the edge of the falls to his death.
God is our only hope!
God Himself has thrown us a rope in Jesus Christ. He is the only One who can save us from death and hell. But we must let go of our own efforts to save ourselves and take hold of the rope. The moment we cease our own religious “rowing” and have faith in Jesus, we find peace with God. The Bible says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Bible, Ephesians 2:8-9).
Let me give you another illustration to show that religion can never save you. Imagine that one day you go swimming and jump into deep water. You find yourself in trouble. Drowning! You are dying, but you cannot save yourself because you do not know how to swim. You are hopeless and helpless. You shout for help. Someone approaches and yells, ‘Pull yourself together and save yourself! Come on mate, do it yourself!’ What a terrible thing to say to a drowning man! A second person arrives on the scene and actually jumps into the water. He starts swimming. He says, ‘Look at me. Learn how to swim and do the same. Then you will save yourself’. How ridiculous! There is no time for you to learn. In fact, a drowning man is absolutely incapable of learning anything. Now a third person approaches. He dives into the pool, grabs you and drags you out of the water. You might resist Him, but out of compassion he saves you from death. Now, which one of these three people would you thank the most? Surely the third one.
Religion is like the first two people. By nature we are drowning in our sin. We are in a mess because of our separation from God. Religion tells us, ‘Save yourself. Do this and that. Don’t do this or that and you will be saved.’ Some religious leaders are seen as examples. Their followers are told that if they imitate their lifestyle, they will be saved. It is like the second person who jumps into the water.
So religion cannot save us. We are hopeless. The Bible says that we are incapable of saving ourselves. That is why we need someone to jump into the water of our life and get hold of us and save us from our sin. This is exactly what God has done. He has provided a way for sinners to be brought back to Him. God says to us, ‘I know your situation. I know that you are separated from Me. I know that your life is in a mess. I know that you cannot save yourself. And I know that giving you laws and commandments will not save you because you can’t and don’t do them. You are incapable of fulfilling them. But, I will come to where you are and get you out of the tyranny of your sin.’ So God came to this world in the Person of Jesus Christ. “Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,” (Bible, 1Peter 3:18). When Jesus died on the cross, He died as our perfect human substitute. He took the punishment that we deserve for our sin. He bridged the insurmountable chasm that separates us from God. But how could one man be the substitute for so many people? Since Jesus is also the divine Son of God, His sacrifice was enough to cover the sins of all those who believe in Him. To sin against the infinite God is to sin infinitely and therefore to deserve infinite punishment. Left to ourselves we are lost. Only Jesus, the infinite Son of God, was able to take that infinite punishment in our place.
It is unwise to reject God’s saving plan. What do you think of the drowning man who refused to be saved?
When someone allows Jesus to save them (by trusting in His death and resurrection), Jesus forgives their sin and grants them a place in Paradise. He will dismiss the case against them.