QUESTION: Why do many of us think that good people go to Heaven?
ANSWER: From our perspective, it makes sense that the good go to Heaven and that bad people go to Hell. God has a different standard.
Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end are the ways of death" Few of us realize that only people who are COMPLETELY sin free get into Heaven. The Bible says that on our own not one of us is good enough, no matter how hard we try. Romans 3:12 says, “As it is written, There is no righteous, no, not one.”
In John 3:1-3, Jesus told a religious leader, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Perhaps it is pride, but few of us are willing to admit that we are helpless sinners in the eyes of God. We may admit we have sinned, but we will defend ourselves when those sins are exposed.
The Bible says the one and only way to Heaven is by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. Many reject that and point to their own accomplishments.
The big problem with salvation by works is that no good work will take away even one sin we have committed. It is sin that will keep us out of heaven.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate (a man that is womanlike) nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God.
A truck load of good works will not cleanse a person from these sins and make them acceptable to God and ready for Heaven. The following verse tells us the only way a poor unclean sinner can enter Heaven.
1 John 1:7 says, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God..and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son."
Have you taken your place before the cross of Christ as an unclean and unfit sinner? Have you trusted Christ fully to save you from all sin?
