Faith vs. Works: Which One Actually Saves You?

Control the options, control the outcomes.

It was a phrase in a hostage negotiator's handbook, one of the guides for how do you actually negotiate with hostage situations.

And the whole reason behind it was it's very easy for us to get trapped in binary thinking.

In fact, one of the most dangerous situations for a hostage negotiator is when the person who has taken people hostage says, give me the money or people get hurt.

Because now we've identified only two options, and the negotiator's objective is to say, no, there's a third option or a fourth option or a fifth other, there's all kinds of other options.

One of the dangerous things we do is we find ourselves in binary thinking.

We call this a false dichotomy.

A false dichotomy is taking a complex situation or topic and identifying maybe two extreme opinions or options and identifying those as the only options where it's much more nuanced than that.

Like maybe you've heard people say to you sometimes, uh, you can be part of the problem or part of the solution.

But married 21 years, I can confirm you can actually do both.

I can be both the problem and I can be part of the solution to that.

Maybe they say love it or leave it.

Well, maybe I just like it.

I don't know.

There's always a middle ground, there's always something else that can be done.

In terms of our faith, we have different areas that we do the same thing with science or faith?

Grace or truth.

And we know that Jesus came with both grace and truth, but it's easy for us to say, well, I'm just gonna be full of grace and enable people, or I'm just gonna be full of truth and cast judgment cloaked in religion because it's easier.

It's easier to be black and white and say, there's just two options, either you with me or you're against me.

We do this all the time in our faith.

Here's what John's gonna do in today's passage in Revelation.

He's gonna take this idea of a false dichotomy and he's gonna shake it up.

He's actually gonna do what a negotiator would do.

He's gonna offer a third option, maybe, maybe a different way of looking at it, maybe a different way than what you've looked at it before.

If you have your Bible split with Revelation chapter 20, we are approaching the end.

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

This is week nine of our Revelation series.

We've got this week and next week we wrap things up.

And today is, I think, one of the pinnacle passages, if you will, as we look at the tail end of chapter 20 and see how John turns this whole thing on its head.

Because here's the reality.

I think there are two statements that we have.

And my guess is you at some point in your life have probably grabbed a hold of one of those statements and identified that as of the two, this is the one.

This is the false dichotomy that John is addressing.

And the first one is that you cannot earn your way into heaven.

That's the first thought.

And the thought is that Jesus is the one that saves, and and I can't do anything.

There's no level of works or deeds or actions or comments or statements that I can do that's actually gonna get me into heaven.

Jesus is the only way for that.

The problem with that for many of us is we've grabbed a hold of that so tightly that we've begun to neglect worship and scripture and prayer and serving and community and generosity because we say, well, it's up to Jesus.

Jesus does it.

There's nothing I can do, so why do I even need to put any effort into it?

Maybe that's not you.

Maybe you don't grab a hold of that statement.

Maybe your statement was, well, if I'm just a good enough person, I'll be saved.

We hear this all the time.

Especially when we're talking about people that we know or in our families that maybe they don't know Jesus, be like, but they're a really good person.

Surely just being a good person is enough.

And we grab a hold of that.

What happens is we grab a hold of this idea, and we actually never receive Jesus into our life and the transformation that Jesus wants in our life.

This is the false dichotomy that we live with.

And in a moment, we're gonna see John flip the whole thing on its head and make us think differently about that.

And perhaps, perhaps there's a third option.

All throughout the book of Revelation, we've been addressing one common theme, and that is that this book is a call to radical discipleship.

But John is highlighting for us this reality that we live in a world that is not as it should be.

You know it, you see it, you experience it every day of your life.

You'll experience it today.

The world is not as it should be.

This is not a secret.

John highlights in the book of Revelation, but he also talks about the promise.

The promise is that one day Jesus will return, there'll be a new heaven and a new earth, all things will be made new, everything will be as it should be, but we live in the tension of that reality, that one thing is true and another thing is true.

And John's been asking us the question: how do we live in the tension of that reality that the world isn't as it should be, but we know that one day Jesus will return and make everything as it should be.

And as we've navigated Revelation, we've seen this time and time again, and here's the beautiful thing about where we're at today, because we've seen judgment, we've seen all kinds of crazy stories, but today we find ourselves on the brink of all things being made new.

Next week we get into chapter 21 and 22, where we'll see what it looks like when the new heaven and new earth come.

But today, something has to happen first.

And before we do that, I want to read for you what it looks like when the new heaven and new earth come.

It won't be on your screens.

I just want these words to kind of wash over you today as the promise and the hope that we have to look forward to so that we understand more fully what it is that John talks about today.

As I read it, would you do me a favor, would you stand in honor of God's word today?

As we read from chapter 21, it says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

For the first her heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Look, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.

They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

No more mourning or death or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

He who is seated on the throne said, I'm making everything new.

Then he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

He said to me, It is done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.

Those who are victorious will inherit all of this, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

The word of God for the people of God.

You may be seated.

That's the picture of where we're headed.

It's what John's been been pointing to, it's what Jesus pointed to us, what the gospel's pointed to, the scriptures have pointed to that moment.

But before we get into that moment of the glorious transformation, the new heaven and the new earth and all things being made as they should be, we have five simple verses in chapter 20 that must first take place.

You see, last week we saw the final battle.

That the enemy was captured, Jesus has been victorious, he was victorious on the cross.

We see it fulfilled in chapter 20, and then we get to verse 11.

In verse 11 through 15, we see the final judgment.

Throughout the book, we've seen judgment.

But now we get to see the final judgment.

This is the moment that everything is finished.

So in chapter 20, verse 11, it says, Then I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it.

The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.

Remember, this is a vision that John received from God.

So what he is seeing here is a great white throne.

And the reason it's white is because it is God's throne, it is a holy throne.

And it says heaven and earth had no place there.

They fled from it.

So as you picture this, I just want you to picture the only thing that is present is God seated upon his throne.

In verse 12, and I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

Another book was opened, which is the book of life.

The dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.

The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person, hear this, was judged according to what they had done.

Maybe not words that you're familiar with, and maybe it begins to shake this idea that you can't be a good enough person to be saved, and now you hear this idea that they were judged according to the works that they had done.

What John's actually kind of playing off of is this common mentality that many of the Jewish people had.

We'll use the phrase the treasury of merits.

If you were in the Roman Catholic Church at some point in your life, maybe you heard this phrase before, it'll still come up.

The idea is that there was a book.

And that book had a ledger.

And then that ledger were the good things and the bad things that you have done.

And our judgment to get into heaven would be based upon when we got to the pearly gates and they opened up the book and they said, Oh, Tony Johnson, let's see here.

You pulled a fire alarm in middle school and lied to the principal about it.

That wasn't good.

You cheated on the math test, on and on, and all these different things are listed.

Oh, and there's some good things too.

You were really nice to that lady and helped her cross the road.

You saved the cat from the tree, neither of which have I actually ever done before.

But but but they could actually be written there.

And this was the idea that there would be a treasury of merits, your name would be looked up, and if the credits outweighed the debits, you could get in.

But if your debits outweighed the credits, then you weren't getting in.

That was the mentality, it was the idea, it was the concept that was in their minds.

So when this letter of Revelation was sent to the seven churches in Asia Minor, they would have read this, and most of the congregation would have been like, yeah, of course.

Yeah, that's that's how we pictured it.

That's that's how we assumed it was gonna go.

Could you imagine, though?

Could you imagine?

Just think about your own life, that you were able to sit down and open up a ledger, find your name, and begin to read everything that you had done.

This should scare us.

Because I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that my ledger is not clean.

I know the thoughts of my mind, I know the actions of my life, I know the way that I have hurt people, that I have betrayed people, I know the ways that I have sinned against God.

And here's the thing: like, there are countless other ways I've probably done those things and I don't even know.

And they're all written there, every single one of them.

And I'll be honest with you, I'm not sure if I looked at my ledger if my good outweighs my bad.

And I don't know if yours does either.

This whole idea that we're judged according to what we have done should actually scare all of us, because I think if we looked at our ledger, there's not many of us that actually check the box and qualify to get into heaven under that context.

But it's not the only book.

If you're one of those people that you grab a hold of the like, like um, I'll never be good enough, I'll never I'll never do enough.

This next book is really important for you.

Verse 14.

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

The lake of fire is a second death.

Let me clarify this for a second.

Well, what John is painting a beautiful picture of that's easy for us to miss is the final victory of Jesus.

The death and Hades may have a victory in the short term, but in the long term, Jesus wins.

The death and Hades have given up their dead.

We just saw that a couple verses before.

Have given up their dead.

Why?

Because their their hold on humanity can only be so long, because Jesus wins.

And then what happens to death and Hades?

They're thrown into the lake of fire, they're destroyed.

Jesus wins.

They are no more, they don't exist anymore, they're out of the picture now.

What John's painting a picture of for you is the final victory of Jesus.

That he destroys death and Hades by throwing them into the lake of fire, and then listen to what he says next.

Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

So now we see there's there's some, there's another book.

So we have these book of deeds sitting here, and then there's this, well, there's this other book.

And we open up this book, it's a list of names.

And this list of names are identifying those people who have been saved, those people who have given their life over to Jesus, have surrendered their life to him, have allowed his sacrifice to be a sacrifice for them.

They found eternal life.

Their name is in the book of life.

And if your name's not in the book of life, you were thrown into the lake of fire.

So here's what I want to be super clear about as we talk about this tension between works and faith and all this stuff that John's talking about is that your verdict is based on whether or not your name is in the book of life.

Is your name in the book of life?

We see this in the book of Ephesians, when he says, For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.

This is not from yourselves, it's the gift of God, not by works, so that no one may boast.

There's one way.

The only way for you to find eternal life and salvation is not that your book of merits is like, look, look at how much I like positive things I have, God.

Look at how many great things that I've done in my life.

Doesn't that get me in?

Well, not if your name's not in the book of life.

You are judged according to what you have done, but if your name is not in the book of life, none of it matters.

So I just want to pause for a moment and acknowledge the fact that if you haven't received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you ever surrendered your life to him, your name is not in the book of life.

And it doesn't matter what your treasury of merit say about you.

John wants to be super clear about this.

That the verdict of your eternity is based on whether your name is in the book of life.

But here's the crazy thing: all the books are on the table.

Like John doesn't say they threw all the treasury of merit books away.

They're all on the table together.

Every single one of them.

Why are they still there?

Why does John talk about the book of life and at the same time open on the same table is the book of the treasury of merits, what you have done with your life?

This isn't John's first time to talk about this.

In fact, a number of times throughout the book of Revelation, he he uses this kind of language.

Revelation 223, I will strike her children dead, then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

Chapter 3, verse 1, to the angel in the church of Sardis write, These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

I know your deeds.

You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

Revelation 14, 13.

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, Write this, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.

Yes, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.

Chapter 19, verse 8, fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.

That's the bride, it's the church.

Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God's holy people.

And then in some of the final words of Jesus in chapter 22, he says, Look, I am coming soon.

My reward is with me, and I give to every person according to what they have done.

Not according to their theology, not according to whether or not they came to church twice a month or more, it was according to what they had done.

Look, if if some of Jesus' last words were this, it might be more important than we think it is.

If one of the last things that Jesus says is, Behold, I am coming soon, my reward is with me, and I give to everyone according to what they have done.

We begin to realize that maybe these books matter.

Maybe our deeds and our actions matter, maybe even more than we realize they do.

James talks about this.

This is a familiar passage for many of you in chapter 2.

He says, in the same way, faith by itself, if it's not accompanied by actions, is dead.

Verse 26, as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Here's the thing: James isn't being contradictory to John.

He's not being contradictory to Paul.

They're simply asking a different question.

You see, the Apostle Paul in the book of Ephesians and John in the book of Revelation are asking one really simple question.

How do you get your name in the book of life?

Like, what does it take for you to get your name into the book of life?

And the question that James is asking is once your name is in the book of life, what should your life look like?

Well, what does the life look like of one whose name is written in the book of life?

And James says that if your name is written in the book of life, your life should absolutely look like it.

You should look like someone whose name is written in the book of life.

And if you don't look like someone who's written in the name of the book of life, maybe your name's not in the book of life.

Maybe you haven't actually been transformed by the grace and the love and the power of Jesus in your life.

Maybe the Holy Spirit hasn't gotten a hold of your soul yet.

I just found I just cleaned out my desk at home, and uh I found in the very back was a package of cucumber seeds.

There's a certain uh variety of cucumber that we used to plant that I really liked.

We preferred this one.

Uh, it's been like five or six years since we've planted seeds.

I'm not even sure these seeds are any good anymore.

But I was so excited when I found them because I didn't remember the name of the cucumber, nothing.

I had no idea like what the name of it was.

So I was excited not only do I have the information, but I got some seeds, and next year I'm gonna plant them.

I have no idea if they're gonna grow or not.

They could just be too old and dead.

I have no way of telling if those seeds are alive until I see whether or not they grow.

We don't actually know if your faith is alive until we actually see it grow.

And the way that it grows is through the way that we live our lives.

It's our actions, it's our deeds.

Like Jesus may get you in, but a changed life is not optional.

And this is where the tension lies.

We can't just reject one or the other.

They come together and we say that yes, Jesus' death and his resurrection is what gets us into heaven.

Placing our faith and our hope and our trust in him does that.

However, we can't do that and not have our lives changed and transformed.

When we receive Christ in our lives, it necessarily changes you.

Which is why these books still remain on the table.

Because the question isn't just is your name in the book of life?

The question is, does your life represent someone whose book is whose name is in the book of life?

Because what is true on the inside cannot stay hidden on the outside.

And for some of us, that's how we've been living our lives.

We profess Jesus with our mouth, we come to church on Sundays, and then Monday through Saturday, I'm not even sure if we look Christian.

I play in a church softball league.

You know, one of the most heartbreaking things is that sometimes the actions on a church softball field are not Christian.

I played in beer leagues that were more holy than some of the leagues I've played in in churches.

Like it is it is absolutely crazy to me sometimes how the people, how we can walk into the doors of the church and we put on our best self.

Like I'm Christian, I know Jesus, he's my Lord, my savior, and then we go out into the world and we act like we've never met the man.

We think that our name is in the book of life, but our treasury of merits doesn't say that's true.

So when Jesus talks about, I my reward is with me, I give to everyone according to what he has done, what he's saying is like, yes, the book of life is the most important, but these are extremely important too, because if your name is in one, it's gonna change what the other one looks like.

It's gonna change the story of your life.

These aren't two different realities or two different truths.

This is one integrated reality for us.

So I have a couple.

Questions for you.

A couple questions that maybe you're already wrestling with.

Question number one is maybe you're asking, is my name in the book of life?

Is my name in the book?

And the only way we get our name in the book of life is when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

We give our lives over to Him.

We repent of our sins and we fall humbly before Him.

I still remember the day.

It was in my home church, in a small church out in the middle of the country in Indiana.

And I remember the day that I walked toward that altar and I fell on my knees on the altar before the Lord.

And all I could say, all I could muster out of my mouth was, Lord, I can't do this by myself anymore.

I need you.

And that is the moment that Jesus entered into my life.

And maybe for you, you're just in a position in your life that you don't know if your name is in the book of life because you have never fallen on your knees before the Lord and said, Lord, I can't do this by myself, I need you.

And maybe for you that's all it takes today.

To ensure that your name is written in the book of life, just to surrender yourself to the Lord, humble yourself before Him.

Because if the answer to this question is your name in the book of life, if it's anything other than yes, nothing else matters.

It doesn't matter how good you are.

It doesn't matter how excellent your ledger looks.

If your name is not in the book of life, John is very clear, you were thrown into the lake of fire.

Because it matters.

But maybe you're like, but Tony, like I feel confident and secure that my salvation, I've given my life to Jesus, I do everything I can to follow him.

Well, the question for you is simply this: what do the other books say about you?

If you sat down and opened up the ledger of your life, what story would it tell?

Let me ask it this way.

If I read your ledger, would I know you're a Christian?

If I read your ledger, would I know that you're striving to embody the love of Christ in your life?

And I think for many of us, it's a it's a serious question that we have to ponder.

If the record of your life is pulled, what story does it tell?

If I held your ledger, does it talk about how you've served others?

How you've offered forgiveness during difficult times when you were hurt?

Does it talk about how you were generous with the finances and other resources that God has given you in your life to bless others with?

Have you worshipped?

Do you open up the scriptures and spend time meditating on the word of God?

Are you praying on a regular basis?

Are you uh practicing spiritual disciplines in your life?

Are you loving your neighbor like God calls us to love your neighbor?

Will I, if I read your ledger, does it tell me that you follow Jesus?

And I think for many of us that's the question that we have to answer today.

So here's the question I want to leave you with is what is one place in your life where your faith and your life don't match?

Where is it in your life where you profess Jesus, but you're not living Jesus?

What in your ledger is off?

And maybe for some of you the question is very simply this is today the day that you need to fall on your knees and admit that you can't do this on your own and you need Jesus in your life?

Is today the day for the first time that your name is written in the book of life?

Let me pray for us.

Lord Jesus, we give you thanks for your word, for this vision that you've given John for us today.

And Lord, I pray that you root it deeply in our hearts so that we can be changed and transformed, so we can experience everything you have for us.

Lord, right now in all of our rooms in Monroe and Saganal and Brighton and watching online, we have there are people who need to humble themselves before you and receive what you have to offer.

They need to experience right now, Lord, right now, the writing of their name in the book of life.

And there are others of us, Lord, that we look at our ledger and we realize there are some things that don't represent you well.

There are some things in our lives that, well, if people read our ledger, they wouldn't know that we follow you.

So, Holy Spirit, would you convict us of what those things are?

Would you call us to be better followers of you so that we can fully embrace the call of John from the book of Revelation to radical discipleship?

It's in Christ's name we pray.

Amen.