Does your doing away with your sin, earn you the right to get into Heaven...? And/or does it...?

[chilehed]

How do you do it then...?

How do I do what?

 

[Mathetes66]

"He entered Jericho & was passing through. 2And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus ; he was a chief tax collector & he was rich. 3Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was & was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. 4So he ran on ahead & climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, He looked up & said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry & come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6And he hurried & came down & received Him gladly. 7When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8Zaccheus stopped & said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor & if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” 9And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. 10“For the Son of Man has come to seek & to save that which was lost.”

When one examines the Scripture concerning the story of Zaccheus, one will not understand it unless the Lord opens your mind to understand it & recognize that the Scripture harmonizes its teaching, looking at Scripture as a whole.

When we look at the actual full text, what do we observe or see?

*This story is only found in the gospel of Luke, not in the other gospel accounts.

*Jesus was presently passing through the town of Jericho on His way to Jerusalem for the Passover & to be arrested, suffer & die on the cross. This was at the end of His ministry.

*A large crowd had been following Jesus as He entered & was passing through Jericho. (See the prior context in chapter 17 & 18 of Luke & Mark 10 & Matt 19 & 20, where Jesus was passing between Galilee & Samaria & the land beyond Jordan, going south following the Jordan River, going on the road toward Jerusalem until He arrives at Jericho, directly east of Jerusalem)

*Present among this crowd was a man named Zaccheus (means 'pure').

*Scripture says he was a chief tax collector & he was rich.

*Scripture says he was trying to see who Jesus was. Apparently he had not seen Jesus before or met Him & desired to see this Man that everybody had been talking about.

*Scripture says as he was moving with the large crowd, he was unable to see Jesus because of the crowd was pressing all around Jesus & because he was short & not very tall. In other words, he was prevented from seeing who Jesus was.

*Scripture says for this reason, he ran ahead of the crowd, knowing the way that Jesus was walking as he was going through Jericho & climbed up into a sycamore tree (sycamore fig tree) along that way, which would give him a chance to see who Jesus was, since He was passing that way.

*Scripture says as Jesus passed that spot, He looked up into the tree, seeing Zaccheus above Him. He called him specifically by his name, though they had never met.

*He asked Zaccheus by name to hurry & come down because He was doing to stay at his house as a guest.

*Scripture says Zaccheus obeyed Jesus & came hurriedly down.

*Scripture says Zaccheus received Jesus gladly as his guest.

*Scripture says the crowd, when they witnessed this, all began to grumble among themselves. They were saying, 'He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.'

*Scripture says that with this grumbling going on, that Zaccheus then stopped & stood there in front of Jesus.

*Scripture specifically says that Zaccheus specifically spoke to THE LORD.

*And when he spoke directly to the Lord, he specifically called Jesus LORD.

*He then said Him: 'Half of my possessions I will give to the poor & if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.'

*Scripture then says, while they were stopped, in the midst of the crowd, that Jesus said, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.'

Scripture also says that Jesus then additionally gives further comment, starting it using the word 'for', which is a conjunction that assigns a reason for something.

Scripture shows then the reason for what just happened & why Jesus said what He said just prior to this: 'FOR the Son of Man has come to seek & to save that which was lost.'

Scripture then says: 'While THEY were listening to THESE things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem & they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.'

So what can we learn & conclude from these observations of what Scripture actually said?

*A crowd had been following Jesus as He was traveling toward Jerusalem, going south on the main road that left Galilee, skirting around Samaria & they came with Jesus as He was entering Jericho.

*Somewhere in the midst of this, Zaccheus had joined this crowd, who had told others that the person they were following was Jesus of Nazareth. This much talked about rabbi & miracle worker had now come to Zaccheus' home town & he wanted to see who Jesus was.

*Because he was very short, Zaccheus couldn't see who Jesus was, as he traveled along with the crowd.

*So he ran ahead of the crowd, along the route that Jesus was going on & found a sycamore tree & climbed up into it to get high enough to see who Jesus was.

This image is of a sycamore fig tree in Jericho that some think is the very tree Zaccheus climbed up into.

*When Jesus comes to the tree & sees him up in the tree, he directly addresses him by name & tells him to hurry down as it is necessary that He will stay (abide) at his house today as his guest. Zaccheus has never seen Jesus before but Jesus knew who he was. (see also John 1:45-51)

*When Jesus said He was going to stay at Zaccheus' house, of all houses to abide in, when passing through Jericho, immediately those in the crowd began to start murmuring that Jesus was going to be a guest in the house of a man that was a sinner.

*Rather than myself going through all the issues of why the Jews hated tax collectors & called them sinners & why Jesus sought to save them, please read the excellent article here:

Why does the Bible speak so negatively about tax collectors?

*Before they even get to Zaccheus' house, he stops & stands in the middle of the crowd & says to the Lord, proclaiming it publically: ' Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor & if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.'

*One notices that Zaccheus makes this confession openly & directly to Jesus as his Lord. (see also Romans 10:9,10) He admits his sin & changes his mind & behavior to right his wrongs & make restitution beyond what the Law required. (see also Leviticus 5:16)

*One also notices that Jesus responds to this confession, saying directly to Zaccheus, 'This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.'

*Jesus announces that Zaccheus has found salvation & affirms that he is not a traitor of Judaism but he is also a child of Abraham like all those surrounding them & that is how they should now view him.

*Jesus confirms the purpose & reason for His ministry: 'the Son of man is come to seek & to save that which was lost.' And Zaccheus is such an example of this before them all.

Was Zaccheus lost? Yes. Did Zaccheus confess Jesus as Lord? Yes. Did Zaccheus repent & change his mind & would continue to change his behavior, to make things right, even beyond the requirements of the Law? Yes.

Many more things could be said here but I will stop, simply noting that in reality it was Jesus seeking out Zaccheus because He knew his heart & recognized his repentance & faith, rather than just Zaccheus seeking out Jesus. Of all those in the crowd, Jesus found a son of Abraham that was lost & brought salvation to his house.

Other things could be said to answer the questions about where the power comes to continue to walk with Jesus as Lord & continue to walk in His righteousness & grace by the Holy Spirit, but that will be for another time.

 

[1213]

Does "your" doing away with "your" sin, "earn" you the "right" to get into Heaven...?

No, because eternal life is a gift for those who are righteous.


These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Mat. 25:46

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23

 

[Strong in Him]

Does "your" doing away with "your" sin, "earn" you the "right" to get into Heaven...?

No.
We don't have a right to get to heaven.
We can't get there by anything WE do and will never earn a place there.

And/or does "it" give you, or earn you, (the right), or make you, or cause you to (become) "stronger than", or somehow make you strong enough to overcome the enemy, and/or make or cause him to submit (to you?), and do (your?) "bidding", ect...?

If we accept Jesus as our Saviour and Lord and ask him to live in us by his Spirit, HE makes us strong. The devil submits to the name of Jesus, not to us. We are nothing. We can have Christ in us, be covered by his blood and be wearing the armour of God - but our covering and strength come from him, not us.
And we have no right to all this, it is a gift, Romans 6:23.

Where is God in it/this, ect...?

It's all God; without him it would not be possible.

 

[DM25]

So what is the point in struggling with and trying to do away with sin...? Why not just not fight it and give into it, and not struggle against it, ect...?

God Bless!

Because why would you even want to sin when you have the holy spirit in you who has declared you righteous? His love and grace helps us to not even to desire sin but to do good because we are focused on Jesus and his love and grace for us, not focused on sin... We will always have sin as we still have our flesh. You have an actual relationship with God when you're saved and it is easier to do good by resting and abiding in his grace. It's easier to do good out of genuine love for God. My heart changed and I love God, why would I want to live in constant sin? It would just make me feel horrible. I will never be perfect and I know that so when I sin and mess up I simply go to God and apologize to him, move on and try not to do it again. His grace helps us do good. The problem is those who think you need to stop sinning and do good works to get saved, they do it out of fear and not out of genuine love for God and they don't think they are saved and sealed already. All their hard work will be for nothing because they aren't saved unfortunately because they didn't trust in Jesus alone for salvation.

The point of forsaking your flesh and doing away with sin is so you get full rewards in heaven and avoid earthly consequences as well and have joy in your walk. Do good works so others can see Christ in you. Do good so you can have joy. Never do them out of fear of losing salvation.

 

[JacksBratt]

Does "your" doing away with "your" sin, "earn" you the "right" to get into Heaven...?

And/or does "it" give you, or earn you, (the right), or make you, or cause you to (become) "stronger than", or somehow make you strong enough to overcome the enemy, and/or make or cause him to submit (to you?), and do (your?) "bidding", ect...?

Or cause you to have, or get, or gain "power" (over him) of some kind or some sort...? And, if so, from where (does that power come from)...?

And to the former right before this, also I ask "if so", how is it not "you" and all (your own) "doing", ect...?

Where is God in it/this, ect...? If it is all your own doing, or getting, and/or becoming, ect...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

I will never "earn" my way into heaven. I am going to heaven because Christ died for me and payed my death sentence with His own life... And, I accept His gift of eternal life.

Nobody can do anything to save their soul or earn their way to heaven.

 

[Rescued One]

John 15
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

God gets ALL the glory always!

 

[BNR32FAN]

So what is the point in struggling with and trying to do away with sin...? Why not just not fight it and give into it, and not struggle against it, ect...?

God Bless!

To do that would be grieving the Holy Spirit. Refraining from sin is part of repentance and being born again or becoming a new creation. Keep in mind what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23.

 

[PaulCyp1]

No human has a "right" to Heaven. It is pure gift, and cannot be deserved or earned. God has ordained that certain actions on our part are necessary means of accepting this gift.

 

[klutedavid]

This is not off topic at all. It is central to the gospel of Christ.

I thought it was a story about Jesus treating everyone equally, offering salvation to even some of the most despised people in that society.

Zacchaeus didn't know that Jesus was God. That was revealed to Peter by revelation.

I thought Peter received the revelation that Jesus was the Jewish messiah, the son of God, rather than Jesus was God.

But he found out that Jesus was the Messiah

Where does it say that Zaccheus knew Jesus was the messiah?

and that Jesus' simple act of acceptance of him, in spite of his deep sinfulness, without any requirement of repentance or obedience, Zack knew that he was accepted and saved through that simple act of acceptance, and after that, he repented and obeyed the Law.

The text does not say that Zaccheus obeyed the law?

My point is that we are accepted of God in His family, received the assurance of God pleasing him, and then after that, we repent, not through obligation, but through gratitude. Therefore we don't obey the gospel to be accepted by God, we obey it out of gratitude because we are accepted by God first!

I agree.

By the way it is 'Zaccheus' not 'Zacchaeus'.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I thought it was a story about Jesus treating everyone equally, offering salvation to even some of the most despised people in that society.

I thought Peter received the revelation that Jesus was the Jewish messiah, the son of God, rather than Jesus was God.

Where does it say that Zaccheus knew Jesus was the messiah?

The text does not say that Zaccheus obeyed the law?

I agree.

By the way it is 'Zaccheus' not 'Zacchaeus'.

Whatever. Those were not part of my main point that I was trying to get my friend to see - that conversion comes before repentance and not after. We repent because we are converted to Christ, not repent to become converted. That was my point. Anything else is peripheral and therefore irrelevant. And when I looked up the spelling of the name, Zacchaeus is what I saw, so both spellings are correct. Anyway, I couldn't be bother typing the whole name later on so I used just "Zack".

 

[com7fy8]

Does "your" doing away with "your" sin, "earn" you the "right" to get into Heaven...?

First, you your own self can not do away with your sin.

And if God has you succeeding in getting rid of sin, this is not what gets you the "right" to Heaven. But Jesus on the cross got us the "right". But now God in us is preparing us for all we have trusted Jesus to bring us to. There is major preparation needed > of getting rid of sin, by changing us to become like Jesus so we are ready to spend eternity with Jesus our Groom.

And/or does "it" give you, or earn you, (the right), or make you, or cause you to (become) "stronger than", or somehow make you strong enough to overcome the enemy, and/or make or cause him to submit (to you?), and do (your?) "bidding", ect...?

First is our need to be corrected to be like Jesus; then - - by being like Christ who is almighty and Lord of all and able to defeat Satan . . . now we discover how we can overcome evil with God's good, how He has us creating in His love > Romans 12:21, 1 Corinthians 16:14.

Or cause you to have, or get, or gain "power" (over him) of some kind or some sort...? And, if so, from where (does that power come from)...?

As we grow in Jesus, we have more and more of His power, but this works with our obeying how our Father personally rules each of us in His own peace > Colossians 3:15. This is power of love. We are crowned with lovingkindness and tender mercies, so we rule by means of lovingkindness and tender mercies Psalms 103:4

And God's kind and tender love is almighty against any and all evil and how evil would effect us >

"And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?" (1 Peter 3:13)

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." (in 2 Corinthians 12:7-15)

God's grace is almighty to make us immune against how Satanic things would effect us in ourselves, plus this grace is almighty to have us succeeding in whatsoever God is committed to doing with us. So, while we submit to how He rules us in His peace almighty, with almighty harmony in us and all He is managing for His purposes . . . "we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (in Romans 8:37). So, we have grace to get and do more and better than the inferior things which conquerors are capable of wanting and seeking.

And to the former right before this, also I ask "if so", how is it not "you" and all (your own) "doing", ect...?

2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Philippians 4:13

Where is God in it/this, ect...? If it is all your own doing, or getting, and/or becoming, ect...?

It isn't our own doing.

 

[GodsGrace101]

Does "your" doing away with "your" sin, "earn" you the "right" to get into Heaven...?

And/or does "it" give you, or earn you, (the right), or make you, or cause you to (become) "stronger than", or somehow make you strong enough to overcome the enemy, and/or make or cause him to submit (to you?), and do (your?) "bidding", ect...?

Or cause you to have, or get, or gain "power" (over him) of some kind or some sort...? And, if so, from where (does that power come from)...?

And to the former right before this, also I ask "if so", how is it not "you" and all (your own) "doing", ect...?

Where is God in it/this, ect...? If it is all your own doing, or getting, and/or becoming, ect...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

Could you please just tell me what denomination of Christianity states that we do this all on our own as your last two paragraphs suggest.

I've been a Christian for about 40 years and I don't know of any.

 

[Shimokita]

Does "your" doing away with "your" sin, "earn" you the "right" to get into Heaven...?

And/or does "it" give you, or earn you, (the right), or make you, or cause you to (become) "stronger than", or somehow make you strong enough to overcome the enemy, and/or make or cause him to submit (to you?), and do (your?) "bidding", ect...?

Or cause you to have, or get, or gain "power" (over him) of some kind or some sort...? And, if so, from where (does that power come from)...?

And to the former right before this, also I ask "if so", how is it not "you" and all (your own) "doing", ect...?

Where is God in it/this, ect...? If it is all your own doing, or getting, and/or becoming, ect...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

I didn’t rape or murder anyone today. I totally deserve it bro.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Does "your" doing away with "your" sin, "earn" you the "right" to get into Heaven...?

And/or does "it" give you, or earn you, (the right), or make you, or cause you to (become) "stronger than", or somehow make you strong enough to overcome the enemy, and/or make or cause him to submit (to you?), and do (your?) "bidding", ect...?

Or cause you to have, or get, or gain "power" (over him) of some kind or some sort...? And, if so, from where (does that power come from)...?

And to the former right before this, also I ask "if so", how is it not "you" and all (your own) "doing", ect...?

Where is God in it/this, ect...? If it is all your own doing, or getting, and/or becoming, ect...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

If you could earn your own salvation by doing what Jesus did, then God would have sent you instead of Jesus. That's how I see it.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I didn’t rape or murder anyone today. I totally deserve it bro.

That's what the rich young ruler said to Jesus but that was not good enough because he needed a righteousness that exceeded that of the Pharisees, who kept all the law perfectly from their youth up.

 

[Shimokita]

That's what the rich young ruler said to Jesus but that was not good enough because he needed a righteousness that exceeded that of the Pharisees, who kept all the law perfectly from their youth up.

True, but he was totally rich. He should at least be able to buy his way into heaven. I plan to do the same.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

True, but he was totally rich. He should at least be able to buy his way into heaven. I plan to do the same.

The best of British luck with that one!

 

[DM25]

To do that would be grieving the Holy Spirit. Refraining from sin is part of repentance and being born again or becoming a new creation. Keep in mind what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23.

No, you cannot lose your salvation, even if you grieve the holy spirit. The holy spirit cannot leave you. You are sealed. So you are wrong here.... But the truth is people reap what they sow. So if you continue in sin there will be temporal consequences, whether that's early death, disease, loss of blessings.... And eternal consequences such as loss of rewards in heaven. I don't know about you but I don't want to just barely pass through to heaven from the flames of hell just by his grace but I want full rewards and my full inheritance in heaven because eternity is a long time. That is always good motivation to have.

Repentance means change your mind (from unbelief or dead works of the law to belief in Jesus Christ). The minute you say you can lose your salvation if you sin too much, or the minute you say repentance means turning from sin to get saved, not the biblical definition which is changing your mind from unbelief, then you are in error and don't understand the gospel... Salvation is a free gift by him alone and it can't be lost. We can't earn it or maintain it, regardless of our sin or our works, which are all like filthy rags. Only he makes us righteous. We are saved by the obedience of one and get eternal life from Jesus Christ alone, not our works.

 

[DM25]

No human has a "right" to Heaven. It is pure gift, and cannot be deserved or earned. God has ordained that certain actions on our part are necessary means of accepting this gift.

Nope. That's works salvation and that is heresy. Belief is not an action or work. It's a free gift given to us. We are not saved by our works. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.