It struck me that this is what many people try to do with God. The Bible says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). I think many people can see the undeniable reality of their sin, and so they try to build up a credit of good works and hope that this will be enough to earn forgiveness from God. In the game, Mario converses with other people who were also forced to work in the castle. One person expresses a sentiment of hopelessness to Mario. He states that he will never see his girlfriend again. Indicating that he can never work long enough or hard enough to pay off the massive amount of debt he owes.
This speaks to the absolute futility of trying to pay God off with good works. To put it bluntly: it’s not going to happen. The book of Isaiah tells us that our good works are as filthy rags in God’s sight. Please don’t misunderstand me: I’m not for a moment suggesting that good works are not important. Adrian Rogers once stated that we aren’t saved by good works but for good works. Doing good works are quite important; but the reality is, no one can ever do enough good works, no one can ever earn enough spiritual brownie points to procure salvation and forgiveness from our sins.
This is where the good news of the gospel comes in. Like Mario, we all have broken the expensive vase. We are all, in a sense, in debt to God because of our sin. But out of His great love, God sent Jesus Christ to us. Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty and the price for all of humanity’s sin. I once heard the late D. James Kennedy say that all the world religions say “do” to get rid of sin; but only Christianity says “done.” Christ has already done the work on the cross. Acts 10:43 says, “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” All one has to do is simply believe in Jesus; that is, choose to put their faith, reliance, and trust in Jesus alone to save them.
Kevin
