A License to Sin?
A common criticism we will hear by the majority of religions, is that “It is not fair that a person who committed a really wicked sin. And all he or she has to do is just to believe on Jesus Christ for his or her salvation, that he or she can go to heaven. Then, a person can go out and kill people, molest children, or do whatever he or she wants. How can God accept those kinds of people into heaven? You Christians teach that? That’s heresy…”
Repentance is Crucial to Salvation
What we need to respond is this, and this will work with religious people. How one can convince religious people is not just blindly say out of ignorance, that “Yes, if a person wants to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation and go ahead and murder people, he’s going to heaven.” No, we wouldn’t want to say that.
The Bible says that, in order to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation, there must be repentance. Therefore, let’s say that one is witnessing to a child-molester, and he or she is about to die on the chair.
He is proud and he is not sorry for all the crimes he committed, and then he says, ‘I’m just going to believe on Jesus. I don’t repent. I’m not sorry for anything wrong that I did. I’m proud for my actions. I lived a fun life, and I did it my way, but I want to go to heaven anyway. So I’m just gonna believe on Jesus Christ.’
We are going to be totally against that, because the Bible does show that there has to be a repentant sinner. Remember, God called not the righteous, but sinners to repentance, therefore, repentant sinners are the ones who can believe and receive Jesus Christ for salvation. If one doesn’t realize that he or she is a sinner, one is not going to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation.
Godly sorrow and conviction over sin
Let’s look at 2 Corinthians 7:10. Notice ‘godly sorrow’ in the verse. There has to be conviction over sin.
2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
We are not saying that a person can just go out and kill people, and then, use believing on Jesus Christ as his excuse. We are certainly against that. We believe in repentance. Salvation is only for those repentant sinners. Jesus said, ‘I called not the righteous but sinners to repentance’.
Conviction Over Sins
Now let’s go to Romans 2:4-5
Romans 2:4-5 “Or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;”
Notice what connected with this ‘repentance’, is a ‘impenitent heart’, which is in contrast with repentance. Therefore, this repentance shows that there is a penitent heart, a heart that has conviction over his or her sins. If one doesn’t have that penitent heart, which is conviction over one’s sins, God will judge him or her. Therefore, that child-molester is really going to pay for his or her sins. God is not going to let him escape.
Romans 2:4-5 shows that there has to be conviction over sins. When some Muslims or Catholics say that a person can have a license to sin; or a person can say, ‘let me commit murder, while I believe on Jesus Christ for my salvation’, that’s not what we are doing at all. We believe that there has to be a repentant heart. Sinners need to repent. Only repentant sinners can see their need, that their sin will end them to hell.
Here’s another thing. When someone is a repentant sinner, he or she will realize that one cannot clean up all of one’s sins, and that one cannot live a perfect life. No matter how many good works he or she commits in his or her life, they will never be perfect enough in front of a holy God.
That’s what we are going to open their eyes on. We believe in a conviction of sin but we also believe this: if one really has a conviction over one’s sin, one is going to realize that one’s sin is so high in the eyes of a holy God, one cannot save oneself. That’s why all one can do is to turn to the cross, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Repentance and Salvation by Faith
Look at Romans 5. Notice right here, who Jesus died for and what he did. We were reconciled by what? By our efforts, by our good works? By cleaning up our sins? No, by the death of His Son.
Romans 5: 6-8, 10 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us…….For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”
That’s why it makes sense, that repentance goes hand-in-hand with faith. We can see that all over the gospel. We notice here in Romans 5:7-10, who did Jesus Christ die for?
He died for the sinners; he died for the ungodly. If one refuses to accept that, and say, “No, I’m a good person. I’m good enough to go to heaven,” then Jesus Christ did not die for this person, because he only died for sinners.
If one is honest, one is going to admit that one’s a sinner and when one has such conviction over one’s sin, one is going to realize that one is so imperfect in the eyes of God, no matter how good one live. And with that conviction over one’s sin, one’s going to realize that one has to turn to Jesus Christ to solve one’s problems.
One is going to turn to God because one is not good enough and perfect enough to handle one’s problem. That’s why Jesus Christ died for us. Jesus didn’t die for nothing. Jesus died for a reason. He died to save sinners. So why would one think that one has to do good works to save oneself? Only what Jesus did counts to save one. So as a repentant sinner, why don’t we just simply put our faith on what He did on the cross to save us? That’s why salvation is only by faith and what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross. We can’t do it ourselves.
When we witness a gospel that way, it’s easier to convince a Muslim, a Catholic and other religions. They think they can get away with it by saying, “Oh, you’re saying that people can have a license to sin, and a person can say, okay, let me believe on Jesus and commit murder.”
We can tell them, no, we’re not saying that. They have to have that conviction over their sin. However, if one is honest, one is going to realize that, one is not perfect like God. They (Buddhists, Hindus, Catholics, Muslims, it doesn’t matter which religion) are going to admit that God is more perfect than them.
Doesn’t it make more sense that God’s righteousness would save us and our own righteousness?
We can corner them, and in the end, we can tell them, why don’t you receive Christ for your salvation? They have no justification or argument. All they can do is that they’ll still reject the gospel, even if we answered their questions this way convincingly. Therefore, it’s not a matter of fair or unfair with good or bad people. They’re just using that as an excuse so that they don’t get saved. They have no one to blame but themselves.