Is "God helps those who help themselves" really true?

According to God's word, ”God helps those who help themselves” is a lie. Romans 5:6 says of our Saviour Jesus Christ-

"For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate His love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves.”

Christ came to save those who are "ENTIRELY helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves." In reality, this covers all of mankind.

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Believers, let's not follow the example of the “Christ's Help”-rejecting Pharisees and scribes whose help was found in themselves. They depended on their (self)righteous works and will-power to obey the law to obtain God’s favour. Like the Pharisees whose lives revolved around striving to please God in order to obtain His favour (which is wrapped up in and can only be obtained through Christ whom they rejected with their show of works,) those who think they are or can be good, are not that bad and need less saving than "core sinners" cannot enjoy Christ's salvation. He is Saviour to the uttermost.

Christ came for the entirely helpless. In reality, that covers everyone descended from Adam. Of ourselves, there is no good in anyone of us. You have to have some good in you in order to give yourself good help. Christ says: There is none good but God. Many churchgoers are yet to see that reason why we are not committing particular sins and seem to be doing a good job of being productive is because God did not allow us to get tempted beyond what we can bear. See I Corinthians 10:11-13:

12"So beware if you think it could never happen to you, lest your pride becomes your downfall. 13 We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."

If God was not screening and filtering our temptations/trials, even those ones where we fail like Peter did, we would all see the extent of the sinfulness of human nature expressed in ourselves and how utterly helpless we are to even lift a finger. Recall how Christ says we are saved from sin and death in John 3:

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness...“?

The serpent sting that is the sin nature in many is laying low in those who think they can produce good, keep the law and do good works by their own power aka arm of flesh. It takes the vagaries of Time and Chance and Satan's sifting (which is activated by putting confidence in one's strength to obey the law as Peter did before he denied Christ) to show many what God's word says in Romans 7:18 as was Paul's experience:

“For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

Christ says “There is none good but God.” God's word says human effort (the arm of flesh) will fail, is powerless and cannot. But egged on by Satan as he did to Eve who was deceived into believing that she could be godly (be like God) by her own strength and like Peter right before he fell flat on his face three times, Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort at producing anything good) that will fail causes twist the verse “Faith without works is dead” and say:

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good in me. I can keep the law and resist temptation to commit sin by my will-power. I decided to be disciplined and dedicated so I am successful where others are not. Faith without works is dead so I must and I can do works to prove that I have faith. Even if others fail, I won’t. Others are just lazy and love to sin.”

Reminds one of Peter thinking that Christ was wrong when Christ told him of his then upcoming denials.

31 Along the way Jesus said to them, “Before the night is over, you will all desert me. This will fulfill the prophecy of the Scripture that says:

I will strike down the shepherd

 and all the sheep will scatter far and wide!

32 “But after I am risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and will meet you there.” 33 Then Peter spoke up and said, “Even if all the rest lose their faith and fall away, I will still be beside you, Jesus!” 34 “Are you sure, Peter?” Jesus said. “In fact, before the rooster crows a few hours from now, you will have denied me three times.” 35 Peter replied, “I absolutely will never deny you, even if I have to die with you!” And all the others said the same thing.”

We all know how that turned out. All of the other disciples were right there when Peter boasted in his strength to stand. How superior he must have felt. This confidence in the flesh (human effort at being or producing good) is the definition of “exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 28:26 counsels us-

“A man is a fool to trust himself! But those who use God’s wisdom are safe."

Believer, never trust yourself. Trust in Christ our Wisdom from God.

God's mercy - the skeleton that keeps many self-righteous churchgoers from being unproductive and crumpling into the useless and helpless heap of flesh that man is of himself - is why such churchgoers and even pastors can levy the flock with the yoke of the Ten Commandments and (self)righteous living as well as condemn and threaten people that they have classified as "core sinners" with hell fire, all without considering that these poor sheep are trying so hard to be rid of their serpent sting symptoms of acts of sin that lead to death and are failing because the arm of flesh will fail.

Remember we are saved from sin and death by looking utterly to Christ "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness..." Only in Christ do we have true salvation from sin/ungodliness (God has no sin) and its deathly effects.

Plus we tend to define “ungodliness” in terms of commiting sins like murder or adultery; but consider acts like lying on your resumé, buying things one can't afford and even imperfect people condemning and refusing to help others because of their ungodly acts e.g begging on the Internet, not being diligent at work, selfishly feeling entitled to good things without working for them, bad parenting. God has NONE of these ungodly traits. They are not like God. They are all ungodliness. We are not indulging in these things only because of God’s mercy. Man’s default mode is sinner- ungodly. Christ tells us what marks a person out as a child of God in Matthew 5:43-45-

43 “Your ancestors have also been taught ‘Love your neighbors and hate the one who hates you.’ 44 However, I say to you, love your enemy, bless the one who curses you, do something wonderful for the one who hates you, and respond to the very ones who persecute you by praying for them. 45 For that will reveal your identity as children of your heavenly Father. He is kind to all by bringing the sunrise to warm and rainfall to refresh whether a person does what is good or evil.”

Only God gives to the undeserving. Of ourselves, we are quick to call people out and refuse them help because of their ungodly traits. But thank God for John 3-

"14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

But saved from what? See what Christ saves from in Matthew 1:21-

“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Saviour from sins is His job description. And what if YOU have tried your best to make "them" change but the sinner just does not want to receive Christ or change his ways? That there is the problem. YOU. "YOU" have tried, not Christ. In the words of Christ Himself in Matthew 19:26-

"Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”"

The arm of flesh (human effort at doing any good) will fail so look utterly to Christ and not yourself for salvation from earthly ills and death. Christ Himself tells us how we are saved and what He is doing in the life of every believer in John 6:43-46-

“Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over Me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent Me is in charge. He draws people to Me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do My work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End."”

If you want to see someone saved and living uprightly, tell it to the Lord God and keep on telling it to Him - casting all your care upon Him for He always cares for you. His ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than man's so our human methodology, expectations, turnaround period for reaping the fruits of the salvation of the sinner and his production of good works is usually way off God's plan. See God's counsel to us in Isaiah 30:15-17 (MSG)-

"God, the Master, The Holy of Israel,

has this solemn counsel:

“Your salvation requires you to turn back to Me

and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.

Your strength will come from settling down

in complete dependence on Me—..."

Complete dependence on Christ is a prerequisite for getting God’s help. Even when your troubles are of your own making, God will save you from them all when your trust is utterly in Jesus Christ our Wisdom from God and not yourself. Proverbs 28:26 (TPT) tells us:

"Self-confident know-it-alls will prove to be fools. But when you lean on the wisdom from above, you will have a way to escape the troubles of your own making."

This is a promise of God to all who believe in Jesus Christ- all who put absolutely no (self)confidence in what we think we can do to save ourselves from our sins and even troubles of our own making but trust utterly in our Saviour Jesus Christ as our Righteousness and Strength.

This is Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour.

Beware of antichrist pastors who peddle that horrid "meet God halfway" or "Heaven helps those who help themselves" false doctrine and respond to God's saving Grace with statements such as:

So you are saying once we are under Grace, because the righteousness of Christ covers us we should continue in sin?”

Beware of preachers of the above doctrine of demons that equates God’s abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ with zero good works and committing sins with reckless abandon. How can this be when God's Grace is a Person and His name is Jesus Christ? Titus 2:11 says of Him:

"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says: "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Matthew 1:21 tells us what Christ's job description is: "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Even those sins in Revelation 21:8- “The fearful and the unbelieving….” and their consequence of missing out on eternal life and perishing in hell with which some pastors threaten their flock- God sent His own Beloved Son to save us from that fiery fate; that we should “not perish but have eternal life.”

Christ- Grace Himself - tells us in (John 6:43-46) what He is doing in the life of every believer:

“Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over Me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent Me is in charge. He draws people to Me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do My work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End."”

Beloved of God, how can these two things - being saved from sins/put together by Grace Himself and continuing to live in sin - how can they co-exist? How can the blind receive sight from Christ and continue to be blind while living in Christ? How could the Israelites that were saved from the sting of death (sin nature) and its deathly effects (acts of sin that lead to death) continue to wallow in their symptoms when their were wholly upon Jesus and not distracted by their silly efforts to save themselves? Christ Himself gave us this typology of how we are saved from the sting of death and its deathly effects in John 3.

Believers, flee from any pastor that posits or even hints at that horrid antichrist argument that says that righteousness in Christ/being under Grace is licence to commit sin. What a horrid antichrist doctrine it is. Such only display their cluelessness about God’s saving Grace and their unbelief in His power to save even the vilest offender who truly believes from his sins. Such trust in their arm of flesh/human effort for the attainment of godliness (be like God) but distrust the power of Christ to transform believers to godliness and right living. Let's take our blessed brains to church.

Like Peter before he denied Christ, many are yet to see the futility of trusting in themselves and are trying to help themselves to give themselves a leg up into God’s good graces. Isaiah 64:6 tells us how God sees those human effort-driven aka (self)righteous works that many think will make God like and bless them-

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

Sin destroys the world that God so loved. This is how seriously God hates sin: to the same degree that He loves us, so much that He gave His Son to die for our sins so that we can freely receive His gift of righteousness that frees us from the wages of sin; so that we can be free from sins that hold us captive; so that we can produce "a harvest of good deeds for God" (Romans 7:4) and also reign in life.

Think of an oncologist dad whose beloved and helpless child has cancer. God hates sin but so loves the helpless sinner- that's all of mankind by default. With Christ as our Righteousness and Strength, our Abba Father has excised the cancer that is the sin nature from our lives. See Colossians 2:11-

”When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.”

And He doesn’t just leave us to manage things on our own after this spiritual circumcision. His Spirit dwells in us forever. He continually supplies us with the Holy Spirit (spiritual chemotherapy that is sure to work perfectly) causing all of the symptoms of the sin nature (acts of sin that lead to death) to disappear. We who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are being transformed by the Spirit of the Lord, not our silly attempts at keeping the Law in order to be godly. In Him, we get to live in triumph over sin and death. See Romans 5:16-17-

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

Believe Right and you will Live Right