In a recent episode of Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah tackles the age‑old question: can we earn our way into heaven? He turns to the book of Ephesians to show why the answer is no and what the biblical solution looks like.

Can We Earn Our Way to Heaven?

Jeremiah opens with Paul’s stark portrait of the human condition in Ephesians 2:1‑3: “dead, deceived, disobedient, and doomed.” The point is that, before Christ, we have no power to bridge the gap between God and ourselves. The passage is not a list of sins to avoid but a declaration of our helplessness.

Mercy, Grace, and the Gift of Salvation

From that bleak starting point, Jeremiah moves to the heart of the gospel. He explains that God’s mercy is the withholding of what we deserve, while grace is the gift of what we do not deserve. He uses the familiar test‑analogy—every answer already marked correct—to illustrate how grace works: we do nothing, yet we receive the good grade. In Ephesians 2:4‑9, Paul shows that God, rich in mercy, “made us alive together with Christ” and that “by grace you have been saved through faith.” The emphasis is on a free gift, not a reward for works.

Faith: The Moment of Release

Finally, Jeremiah turns to the human response. He describes faith as a deliberate surrender: trusting in Jesus alone, letting go of the hope that our own efforts can earn salvation. He likens it to a child clinging to a rescuer in a burning house—faith is the act of dropping the rope and trusting that the other hand will hold. The episode ends with the reminder that accepting this gift requires only a single, decisive act of trust.

For a fuller exploration of how these ideas unfold in Scripture and how they shape everyday life, listen to the full Turning Point episode.