From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Are you approaching the Last Judgment with such a horrible thought?

A pastor friend of mine grew up in a staunch Roman Catholic family before his conversion to authentic Biblical Christianity. One of his cousins is a priest and one of his aunts is a nun. They have told him that if he would return "home to Rome" his departure from the "one true church" into Protestantism would be forgiven, and his time in purgatory - a Roman Catholic invention designed to coerce compliance with ecclesiastical authority but found nowhere in Scripture - would be greatly reduced.

His aunt, the nun, goes further. She has told him the shocking reason why she is sure of her eternal reward. She says, with great pride: "God owes me! He owes me for all the good I have done in the name of the church."

I know other men who, after their conversion from Romanism, entered the Gospel ministry. Some of them left the priesthood for the pulpit. They have told me that such a "God owes me" mentality is common among Catholic priests and nuns, and in the upward levels of Romanism's episcopal hierarchy.

The Horrible Fate Awaiting Those Who Will Say "God Owes Me" at the Judgment

Apparently those who would have the audacity to say "God owes me" have never read - or at least have never read with understanding imparted by the Holy Spirit - these words of the Lord Jesus recorded in the Gospel of Luke:

Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men - extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:9-14)

This benighted nun and others like her have also apparently never read with understanding the words of the Lord in Matthew's Gospel account:

Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?" And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" (Matthew 7:21-23)

The Apostle Paul's Condemnation of "God Owes Me"

If anyone in the pages of Scripture could possibly have had the right to say, "God owes me," it would have been the Apostle Paul. But no one condemned such a mentality more vehemently. Paul marveled that the Galatian church had so quickly departed from the truth of salvation by God's grace alone through the shed blood and merits of Christ alone, to embrace a soul-condemning falsehood: that they could add the good works of their flesh to Christ's perfect work in order to obtain eternal life - and in fact had come to think that such a thing was necessary.

Paul did not mince words. He said of anyone who preached a false "God owes me" gospel, whether human being or angel, "let him be accursed" - literally, let him be condemned to Hell (Galatians 1:6-9). In chapter 3 of his epistle to this erring church, Paul asked the crucial question:

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (3:1-3)

What About You?

Dear reader, what about you? Do you look at someone else - believer or unbeliever - who has done great things, and say, "God owes him"? Do you perhaps look at yourself and have the audacity to think, "God owes me"? Do you think such things in your heart? Dare you to think that your worthless, filthy-rags righteousness (Isaiah 64:6) is in the remotest possible sense an acceptable offering to God for your sins? Do you dare to think that you could add anything of your own to the precious blood of Christ shed for the redemption of sinners?

Paul told the Philippian church that he once thought that "God owes me" but had, through the knowledge of what Christ did for him, abandoned such soul-damning thinking:

If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. (Philippians 3:4-9)

And so Paul declared to Titus,

For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:3-7)

Dear reader, is this your testimony? If so, I praise God that it is. But if you have any thought that you can add anything to the perfect righteousness and atoning work of Jesus Christ - that you could come to the Last Judgment thinking, "God owes me" - I plead with you to abandon such thinking, which condemns a soul to Hell. Trust in Jesus alone for eternal life. If you desire to understand these things more clearly, I invite you to contact us. We will be glad to assist you.

sas0056

Copyright 1998-2024

TeachingtheWord Ministriesmmmmmwww.teachingtheword.org

All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced in its entirety only,
for non-commercial purposes, provided that this copyright notice is included.

We also suggest that you include a direct hyperlink to this article
for the convenience of your readers.