Do We Deserve Salvation?

Before I begin - thank you thank you thank you all for over 100,000 views on this blog. That's incredible and crazy and I'm so thankful for all of my followers and those of you who just read a single post and leave. This blog has made me discover a very deep love for writing and most importantly, it's shown me how to be a bold, fearless warrior for Christ while I try to witness.

Originally, this was going to be a post about all of the sermon from this morning, but I ended up leaving my notes in the car and after having a brief conversation with someone, I decided to switch the whole thing up and focus on something my Pastor said that really hit me hard in the middle of the sermon. It wasn't necessarily his whole point, but yes, I related a lot and I feel like it's a thing I've had to deal with a lot, so I decided to do something different...that and I'm too lazy to go get my notes. Whoops.

He mentioned a very popular thing that I hear from 99% of people that I talk to, who don't believe in God. (Either that, or they believe but refuse to give Him their life.) A lot of you have most likely heard this...ahem...

"The god I serve is a loving god, and he wouldn't damn anyone to Hell because of _____!" 

You can fill in the blank. From experience, I have realized that the majority of people end up trying to use His loving personality as an excuse to live in sin. AKA, "A loving god wouldn't damn a homosexual to Hell. After all, it's just love." Or, "A loving god wouldn't damn someone to Hell just because they don't agree with all of the Bible. After all, it was written thousands of years ago." To be honest, I could go on and on, listing excuses, all of which that I've heard. 

These people are very defensive. And like Tim Keller said, "The sin that is most destructive in your life is the one that you are most defensive about." They are quick to judge Christian's, because, after all, we all sin and fall short. So what gives me, a Christian, the right to proclaim that you will go to Hell unless you believe in God, repent and believe on Him? What gives me the right to say that sin is wrong? That abortion is wrong? That homosexuality is wrong? Well, let me ask you this - what gives you (the unsaved) the right to say that murder is wrong? That cheating on a spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend is wrong? That sexual immorality is wrong? That lying is wrong? Unless you believe in Bible laws on morality and etc, then you have no ground.

After all, if God doesn't exist, if He isn't our ultimate Judge, then what makes things really wrong? 

One of my biggest annoyances is seeing someone with their nose up in the air, living in sin like a pig because they think God owes them something. As if He owes you salvation. (I say that in a sarcastic, sassy way, by the way. As. If.)  

Sin is from Satan.

Satan tries to destroy His perfect Kingdom.

Satan sent Jesus, His Son, to die on the cross.

Satan is causing His children (us!) to stray far away from Him and His plans.

Satan is causing us to suffer, even if we don't realize it. 

I want you to take a look at yourself, just for a moment. Have you ever lied? Yes? So you are a liar. Have you ever been jealous? Yes? So you covet. Have you ever looked at anyone with lust? Yes? So you are an adulterer. Have you ever hated someone? Yes? Then you are a murderer. 

I could go on, but I don't need to. We have all broken pretty much every commandment in the 10 Commandments. We may not build idols out of gold or stone and worship them, but look at us - our heads are constantly buried in our phones, we watch TV more than we think about God, we put things before Him. That means we have idols. So, if you have broken those 10 Commandments (and there are even more sins, outside of that.) then that in itself makes us not worthy of salvation. 

We do not deserve salvation, but God gives it to us. His only requests? That we leave behind the sin that was previously damning us to an eternity in Hell. You are right, God is loving, but you are forgetting that God is a jealous, powerful, wrathful God. And even if He was purely a loving God, with none of those other qualities, that is not an excuse to live in sin like a pig. God is love, but that doesn't mean He loves sin. If someone were to murder a loved one, would you just forgive and forget, even though they killed him/her for no reason? Even though they made them suffer the most painful death imaginable? You may forgive, but you would never let the murderer go just so they could go murder someone else. Look at this from God's point of view. Maybe if we would stop being so selfish and focused on ourselves, and think about someone else for a change, we would see how sickening we truly are. 

We look at God, spit in His face after He gives us everything, after He dies for us, even though we don't deserve it, and tell Him that everything He gave us? Oh, His gifts aren't enough...so we demand more. 

Oh, thank goodness He's full of grace, or else we'd all be damned straight to Hell. Thank goodness He's so loving, or else we wouldn't be given a single chance. I know for a fact that I don't deserve Him.

To answer the question I asked in the title...

The answer is no. 

Romans 3:20-24 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it — the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus