Have you ever heard the controversy about how Christians can just sin all the time and just ask for forgiveness and they think they are getting into heaven?

Well, forgiveness deals with the characteristic of mercy and not with the attributes of grace. For, mercy is defined as not receiving what we deserve. Forgiveness is not receiving the eternal punishment for sins we have committed, and this is great mercy. But as Scripture decares, we are not saved by mercy; we are saved by grace. Grace is defined as receiving what we don’t deserve. So, we have been given great and mighty things in the spiritual realm that enable us to enter into the kingdom. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self control. Am I saying we can make it on our own, by whatever we have been given, into heaven? No, but we do have a part to play. Let me use a parable to demonstrate this.

The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but the subjects were all guilty of major crimes. The servants went back to the king and so the king mercifully forgave them all. So, the servants went out to the subjects who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but all the subjects were disheveled, filthy, dirty, and clothed in rags. The servants went back and reported this to the king. So, the king set a place where they could bathe and buy specific wedding garments, though there were many different styles of outfits to buy. So, the servants went out to those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they were blind so the servants reported this to the king. So the king in his grace told the servants to lead them to him and he would sell them ointment so they could see. So, the servants went out to the subjects who had been invited to the wedding feast, but the subjects had no money so the servants reported this to the king. So, the king in his grace sent out declarations that any who are poor to come to him and buy gold refined in the fire so that you can buy wedding garments to clothes yourself with, and gold to buy ointment for their eyes so they could see. So the servants went out to those who had been invited to the wedding feast and many came. Most came and washed, some washed and bought ointment for their eyes, some washed, had their eyes healed, went and bought great and wonderful wedding garments and used the extra out of their wonderful gratitude and bought wedding gifts for the Prince of peace, the son of the king. So, the subjects went in to the wedding feast, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Then the king saw a man who could not see. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here since you are unable to see?’ The man then responded ‘I don’t know I was just lead in ear by the hand of someone else.’ “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Mt 22:14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Therefore, mercy is the pardoning of our sins. The rest of the obligation is the ministry of grace. For we are not saved by mercy; we are saved by grace.

Rev 3:17b you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Rev 3:18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Rev 3:19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
Rev 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Rev 3:22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Rev 22:11 Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy.”

Rev 22:12 “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.
Rev 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
Rev 22:14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
Rev 22:15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Rev 22:16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

Now, let’s make this personal. If you were a king or a queen and your one and only son was getting married, what would you require from the wedding guests? Would you let your son’s enemies in to the wedding? Would you let strangers in to the next ruling kings wedding? What if they protested and said, “you have to let us in because we have obeyed all the laws of your kingdom and haven’t gotten any parking tickets.” Would you let them in? I know I wouldn’t. I would say something like, “No my neighbors this wedding is only for family.” Would you let in a person who was naked or dressed like a prostitute? Would you let a person in that was high on drugs, dressed like a sorcerer whit all kinds of skulls and evil things hanging from their bodies? Would you let murders, thieves and bandits into the wedding feast? Now, what if they were family members and repented of their ways and changed their clothes and were restored once again back into the family, and had become once again intimate family members? I say yes, I would. The clothes that we enter into the wedding feast are the final conditions of our souls when we die. If all we do is wash and repent every time we do something wrong and are pardoned over and over again are we saved by mercy? Or are we saved by grace?

All text were taken from:

The Holy Bible, New International Version

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