Are you good enough to get to Heaven? Well, how good is good enough, and who determines that? What’s the golden standard of good?
If you can be good enough to please God, why did God send His Son to the cross to die in your place if you can just “do it yourself?”
Many people believe that doing good deeds and trying every way they can to be a good person will win the approval of God. Keeping the “Golden Rule,” helping their fellow man, being kind and good as much as they can, and doing their best will be good enough to go to Heaven.
Why is it that so many people believe they are pleasing God, and even more that God is impressed?
What does the Bible say? Shouldn’t we at least… consult it first, to make sure?
Being an imperfect person, can you impress a perfect God? If so, that’s going to be a pretty amazing feat.
Let’s begin by looking up the word self in the dictionary. Have you ever spent time just looking at all the word definitions derived from the word self? There are three pages devoted to the derivatives of self in the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (tenth edition copyright 2002). Take a few moments and see for yourself. Notice such words as self-worship, self-centered, selfish, self-deceived and self-absorbed.
As human beings, we have a personal problem – our unrighteousness
God is perfect. God’s perfect righteousness is in total contrast to our own relative righteousness. We humans are contradictory to God (for that, we can blame Adam) therefore, we cannot be good enough to go to Heaven by our own morals. No one has ever kept the Ten Commandments except Jesus Christ during the incarnation. No one. And none of us, no matter how well-intentioned, will be the first to do so.
The Apostle Paul tells us unequivocally that: “there is none righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23; reference Romans 5:1-12, and Mark 7:20-23). This is why Christ offered Himself in our place on the cross. Christ is total perfect righteousness, while we are complete imperfect unrighteousness.
No matter how hard you try to live a good life, no matter how moral you are, you are not perfect. You can never be good enough to please God. God Himself says so in His Word (personally, I think we’d better pay attention to that, and believe it).
Jesus Christ is the only person who ever lived that was perfectly righteous, and that is why He was the only one who could go to the cross in your place (Romans 5:8).
Being good and living a good, moral life is admirable, but it’s not enough to go to Heaven when you die. No human can satisfy the demands of God for purchasing our salvation. Have we put the cart before the horse by thinking we can do it just fine on our own? Doesn’t that fly in the face of God and what He Himself has said to us regarding what it takes to get to Heaven? Isn’t that a little bit… arrogant of us?
Listen, after you trust in the death of Christ in your place, then you begin to live the good Christian life. Accept Christ as your personal Savior, first, then live a moral life (John 3:15-18,36; Acts 16:31, Romans 5:8), as doing so is pleasing to the Lord.
If we see ourselves as righteous enough to please God, we disagree with God. If you would, stop right here and turn to Ephesians 2:8&9 for yourself. Your eternal future depends on understanding this critical issue.
Religion is man pursuing God. Christianity is God pursuing man. Religion is anti-grace. Religion is man’s conceived notions whereby someone, by their own human good and merit, seeks to gain approval from God. Religion is antithetical to Christianity. Christianity is a relationship with Jesus Christ, achieved by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone.
Organized religion is satanic in origin. Organized religion is satan’s most successful strategy in keeping the understanding of mankind in the dark. Satan cloaks his most successful deceptions in the guise of religion.
To disagree with God is arrogance, it is pride, it is self-sufficiency. Trust Christ first, then live a good life with the help of the Holy Spirit. Again, Christ took your place on the cross so you could go to Heaven.
When you trust Jesus Christ by believing in Him and His finished work on the cross, God the Father gives you the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truths and to help you live a good, moral life. So again, get saved first! You must be born-again (John 3:3; 3:5; 3:7). You must become a child of God (John 1:12). Look up these verses, for they are the prerequisites to “living a good life” and “being kind” and “doing our best” and all the other reasons we listed at the beginning of our study.
Listen, even the devil believes in God. So saying “Yeah, I believe in God” does nothing for your salvation. “Believing in God” will not save you, nor get you to Heaven. Only faith in Jesus Christ who died for you will save you and get you into Heaven. This is why Christ came: to provide your ticket to Heaven. All you have to do is trust Christ, take that ticket, then head on out and live your best life.
Once you have made the decision to trust the death of Christ in your place, you are saved, and Heaven will be your home. Now do your best to please the Lord (Acts 16:31). You need to understand that no one can stop sinning. Sooner or later you’re going to mess up.
It is precisely why the Lord has provided a solution for whenever we disobey the Lord or even deliberately sin. When you disobey, when you sin and stray from God, confess it to the Lord, leave that sin or sins behind, and get back to doing what’s right.
If you have received Christ as your personal Savior, go to church this Sunday. Tell the pastor you just got saved and need help, and you want to learn all about your Savior, Jesus Christ.
God Bless you.
Happy Studying!