You Are Not Good Enough Nor Deserving But You’ll Get It

Deuteronomy 9:5-6 (NIV) – 5 It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

This is the main concept of salvation as taught in the Bible. We don’t deserve to be saved but God saves us. The prodigal son was welcomed home when he didn’t deserve to be welcomed home. You can’t deserve nor qualify for salvation!

Salvation is not meritorious. Merit has to do with being good and worthy. No one is good enough to be saved. No one is worthy enough to be saved. Salvation is not meritorious!

Salvation is by grace. Grace means something you get but you don’t deserve. Out of divine sympathy, mercy and love, God saves us. Salvation is by grace!

In our text today, Moses tells Israelites that they will possess the Promised Land by grace. It is not by merit. They don’t deserve it. They don’t qualify. It is by grace! 

The most difficult concept to grasp in soteriology (study of salvation), is the fact that we are saved by grace. Even after understanding that we are saved by grace, we still act and speak as if meritocracy will apply. Salvation is free and it remains unbelievable therefore we unfortunately strive to merit!

Since salvation is free, you should not compare yourself with others. When you compare yourself with others, that is meritocracy and that is not how God saves us. Comparing ourselves with others is a sign that we don’t appreciate that salvation is free!

Luke 15:29-30 (NIV) – 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

The brother to the prodigal son compared himself with his brother. Right there he missed the concept of salvation. He felt he deserved more than the prodigal son because he was better than the prodigal son. In salvation no one is better and no one deserves. That is the key concept! He missed it because he compared and sought meritocracy!

Luke 18:11 (NIV) – The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I AM NOT LIKE OTHER PEOPLE—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.

Two men went to pray. The Pharisees and the tax collector. The Pharisee was busy showing that he deserves blessings and salvation because he is better than others. Better than robbers, evil doers, adulterous, etc. His prayers were never answered. God doesn’t answer prayers because you deserve but because He is gracious!

If I ask you, are you better than robbers, evil doers, witches, addicts, sexually immoral people, etc., ? Are you better than them? You may respond yes, I am better than them. You may also respond out of understanding salvation that, no, I am not better than them. Yet deep within you is a tiny little feeling that you actually are better than them. This is the main struggle in matters of salvation!

We preach against other people, not to show them the light, but to create an impression that we merit. We love preachers who attack others and bad behavior, because don’t believe we are being attacked. We believe it is other people being attacked, and consequently we are better than them.

We expose scandals and spread the scandals on social media, so that when the evil of the perceived good people is known, we emerge better and deserving of salvation. We silently compare ourselves with others. The choir leader sings so well therefore he is better than me, and you don’t like it. The church leader is loved and revered and it means he or she is better than you, and you don’t like it. Therefore when the scandal of the choir leader or church leader emerges, you get excited and you expose it gleefully.

The Bible teaches that love covers a multitude of sins, but exposing sins of others makes them look bad and you look good. Will you cover that multitude of sin? No! Because for you salvation is by merit. You are now better than the scandalized person.

The Bible teaches that if someone is in the wrong, you go to him or her privately and handle the matter. Will you go privately or will you expose the scandal? You will go privately if you appreciate that the scandalized person is as evil as you. You will expose the scandal if you think you are better than the scandalized person. 

John 8:7-9 (NIV) – 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.

Those who caught the woman committing adultery were so excited to expose her. They felt they were better than her. If you feel you are better than the worst sinner, you are like them. Jesus proved to them that they were as evil as this woman, only that they hadn’t been caught yet. Jesus asked them to deeply compare themselves. Whatever Jesus wrote down, helped them realize that they were as evil as this woman. Jesus didn’t scandalize them as they had scandalized this woman. They walked away after realizing that scandalizing the woman wouldn’t make them merit the salvation.

1 Timothy 1:16 (NIV) – But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, THE WORST OF SINNERS, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

Apostle Paul understood salvation and therefore he referred to himself as the worst of sinners. Other versions put it as, the chief of sinners. A chief of sinners deeply believes that salvation is free and it’s only by grace. A chief of sinners doesn’t compare himself to others, because he is the worst. The chief of sinners doesn’t scandalize others because his own scandal is the worst only that it hasn’t been exposed yet. The safest and best Christian is one who understands that he or she is the chief of sinners!

If the elder brother of the prodigal son understood that he is the chief of sinners, he would not mind if the lost brother is celebrated. Deep within us we struggle with accepting that we are chief of sinners. We still want to have a merit system where we emerge better than others. That is how we miss salvation!

God will only save the chief of sinners. God will not save those who are better than others. Heaven will only welcome people who know they don’t deserve it, but God has graciously given it.

Luke 19:10 (NIV) – For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

God is interested in the lost not the perfect. Jesus came for the lost and not the perfect. If you are among the perfect, Jesus will not save you, He didn’t die for you. Jesus came for the lost.

After such a lesson, we still can’t believe that salvation is free. Therefore we ask questions to prove that good behavior is important. This is because we want it to be by merit. The simple and correct answer is that good works, good behavior in us is produced by the Holy Spirit in us AFTER SALVATION. It is not our efforts. Therefore you can’t brag about it nor present it as evidence that you are better than others. You realize that you are still the chief of sinners!

I don’t abuse drugs. I don’t drink alcohol nor smoke. Not because I am great. That should not even be a reason why I am saved, because it’s God who has enabled me not to abuse drugs. Without God I would abuse drugs. I don’t feel nor believe that I am better than addicts. I am sober by grace. I’m chief of sinners saved by grace!

May God help us to realize that salvation is free. May God save us from sin and its consequences. May God save us from a poor understanding of salvation. May we like Paul accept salvation as chief of sinners and therefore humble. In Jesus name, Amen!

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