Article of Faith: Stop trying to be good (3), By Femi Aribisala

Without Jesus, we can do nothing.

Stop trying to be good because: “There is none good but One, that is God.” You are a man. You cannot be God.

I was at a midnight prayer meeting and the Lord took me briefly out of the meeting by engaging me in a conversation. He said to me:

“Femi, the first lesson I taught you is that something can be nothing. I told you on Airport Road: “Nothing will happen to you here.’ But something happened after I said that: you were shot. I insisted the something of a bullet in your leg was nothing. I then made nothing out of that “something’ by healing your leg.”

“You must understand that I make nothing out of something. I also make something out of nothing. What men call something is really nothing. Without Me, you can do nothing. People think they have done something when what they have done is nothing. A man cannot do something. I AM the only one who does something.”

Catching Something

Peter fished all night and claimed he caught nothing. He said to Jesus: “We toiled all night and caught nothing.” (Luke 5:5). 

Do you believe Peter?

I do not. You cannot toil all night on the sea and catch nothing. You will catch something but can regard what you catch as nothing.

Why was Peter’s something nothing? Because without Jesus, we can do nothing. (John 15:5). But then, Jesus, the Person who makes something out of nothing tells Peter to try again. He tells him to fish in the same place but now even at the wrong time. (It is better to fish at night).

But now there is a fundamental difference. He would fish at the word of Jesus. He must now believe he would catch fish because of the word of Jesus. That belief would not be in doing the right thing. That belief would be in Jesus Christ. That belief would be in doing what the Lord asked him to do.

When Peter did this, he caught so many fish his net broke.

Faith in Jesus

How should you express your faith in Jesus? Just do whatever He tells you to do. Do not do whatever He says you should not do. As Mary, Jesus’ mother, says: “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5).

If He tells you to put water in a jar when it is wine you want. Just do it. If He tells you to fish where you know there is no fish. Just do it. Solomon counsels: “Don’t lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5).

And so Peter did the wrong thing by faith. Peter fished the wrong way by faith and caught so many fish his net broke.  He caught so many fish, his boat was sinking.

God says: “I have put a Rock in the path of the Jews, and many will stumble over him (Jesus). Those who believe in him will never be disappointed.” (Romans 9:33).

Whoever believes in Jesus will not be disgraced. Whoever believes in Jesus will never have cause to be sorry. Whoever believes in Jesus will never have any regrets. The reason is quite simple, Jesus is the Truth.

If you believe in Jesus, your belief, that is your faith, will always lead you to the right way. That is what the Bible means when it says that the righteousness of God is by faith in Jesus Christ.  (Romans 3:22). The right thing to do is always what expresses faith in Jesus Christ. 

How do I know the right thing to do in any situation? The right thing is always what expresses faith in Jesus Christ.  

Wrong Question

A man who had something but feared it amounted to nothing came to Jesus. The man had something: because he was rich. But Jesus told some rich men:

“You say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked —  I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” (Revelation 3:17-18).

This rich man who came to Jesus needed something. He knew his something was nothing because he did not have eternal life. So, he came to Jesus and asked: “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16).

This man had done some things in his life that made him rich. Now he wanted to know what good things he should do to have eternal life.

But there was nothing he could do. He does not seem to know that there is nothing any man can do to inherit eternal life.

This rich man was so incapable of doing anything right that he could not even ask the right question. He should have just asked: How can I inherit eternal life?

We can do nothing to inherit eternal life. We did nothing even to have temporal life.

The word of faith says we are not required to climb up to heaven to inherit eternal life. Neither are we required to dive down into the abyss to achieve it. The word is in our mouths and our hearts. (Romans 10:5-8).

Eternal life is not an Olympic Games for which we can win a medal after exerting ourselves. This rich man with nothing should have asked what or who he must believe to inherit eternal life. So, to expose his ignorance, Jesus told him to obey the commandments He knew the man could not obey because, without Jesus, we can do nothing.

This man foolishly told Jesus he had kept all the commandments without Jesus from his youth. So, Jesus instructed him to obey the first commandment (love the Lord with all your heart) and the second commandment (love your neighbour as yourself).

He said to him: “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Luke 18:22).

And this man could not do this because he had great possessions. He could not obey because he had a lot of “something” that was really nothing.

Incapable Man

The Bible says: “There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10). What does this mean? It means there is nothing a man can do that can be something in the eyes of God. Without Jesus, we can do nothing.

As far as God is concerned, nothing a man does is something. Everything a man does is nothing. How can that be? God says:

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9). 

Therefore, says Jesus: “What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 15:15).

With God, man always does the wrong things: “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

When a man does something, it always turns out to be nothing in the eternal scheme. Even when a man does what he considers to be right, it always turns out to be wrong in the eyes of God.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 16:25).

 Big Mistake

Today, the Christian is seen mistakenly as someone who must not do bad things. No! No! No! We cannot stop doing bad things. Without Jesus, we can do nothing. It is not in the doing. It is in the believing.

They say in the churches: “If you are a Christian, thou shalt not steal.” “If you are a Christian, thou shalt not fight.” “If you are a Christian, thou shalt not curse.” “If you are a Christian, thou shalt not drink.” “If you are a Christian, thou shalt not smoke pot.” 

In short, a Christian is still that person imprisoned by a lot of dos and don’ts. We are back again under the Old Testament regime of “Thou shall and thou shall not.”

But Paul points out that: “Those laws are good when used as God intended. But they were not made for us, whom God has saved; they are for sinners who hate God, have rebellious hearts, curse and swear, attack their fathers and mothers, and murder. Yes, these laws are made to identify as sinners all who are immoral and impure: homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, and all others who do things that contradict the glorious Good News of our blessed God.” (1 Timothy 1:8-10).

The believer is not under the law but under grace: “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.” (Romans 6:14).

The believer sins UNINTENTIONALLY but his sins are no longer counted against him. The believer still cannot help himself. As believers. we still sin because:

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10).

Imputed Righteousness 

God has ascribed to us something we do not yet have; righteousness. Righteousness has not yet been given to us, but it has been credited to us. We have not earned the money but Jesus has put it in our account.

What believers have is right standing with God despite our sins because of what Jesus has done. That is why, writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David says: “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him.” (Psalm 32:3).

We are not righteous but God does not count our sins against us because of what Jesus has done on our behalf. CONTINUED.

Faribisala@yahoo.com; www.femiaribisala.com