Stop trying to be good (2) – By Femi Aribisala

Stop trying to please God. If you try to please God, you will sin against God. Stop trying to do the right thing. If you try to do the right thing, you will sin against God. Stop trying to do good things. If you try to do good things, you will sin against God.

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Uzzah tried to do a good thing. The ark was falling and he tried to steady it. God killed him.

Peter tried to do a good thing. He prayed that Jesus would not be killed. That prayer turned out to be Satanic.

The Bible says: “Happy is the man who does not sin by doing what he knows is right.” (Romans 14:22).

Sorrow awaits the man who sins by doing what he knows is right. He did the right thing but did not know the right thing is a sin. How can we avoid this? With man, it is impossible.

 Goodness is not amenable to human effort.

Listen carefully to Jesus: “What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children…” (Matthew 7:9-11).

Jesus says a man gives good gifts to his children. Nevertheless, He calls him evil. What if he gives bad things to his children? It would make no difference. There is nothing an evil man can do that will make him good.

Wrong things

It makes no difference if a man does the right or the wrong thing. Whatever he does is evil. This is because we do the right things sometimes and wrong things at other times. This shows we are evil.

Every good thing a so-called good man does only confirms he is a sinner. We sin by helping people because we help some people and do not help others. We sin by being generous because sometimes we are not generous.

Jesus does not say: “Give to him who asks you occasionally.” He says: “Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” (Matthew 5:42).

But we have not been doing this. We cannot do this of our own free will unless God makes us do it. We can only give occasionally.

No human effort

Goodness is not amenable to human effort. You are either good or you are not. Therefore, those who try to be good (when they are not) are not acceptable to God.

So, stop trying to do the right thing. With God, a man can never do the right thing:

“No one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands.” (Romans 3:20).

God cannot be pleased with the actions of a man. God can only be pleased with God. God is only pleased with Jesus. He said so at the Mount of Transfiguration:

“A voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 17:5).

What about Moses and Elijah? They are not God’s beloved sons, and He is not well pleased with them.

Moses sinned and could not enter the Promised Land. Elijah killed 40 children who mocked him. His action did not please God. When the Zebedee brothers asked Jesus if, as Elijah did, they should command fire to come down from heaven and consume the Samaritans who would not give them free passage to Jerusalem, Jesus rebuked them: “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” (Luke 9:55-56).

Not of works

God was pleased with Jesus before He inaugurated His ministry. He was pleased with Him before He did any miracles. He was not pleased with something Jesus did. Indeed, it was God that did everything Jesus did. Jesus maintained this: “The Father who dwells in Me does the works.” (John 14:10).

When God called me, He called by seizing control of my tongue. He used my mouth to speak to me. He called me three times: “Femi, Femi, Femi.” And then He said: “I have loved you from the foundation of the world.”

This was exciting because God loves me. But it was also disturbing because God’s love for me has nothing to do with me. God loved me before I did anything. He loved me before I was born. Nothing I did after my birth made Him love me. He loved me without my having to do anything good. He loved me before I was born.

He says the same of Jacob: “(For the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” (Romans 9:11-13).

God loved Jacob before he was born. He hated Esau before he was born. David echoes this: “The wicked are estranged from the womb.” (Psalm 58:3).

Rich young ruler

“Behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:16-17).

The rich young ruler asked the wrong question. He asked: “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life.” But the truth is that he can do nothing at all. Therefore Jesus gave him something to do that He knew he could not do. He told him: “Go and keep the commandments.”

This man did not understand this. He claimed to have kept the commandments. So, Jesus told him to go and sell all his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. But the man could not do it.

Jesus said: “It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:23-24).

What does this mean? Does it mean that a rich man cannot enter the kingdom of God? No.  Jesus does not say that. He only said it would be hard for him to enter.

How hard would it be? Well, said Jesus: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25).

How many people here have seen a camel go through the eye of a needle before?

Jesus says it is easier for a camel to do so than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom. This means that some camels go through the eye of a needle, although with great difficulty. And for a rich man to enter the kingdom, it is with greater difficulty than that experienced by a camel going through the eye of a needle.

So I ask again. How many people here have seen a camel go through the eye of a needle before?

Well, maybe you have to go to Israel to see it happen. But camels go through the eye of a needle every day in Nigeria. How do I know? Every day, rich men enter the kingdom of God in Nigeria.

So how are they doing what is impossible? With man it is impossible. But with God all things are possible.

God the waymaker has made a way whereby man can do the impossible. Man can do this by doing nothing but by believing. Man can do the impossible by faith.

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