Think you’re goin’ to heaven because you’re a good person? read on and find out:
Welcome to the “Good Person” test. Let’s start. Do you think you’re a good person? Most people do. The more important question is, does GOD consider you to be a good person? People’s standards and God’s standards are vastly different.
Most people we talk with on the street believe there is life after death, and the vast majority of those believe in a heaven and a hell. And when we ask them how do you get to heaven, almost everyone says “by being a good person.” And if we ask them what that means or how that works, they basically say they know people that are much worse than them. But though that may be true, is that how God would measure “goodness?” And does it make any sense that He would let us be the judge of that? In fact, He has very clearly shown us what His standard is. God gave us the Ten Commandments, which form the basis of His Law – His standard for how He wants us to live.
Commandment No. 9 is: “You shall not lie.” In your lifetime, how many lies have you told? It only takes one lie for you to be a Liar. Obviously, we’ve all broken this one.
Commandment No. 8 is: “You shall not steal.” Stealing is not only robbing someone at night, or shoplifting, or robbing a bank. It is stealing answers off of someone’s test, keeping extra change, downloading music/movies illegally, goofing off at work when you should be working, taking company property, fudging tax returns, etc. God doesn’t distinguish between me going into your wallet and taking $1 or $100 – either way, I’m a thief in His eyes.
Commandment No. 3 is: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” Whenever we use the name of God in a non-prayerful way, we are blasphemers. Saying “Oh my G_ _!”, or hitting your thumb with a hammer and saying “J ____ C ______!” or “G _ _ da_ _ it”. The Bible says “The Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7) It also says “it grieves Him” when we use His name as a 4-letter curse word. . . . the Almighty God who gave us life, the God who created this planet, this universe, and everything in it.
Commandment No. 7 is: “You shall not commit adultery.” Some might think they are ok on this one. But God considers looking lustfully at another person the same as committing adultery. Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)
Commandment No. 6 is: “You shall not murder.” Finally, you say, I’m good on this one. But Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” (Matthew 5:21-22). To God, murder is the same as anger, unforgiveness and hatred.
God judges our thought life as well as our actions. So as you can see, we are all lying, thieving, blasphemers – and much, much worse! And we’ve only looked at five of the Ten Commandments!
Hebrews 9:27 states, “It is appointed for man to die once, and then the judgment”. So when you take your last breath here on earth, you will be before the judgment seat of Christ. When He asks if you have kept the Ten Commandments, you will have to say “No”. Are we guilty or innocent of breaking God’s law? Guilty.
Psalm 5 says God cannot dwell amongst evildoers and lawbreakers, and there are only two places to go: heaven and hell. Since we are not worthy to enter heaven because of all the sins we’ve committed, you and I are destined to go to hell. Does that concern you? It did me! Many people say, “God will forgive me because I’ve done good things, too”. But I ask you, if you were in an earthly court of law, guilty of multiple charges, and you say, “But judge, I’ve helped my sick neighbor and mowed the lawn for a friend”, the judge would say to you, “Good, you should do those things, but we are here concerning the laws you’ve broken, and since I’m an honest judge, I have to find you guilty”.
God Almighty is the perfect, righteous, Holy Judge, and He does not show favoritism. Jesus talked more about hell then he did about heaven because He wanted to warn us. It is not a “party place” to look forward to being with your buddies; it is a place of eternal, excruciating torment, gnashing of teeth, unquenchable thirst, a bottomless pit – and after being there 10,000,000 years, you are not a second closer to being done. It was created for Satan and his demons – so you see the company you would be keeping. God looks down and sees us heavily burdened with the weight of our sin, and it grieves Him that we are separated from Him.
OK, now for the good news. God does not want you to go to hell. That is why He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross – the one-time perfect sacrifice to take the punishment for your sin and my sin. The Bible says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17).
When Jesus was nailed there on the cross, your face came into His mind. All your sins, past, present and future, were placed on His shoulders, and He did for you what you couldn’t do for yourself. And by the way, when God says all, He means all. There is nothing you have done that cannot be forgiven. It was actually a legal transaction – the original bailout plan. When you die and go before God, He’ll ask if you are innocent or guilty. You will say “guilty, but Jesus already paid my fine for me”. God will stamp your criminal record “Paid In Full”, and you will be free to enter the Kingdom of Heaven for eternity.
Question: Is everyone “saved”? Although God sent Jesus to die for everyone, not everyone surrenders themselves and puts away their pride to accept this amazing, free gift of salvation. John 3:3 says “You cannot enter the kingdom of heaven unless you are born again”. What does that mean? Is it reading your Bible, attending church, getting baptized, tithing? No, although all these things are great. Is it simply believing in Jesus? No, because the Bible says “even the demons believe and they tremble,” and they are not going to heaven.
Then what? Good question. God requires 1) repentance – being sorry enough for your sinful lifestyle that you are willing to turn from it and give your life over to Christ, and 2) putting your faith and trust in Jesus. Ask Him to forgive your sins and save you. Like a parachute under the seat of an airplane that has lost power and is plummeting to the ground, it isn’t enough to believe that the parachute will work and just let it remain under your seat. You actually have to put it on and take that leap of faith to exit the falling plane and trust it to work and bring you safely home.
In 1830, a man named George Wilson was arrested and convicted of mail theft, an offense punished by hanging. After a time, President Andrew Jackson decided to give Mr. Wilson a presidential pardon. Amazingly, Wilson refused to accept it. The authorities were perplexed: should Wilson be freed or hanged? They took this to the Supreme Court, and Justice John Marshall handed down this decision: “A pardon is a slip of paper, the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.” If you have gone through life to this point and rejected the pardon offered to you by Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins and the promise of eternal life in Heaven, you have as a result accepted the death sentence demanded by the sin in your life. Don’t do that. Instead, even at this moment, accept Jesus Christ and what He has done and receive what He is offering to you. Receive Christ by faith into your heart and be set free.
There are 3 reasons why people will not accept this free gift: 1) they are enjoying their sinful lifestyle, 2) they are too proud and feel they can get to heaven on their own, and 3) they are so concerned with the cares, riches, passions and pleasures of this world that Satan has blinded their eyes to eternity. Please, open your eyes and accept Jesus. And remember, the only sin God cannot forgive is rejection of His Son. Repent and put your faith and trust in Jesus. . . . because the only way to The Father is through His Son, Jesus Christ! Most everyone is familiar with John 3:16, which I have quoted above. But most people are not familiar with what the Bible says just two verses later in John 3:18: “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Our post-modern, “politically correct” society would have us believe that “all roads lead to heaven”. We need to get back to the truth of God’s word. I believe that Jesus is who He said He is, that He came to this earth to save us from our sins and make a way for us to be reconciled to our Father in Heaven. He lived a perfect, sinless life, was horribly beaten, tortured and crucified, died and was buried. After three days, He rose from the tomb and was seen in His glorified body by over 500 people (documented eyewitnesses). The Bible says through the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8: “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (the Old Testament only in Paul’s time), and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas (Peter), then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present (Paul’s time), but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.”
Some people think that Jesus was “a really good man”, a “prophet”, a “good teacher” or something along those lines. That is exactly what Satan would have you believe. If that is your position, I would ask you this: would a prophet or a good teacher lie? When He says that He is the Son of God, how can we not believe that? I think C. S. Lewis, a brilliant man and devoted Christian, said it best: “He is either liar, lunatic, or Lord.”
God loves you and we prayed over this teaching before posting it for you. Remember, good people don’t go to heaven, saved people do. Don’t be concerned with merely Ninety years on earth versus where you go for eternity. There is nothing more important than your eternal soul.
To our Jewish brothers and sisters, we pray that you would search the scriptures and you will see that Jesus fulfills all the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah, which foretold not only a triumphant, conquering Messiah, but also a suffering Messiah. One example is Isaiah Chapter 53, part of which says: “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:3-6) This was written over 700 years before Jesus was born!! The good news is that He is coming again to rule and to reign on this earth. Isaiah talks about the first and second comings of Jesus. David also prophesied the following in Psalm 22:16-18: “They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” This prophecy was fulfilled completely at the crucifixion of Jesus, as documented in the gospels. These are only two examples of numerous prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus. The Messiah has come and He is coming back!
I also urge you, especially our Jewish friends, to study the life of the Apostle Paul. He was a Jew among Jews, a Pharisee, and was persecuting Christians, that is, until he had an encounter with the Resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus!! He was changed in an instant and devoted the rest of his life to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and died a martyr’s death. Very similar conversions are happening today to Jews and Muslims in the Middle East.
Jesus’ final instructions to his disciples when He appeared to them after his Resurrection, right before he ascended to the Father, were as follows: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 23:20). The Gospel of Mark says it as follows in Chapter 16, verse 15: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” The Gospel of Luke confirms these instructions in Chapter 24, verses 46-47: “Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that remission and repentance of sins should be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.’” These instructions to preach the gospel are still applicable to us today.
P.S. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. So read your Bible (get a translation that is understandable such as the New King James, NIV or ESV, and start with the book of John), and find a Bible-teaching, Christ-centered church that excites you. God bless you, and I hope to see you in heaven! Please pass the gospel onto those you love (per Jesus’ instructions above) and let God’s Spirit work!
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