Christianity 101: Do good people go to heaven?
Scripture reading: Romans 3:9-20
A local pastor recently received an email from one of his members of his evangelical church after one of his sermons. This was a regular occurrence, and did not surprise him much…until he read this week’s complaint. The email asked a simple, yet poignant question; Did you mean to say that good people don’t go to heaven? This question absolutely floored the pastor, as this has been and is a very basic question of salvation which every person calling themselves “Christian” should be able to answer unequivocally. Yet time and again, our churches get it wrong, our pastor’s get it wrong, our seminaries are getting it wrong. You don’t have to look long or hard to find major error in theological thinking outside the church, but there is something profoundly disappointing when evangelical churches are getting it wrong. Today’s sermon is entitled “Do good people go to heaven?” Can you guess what I think is probably THE largest issue in the evangelical message today? I think there is a severe lack of understanding of what “good” is. What IS good? Who is good? What are the qualifications of being good? Is there any way we can figure this out? Is there something in Holy Scripture that can help us define “good”? This leads to another very important question; Can you guess what most non-Christians believe they must do to be saved? Die. They may not say it this way, but when you really press the issue, they all believe they are going to heaven (if there is such a place). All they have to do is die, and not be a bad guy. Ask them who is going to hell (if there is such a place). Their answer…Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, etc. You know the kind; mass murderers, evil people, serial rapists, pedophiles. Surely not the everyday nice guy that goes to work, raises his family, shovels the walk of the neighbor. Surely not anyone who is a grandparent who dotes on their grandchildren. Surely most people, just by their very philosophy of “live and let live” will qualify to enter the Kingdom of heaven (if there IS such a place). Now, to expect this answer from people that have either not heard the gospel, or not accepted the gospel, this answer and thinking is to be expected. But what about the church? I had the misfortune one day to be listening to an evangelist on a seminary campus ask a very simple question to students that were studying to be pastors, missionaries, and other ministry careers. He asked; “If you were to die and meet Jesus today, and He asked you the following question, ‘Why should I let you in to my heaven?’ what would your answer be?” Now take just a minute to think about that answer for yourselves. What would your answer be? Most of the answers began with “I don’t know…I guess…” The answer varied somewhat from here to the ugly end, but most held to the idea that somehow they should be let in according to their merit, their works, their “goodness”. Rarely did I even hear Jesus’ name, and even when I did, it was painfully obvious that they could not articulate the gospel. Who was Jesus? Why did He die on the cross? Who killed Him? The questions could go on and on, but today we’ll concentrate on what I consider to be the largest stumbling block to those hearing and having a proper understanding of the Gospel message, and that is a question of “goodness”. In our natural state (that being our sin nature, the one we’re all born into), we cannot fathom the idea that we aren’t good. There have been some books written on the subject, primarily dealing with the polarity of nature vs. nurture in our development. Are we good or bad because of our nature, or are we good or bad because of our upbringing, our conditions, our influences around us? Is it a combination of both? There is a famous book (of which most of you may or may not have had to read in High School) called the Lord of the Flies by William Golding. In this novel, a classroom of school boys were in a plane crash. They crashed on a deserted island, and there were no adults around. The novel explores the idea of human nature and the common good. If you recall much about the book, you will remember that they quickly formed a pack mentality, they ended up throwing out all civilized rules, and might won the right to rule. One boy was even brutally killed by the others. We, in all of our grade 9 or 10 intellect (which wasn’t much) were to debate the merits of the arguments and ideas put forth with regards to the topic of nature vs. nurture. Folks, there should be no debate for those that call themselves Christian. The answer is simple, nature wins out every time, because according to Holy Scripture, there are no good people.
This brings us to the text for tonight. Romans is a letter written by the apostle Paul who wrote it while in prison for his crimes against humanity. What were his crimes? Preaching Christ and Him crucified. Paul had been beaten and imprisoned numerous times, and this was just another one of those times. While under arrest, Paul penned a few letters, and this letter to the church in Rome was one of them. Romans is a very important letter in our Bibles as it is considered the first systematic theology ever penned. Paul systematically takes the church of Rome and the universal church through the core beliefs and doctrines of the Christian faith and the need for them. It’s interesting that Paul begins his systematic theology and the preaching of the gospel with mankind’s universal sinfulness. The first three chapters of Romans takes the readers through Jewish sin, Gentile sin, and finishes off with the logical conclusion that if both Jew and Gentile were inherently evil and wicked, then all mankind is wicked and evil, for all people fit into one of those two categories.
Verse 11 begins by Paul referring back to the Psalms, more specifically #’s 14 and 53. It tells us “None is righteous.” Just to make sure we understand exactly what he means by “none”, he adds, “no, not one.” No one, not one! Nobody, zilch, zero. Righteousness is an attribute of moral purity belonging to God alone. Universally, mankind has failed to be morally pure before God. John 17:25 reads; “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. We do not have righteousness of our own as Paul states to the Philippians verse 3:9; not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, We can see numerous examples throughout the bible where humanity, including the Israelites, proved themselves to be immoral, following after the lusts of the flesh rather than following God. They lied, stole, killed, blasphemed, and proved disobedient to the commands of God over and over again. We have all done immoral things in our lives, thereby defiling ourselves before a just and holy God. Are we any better than OT Israel? Now, most of us at this point want to point to the fact that there are others that are far worse than us, and by comparison, we’re moral. The problem with this thinking is that we’re not being compared to other sinners, we’re being compared to the holiness of God. His law is perfect in pointing out to us our fallen-ness. The law points out our helplessness. The law points out our wickedness. By transgressing just one law, we are guilty of breaking it all (James 2:10), and by applying the standards of the law put forth by Christ himself with His sermon on the Mount, we have broken them all in our hearts.
Verse 11 continues “No one understands;” Have you ever shared the gospel with a hostile person? I have had the pleasure of trying to share the Christian faith and principles with people that are openly hostile to the message, and they do not understand it. They cannot comprehend the things of God. The unregenerate person does not understand God. 1 Corinthians 1:23 states; but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews, and folly (or foolishness) to the Gentiles. But for those that are regenerate, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24). Christ and Him crucified is an easy concept which any child can understand. Yet, it is also incredibly deep, in that we will never plumb the depths of Christ on His cross. Now, does lack of understanding only apply to those that are openly hostile to the cross? Not in the slightest. You can walk a person through the entire gospel message, and have them say something at the end of the presentation “I’m glad you’ve found something that works for you, but it’s not for me.” With a response like that, is the only rational thing to say at this point is that they don’t understand? Jesus and His cross is something everybody needs, it is relevant to all! Either Jesus is relevant to everyone, or He is relevant to no one! You just want to scream at these people “LET ME TRY AGAIN!! I MUST HAVE MISSED SOMETHING, I MUST HAVE FORGOTTEN A POINT, I FORGOT SOMETHING! For how can anyone say at the end of the gospel news that they don’t need Him?” It’s as simple as it is sad. They don’t understand. They don’t understand. Without the work of the Holy Spirit in us, we wouldn’t understand either.
Verse 11 wraps up with this doozy; “No one seeks after God.” What does that mean? Don’t we have all sorts of people searching after God? Don’t we have all kinds of seekers looking for God, trying to fill that hole in their existence that thus far they haven’t been able to fill? If there are no seekers, why do we have “seeker friendly” churches? Why are there more religions than you can shake a proverbial stick at? Surely there are seekers looking for God, how else do you answer these questions? As R.C. Sproul has said, along with many other theologians over time, “People don’t search God, they are searching for his blessings apart from him.” All people are worshippers. As John Calvin says of humanity “We are idol factories.” We all worship something, and when presented the God of the bible, often the response is “I could never love a God like that.” Are we surprised that the Christian church, in order to stay relevant, bends scripture to accommodate the concerns and issues of the day? There are Christians out there today that will not proclaim the exclusivity of Christ as the only way to the Father. John 14:6 states; “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.” How much more clear does Christ have to be? What part of that statement do we not understand? If Oprah Winfrey is right (which she is not, by the way), then Jesus is irrelevant. We can believe whatever we want, as long as we believe it strongly enough. Jesus and his ultimate sacrifice is meaningless. Have you ever felt the sting of feeling unappreciated by someone? Have you ever gone out of your way to help someone, and then at the end feel as if your sacrifice was just expected, an obligation on YOUR part, that they did YOU a favour by allowing you to humbly help them? I think we can all say that we have at some point. What kind of sacrifice did Christ make for sinners? God the Father sacrificed His Son upon a cross for the redemption of sinners who come to Jesus. How insulted would you be if you sacrificed your son or daughter for the benefit of someone else, and they regarded your sacrifice as unnecessary? Can you put yourself in those shoes for a moment? I know I’m a sinner, I’m a fallen sinner that so desperately needs the grace of God to do anything, but I don’t think I’m far from the mark when I say that if I were ever in this position where I sacrificed my child for the benefit of others, and they treated my son’s sacrifice as flippantly as most of the world regards Christ’s sacrifice on the cross…Are we really so naïve to think that God the Father will treat us with favour on the day of judgment if we have regarded his Son’s sacrifice with casual flippancy? John 3:18-21 states; “The one who believes in him is not condemned.41 The one who does not believe has been condemned42 already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only43 Son of God. 3:19 Now this is the basis for judging:44 that the light has come into the world and people45 loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 3:20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. 3:21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God.” People love the dark, they run from the light. Christ is the light, and the world is running as fast in the other direction as they possibly can. No one seeks after God. No one.
All have turned away. Not most, not a few; but all! Do you understand the concept of repentance? Repentance is the action of turning away from sin, and turning toward Christ. By turning away, we are doing the exact opposite of repentance, namely, sin. We sin constantly, without ceasing.
together they have become worthless;
In the Hebrew the term here translated worthless is similar to that of putrid fruit or meat. Have you smelled putrid fruit or meat? It is utterly revolting. What do you do with it? You throw it away…don’t you?
there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.”15
This line must be false, for we see random acts of kindness all the time, don’t we? Even unregenerate lost people are capable of showing kindness, so what is Paul’s point here? Paul is speaking on our motivation for our acts of kindness. How does God view our acts of kindness apart from the motivation of obeying Him? Let’s read Isaiah 64:6 We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight.12 We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind. God is not impressed with our acts of righteousness and kindness apart from Him, because they are inherently sinful in nature. Why? I was able to witness to my neighbor a few months ago and we were able to cover this very topic. She works for a seniors care centre and loves doing it. She feels like she is doing a noble and wonderful thing that should earn her points with God. After all, she’s a good person who does good things for others. After asking some questions, we were able to nail down what her motivation was for helping the seniors. Her answer was “It makes me feel good.” Her motivation was her feeling of self-satisfaction in helping others, not out of obedience to God’s command to love our neighbor as ourselves. This concept is very difficult for our sinful natures to overcome, for we want so desperately to earn our own way, to rely only on ourselves, and to think the best of ourselves. The bible points us in a very different direction.
3:13 “Their throats are open graves,16
they deceive with their tongues,
the poison of asps is under their lips.”17
3:14 “Their mouths are18 full of cursing and bitterness.”19
3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
3:16 ruin and misery are in their paths,
3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.”20
3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
There is no fear of God before their eyes. R.C. Sproul was once asked at a conference during a q and a session “What is the greatest problem in the world today, and what is the greatest problem in the evangelical church today?” He answered, “The biggest problem in the world today is that the world does not know who God is, and the biggest problem in the evangelical church today is that the church does not know who God is.” There is no fear of God outside the church, and there is no fear of God inside the church. I have heard time and again in Sunday school sessions where the topic of fearing God was brought up, and immediately they disregarded the term “fear” for something else. They are trying to rescue God from His own attributes! Time and again in bible, those that come face to face with the manifestation of God, they tremble! They cry out “Depart from me, for I am a sinner!!” We have lost our sense of awe-ness when we think of God.
So there is the bad news. Do we have an understanding of goodness yet? Do we understand our situation before God in an unregenerate state? Is there any good news in all of this? Indeed, there is wonderful news!
1.Hebrews 5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered.14 5:9 And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 5:10 and he was designated15 by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek.16 Jesus... was God in every way, but lived with the limits of being human. Jesus came to live on earth, as a regular man, in a human’s body. He lived through the same struggles as you and me; however he always did the right thing. While on earth Jesus lived a perfect life of obedience, like God has asked each of us to.
2 Corinthians 5:21 God38 made the one who did not know sin39 to be sin for us, so that in him40 we would become the righteousness of God.
God sent his son to die on the cross as penalty payment for our sins. Why would a Dad send His Son to pay for someone else’s sin? The answer has two parts; the legal part of the answer is that Jesus was the only sacrifice suitable to cover the penalty for everyone’s sin. He had lived a life of perfection…he was perfect. In order for God to be just, someone had to pay for the sins committed against Him. Our world wants to think that God, in his loving kindness, will simply turn a blind eye to the transgressions against him, and that if He doesn’t, He is not loving. Would we consider a judge in our court system to declare someone guilty and then let them go with no punishment because the judge declares himself a loving and forgiving judge? We would demand justice, wouldn’t we? Wouldn’t we want the judge removed from his job if he let lawbreakers go without any consequences? God paid the penalty with the death of his own Son, thereby anyone who is covered by the blood of Christ will be declared righteous before Him. He is the just and the justifier. The personal side of the answer is that God loved you and me enough, that he gave up his son to save us from being separated from him for eternity, and to save us from His wrath. We forget what it is we’re being saved from. Most Christians do not understand the concept that we are being saved from God! Not from Satan, not from his demons, not from hell, but from God’s righteous wrath. God is saving us from his justice. On the cross, Christ is imputed with our unrighteousness, and we, as believers in Christ, are imputed his righteousness. It is THE greatest exchange, one of love and mercy for repentant sinners.
The Resurrection…overcoming “Death” is what sets Jesus apart from every other person that has ever lived or will ever live!
After Jesus died, his body was in a grave for three days. On day three, Jesus came back from being dead. This event was witnessed by hundreds of people, before God took his son Jesus up to heaven to stay with him there.
To understand the “Good News” of the Gospel requires us to understand the conflict we humans are in. God is Holy, Sinless and Just. Because of our sin, we are the opposite of what God is. Our reality has two options; we can be on God’s side or we can be on the other side, not both. This is why we hear terms like fence sitter…people try to walk on both sides at once. We are not only at odds with God because of our sin, but we are really an enemy of God. The Bible tells us that our sin results in us being separated from God. Short term we are spiritually dead, long term we are headed for Hell. Romans 6:23 For the payoff23 of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The good news is that hell and separation from God is not our only option. Jesus said so himself. It requires us to have faith to trust God with our lives. The ideas that good deeds, good intentions or church attendance will pay for our sins, are wrong, misguided and dangerous. Jesus paid for our sins when He died on the Cross and took the punishment for us. That is why He is the “Good News!” With this good news comes the Joy of God. You can experience God’s Joy when we have the faith to believe this message. What follows next is a life lived in peace with God and an eternity with Him in Heaven, when we die.
What do we need to do? ...to change, God tells us to do two things;
1) The first is repent. This means we need to surrender to God’s authority, admit we are not good, admit that we have broken His laws and ask for God’s forgiveness and turn away from our own sin-riddled ways of doing thing. This gets us headed toward God and His way of doing things.
2) The second is to have faith and believe in Jesus. We need to have faith to understand who Jesus is, to understand what He has done for us, to put God in charge of our life and to follow what he asks us to do. God wants people to repent and come to Him. He doesn’t wish any to be lost.
If you are thinking about God and are wondering what He is all about, the Holy Spirit may be reaching out to you. Now is the time to think about what has been presented, and ask yourself it this message is true.
Has God called you to be one of His?
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