Does Being a Good Person Get You Into Heaven? – Apply His Will

Many people have been convinced by religion or their religious leaders that the way to Heaven is by being a good person, doing good works and/or keeping a golden rule – but did you now the Bible’s message says nothing of that kind? In fact, the message of the Bible is the exact opposite!

Ephesians 2: 8-9, NIV:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

Ephesians 2: 8-9 is pretty direct, straight to the point and self-explanatory…

Romans 10: 3, NIV:
"For they don't understand God's way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God's way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law."

This verse clearly refers that it is a grave mistake for anyone to try and establish their own righteousness by clinging to their own way of getting right with God by their own works (ie, keeping the law, etc.)

Titus 3:5, NIV:
"He saved us, not because of the righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy."

Once again, this last verse is pretty direct and obvious that we are not saved by the good or righteous things we do or by being a good person, but rather we are saved only though God’s mercy – because it was God’s mercy towards mankind that sent His only son, Jesus Christ, as a living sacrifice for all of our sins so that when we believe and put our faith in Jesus, we can be saved from hell. That’s called mercy. That is what saves you.

You can attend church every Sunday, pray every single day, help those in need, religiously follow church doctrines, obey God’s commands and basically do all of the good deeds you can think of – but those things cannot save you.

Salvation is not based on being “good”, salvation is based on a relationship.

Now, if we’re truly honest with ourselves, we should be glad that salvation/going to Heaven isn’t based on being good because then none of us would get there! You see, you might be pretty good compared to other people, but if you’re going to use that to determine whether you’re good enough to go to Heaven, then you have to go by God’s standard of good – and God says if you lie once, all liars will have their part in the lake of fire – just one time! If you’ve ever gotten angry without cause or felt hatred towards others in your heart, Jesus likened this to murder and no murderer will enter into Heaven. If you have ever even just lusted once, Jesus said that is the same as being an adulterer and no adulterer will ever inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

James 2:10, NIV:
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."

Just one time! If you have ever lied once, stolen once, cursed once, disrespected your parents once, looked lustfully at another man/woman once, experienced jealousy or desired what someone else has once – then, by God’s standard, you are guilty and will not enter into the gates of Heaven. These are just a few examples of God’s commandments, so, if we’re going to be judged by that standard, would we be guilty or innocent? Obviously we would all be guilty.

It’s evident that it is a pretty high standard to live up to, and we have all already been guilty in one way or another of breaking it. So this probably makes you wonder…

Why Did God Give These Laws If He Knows We Can’t Keep Them?

The entire purpose of the Law in the first place was to reveal to us God’s standard of absolute righteousness and to convict us all of our guilt by showing us that we could never truly measure up to the standard He has set, so that we would see our need for a savior. Simply put, the main reason God gives us the law is to point us towards Jesus.

You see, God creates mankind, but His creation is sinful and can’t measure up to God’s standards, however, it is also prideful as it thinks that it is somehow “good enough”. The law is given to reveal to mankind how sinful we actually are and even to increase our sin for the purpose of exposing our fallen nature to us so that we can look away from ourselves and our “goodness” as the answer, and instead turn to the only one who can ever save us – Jesus.

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.

Romans 5:20

One of the most common problems when you talk to someone about their need of a savior is that they are often blind to their own sins. They think that God will let them into Heaven because they are an overall “good person” and they can’t possibly fathom how a loving God can send them to hell for their “few” wrongs. You’ll often hear people say things like “Well, God knows I’m doing the best I can” or “I try to live by the 10 commandments and keep the Golden rule” and that’s typically followed up with “I know God will let me off on judgement day because He can see all my efforts so He won’t penalize me for the times I have failed. After all, God’s standard requires perfection, by His standard nobody could be saved”…. Yes, precisely! That’s the whole point. The law is there to expose our sins to us so that we can see ourselves as we truly are. This is why Romans 3: 23-24 tells us the following:

Romans 3: 23-24
"For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins."

Good Works Can’t Override Justice Demanded From Breaking Even One Law

I have never gotten a speeding ticket before nor have I ever been pulled over by the cops. However, let’s just say that one day I decide to drive 30 mph over the speed limit and I get pulled over by the police. I could tell the cops, “Yes, I’m aware I broke the law and was driving 30 mph over the speed limit, but you should let me off because I’ve driven down this road at least hundred times without going over the limit.” The chances of me getting off the hook are definitely not in my favor. This is because even one breakage of the law requires punishment… how much more so with a perfect and Holy God!

Just in case you still may think that there is a certain amount of good works that you can try and do to somehow override the sin in your life, consider the following example.

Let’s say that a man steals a woman’s purse and uses the credit card inside to buy thousands of dollars worth of purchases, the man is guilty of stealing. What would you think if, when he showed up to court, his argument was: “But judge, I didn’t commit adultery with the woman. I didn’t steal her car or kidnap her kids. I didn’t burn down her house or lie to her. And, besides, I really do try keep the Golden rule and be the best I can.” Wouldn’t all of that be irrelevant to the main issue: “Did you steal the woman’s bag and use her credit card to buy thousands of dollars worth of purchases?” If so, then he is still guilty of stealing despite all of the other bad things he did not do or all of the other good things he might be doing. He is still a law-breaker. Why? Because good works cannot override the justice demanded from breaking even one law. A good judge would not be considered good or fair if he let a criminal go free. The crime must be punished.

Well It’s the same with our sin. Our sins must be punished and God is a fair God, He is just. The good news is that Jesus already took our punishment for us. We now have the option of either letting Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect and blameless life, pay for our sins by simply accepting Him and accepting that free gift which He gives us, or we can choose to pay for our sins for all of eternity (because we being sinners can never pay for sins).

Another point I want to touch on is the very nature of God.

For our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:29

This verse tells us that God is a consuming fire. If you were to stick your hand in a fire you wouldn’t react by saying “Ouch! Why did that fire burn me? That was mean of that fire!” You obviously wouldn’t say that because you recognize that the nature of that fire is to burn, so you would expect it to burn. Your hand with the fire is not compatible.

It’s the same with us and God. God is a perfect, Holy God. God and sin are not compatible. God and sinful men are not compatible. So we, being sinners, can’t just show up in His presence as we would be consumed because, as scripture mentions, God is a consuming fire. The solution? The only way for man to stand before a Holy and perfect God is if man appeared to be sinless. How can that possibly happen? Well, Jesus came and lived a perfect life, never once sinning so that we can stand before God because Jesus exchanged our sin for His righteousness. If we would simply just put our faith and trust in Jesus and accept the free gift of salvation that He offers us then Jesus takes on our sin and washes it away with His blood and now we can stand before God as though we have never sinned. The answer is to put our faith and trust in Jesus and His work, not our own good works!

How Come There Is Only One Way

Perhaps you’ve thought or heard someone say that it is unfair, unloving or even unreasonable for there to be only one way to get into Heaven. People will argue things like, “How can a loving God not consider the viewpoints of those that are not Christians? That doesn’t sound very loving to me. He should just let me into Heaven because I’m a good person and respect my viewpoints.” I love Bill Wiese’s response and analogy to this question: Imagine going to the most expensive home in the country and knocking on the door and saying, “Excuse me, I’m moving in with you because I’m a good person.” What do you think the owner would say? Obviously they would say no, and you wouldn’t even expect them to possibly say yes. Why? Because you have no relationship with them! So how can you expect to live your whole life wanting nothing to do with God and denying that Jesus is the son of God and then expect at the end of your life to knock on His door and say “Excuse me, I’m moving in with you. I’m a good person.” We can’t call God arrogant when we are the ones expecting to live in a house when we don’t even know the person. We have no right.

Another common question is “Why do Christians think they are the only ones that are right? Isn’t that narrow minded?” Bill Wiese once again gives another incredible analogy to truly get you thinking: Let’s say you invite me over for dinner and you say, “Jess, to get to my house you have to go south on highway 95, take the 2nd exit and turn right on Maple street and you’ll arrive at my house. That’s the only way to get to my house.” Imagine I say to you, “I think I’m going to just go north on highway 95 and get off on Cedar Boulevard because I think all roads lead to your house. That’s what I think.” You’re probably going to say, “Jess, I’m just trying to give you clear directions to my house.” Well, God knows where He lives. He gives us clear and simple directions on how to get there. That isn’t being narrow minded, that’s being specific with directions.

In Conclusion…

Salvation is a gift, not a reward. Salvation is not something that we earn, it is a free gift and all we need to do is accept it.

Romans 10: 9-10, NLT:

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

We’ve established that good works can’t get you into Heaven, but it’s important to note that God still sees and He remembers and rewards all of the good deeds that you do for Him (giving to those in need, getting involved in church, preaching the Gospel, feeding the poor, etc). The good deeds you do for God are all going to be rewards in Heaven that will last for all eternity. It is out of our thankfulness for the free gift of salvation that God gave us through His son Jesus Christ that we should, out of that gratefulness, desire to do good works for Him.