And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

Romans 4:5

On your judgment day, will God ask you these questions? "Did you do enough good works to get into heaven?" "Were you good enough to get into heaven?" "Did you do enough for the salvation of your soul?" The answer?

No. God will not ask you these questions. Romans 4:5 makes that clear: "His faith is counted as righteousness." That verse makes it clear that none of those questions are the ones that God will ask you.

Rather, the single question that God will ask us is: "Did you put your sole faith in Christ to save you? Did you refuse to rely on your own good works, but rather believed in him who justified ungodly people like you?" That's the question.

If God said to you that in order to be saved you had to go to church 500 times in your life and spend 500 hours reading the Bible and spend another 500 hours praying, and make sure you give ten percent to God's work, then you would do it. And you would feel proud of yourself for doing all of those works!

But that's not what God says. Instead he says: "You can never save yourself. You cannot remove your own sins. You cannot be good enough to earn heaven. Your only hope is a Savior." So what you do is put your faith in a Savior.

Let me ask you, dear friend: Is that too simple for you? It is simple. It is so simple that most people miss it. The gospel is free - free to us that is. It cost Christ his own life-blood. Free for us, costly for Christ. Jesus paid it all.

God, thank you that you made a way for me to be saved, that you did for me what I could never do for myself. Thank you for a Savior.