So close...and yet so far away!

When you leave this life, ie - you die and step into the presence of God, what are you going to depend on to hear Him say "Welcome to my heaven?" Are you going to begin to list all of the things you have done, are you going to list your good deeds, all of the good things you did, all of the hours you spent working on your Sunday School lesson, the number of people you served at the soup kitchen, the number of times you posted or re-posted some type of I love Jesus quote on facebook or Twitter?

There is a guy in the Bible that was really close to getting it but it appears he never did. The guy we love to hate...Judas. Do you realize that Judas knew more about Jesus than any of us will ever know this side of eternity. Do you realize that Judas knew how tall Jesus was, he knew if Jesus' hair was long or short, he knew what he smelled like, he probably knew what Jesus' favorite food was.

Judas was with Jesus when he was healing the sick, he saw Jesus restore sight to the blind, he saw him raise a boy from the dead, he saw him cast out demons. Judas was so close to Christ but his knowledge and proximity to Christ was not enough.

Our religion and our knowledge of Christ are not enough. The things we do for God will not cut it as it relates to eternity. There is one section of scripture that is almost haunting when I read it.

Matthew 7:21-23 - 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

This verse tells us that there will be people who are depending on what they did to get them into heaven. They missed it. They were doing some impressive things. I have never done a miracle and I have never driven out a demon! These people apparently did and that is what they were trusting in.

The Bible is clear, Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Ephesians 1: 7, 8 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding

We have redemption through his blood, ie in what He did, not through what we do.

Colossians 1: 21, 22 - 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

Again, He (God) reconciled us through what Christ did, not what we do.

I know you may think I beating this point to death but I don't what you to miss it, I don't want you to get close to the truth and not really get the truth. Christ finished work is all we can base our faith on. Christ lived the sinless life we could never live, he was the perfect sacrifice that God accepted on our behalf.

Don't miss this. Don't be like Judas and get really close but end up so far away.