Are you good enough to go to Heaven? Are you familiar with the Ten Commandments? Have you kept them? If you have ever told a lie (we all have) or if you've ever stolen anything, you have broken two of the Ten Commandments. How about honoring your father and your mother....have you always done that? Have you ever taken the name of the Lord in vain? Commited adultry or (men) looked lustfully at a woman?
If we are honest, we will all admit that we have broken some, if not all of the Ten Commandments. And the Bible warns, "For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all."
Have you ever bought a white shirt in the store, and then when you went to wear it with your white outfit you found out that it wasn't white at all, it was cream colored? In the store, with all the other colored shirts, your shirt looked white, but when you compared it to the pure whiteness of your other clothes, you realized that it really wasn't white at all.
That scenerio is similar to how we compare ourselves with each other. We look at others and think, "Well, I am not as bad as that guy, he murdered somone. Surely I am good enough to go to Heaven." But when we look at ourselves compared to God's standard of "pure white", we see that we are much more "cream colored" than we thought!
Judgement Day is coming for all of us, and we need to realize that we will be judged by God's standard, not ours. The Bible says that we have angered God with our sin. God says that He will punish murderers, liars, thieves, etc., and their punishment is eternity in Hell.
So is there any hope for any of us? The Bible says that all have sinned, so will there be anyone in Heaven? Maybe the people that go to church regularly every Sunday will be there. Or maybe it will be all the pastors and elders that will occupy Heaven. I bet the missionaries and those who serve orphans will be there. Those must be the people good enough to go to Heaven.
Unfortunately none of those "good works" will get anyone to Heaven. There is only one way to Heaven. Many years ago, God told His people that they had to sacrife a spotless animal every year at the temple for payment for their sin. There was no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. So how do we pay for our sin now? Do we just do a bunch of really good things to gain favor with God so He will let us in? No, the Bible says God never changes, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He still requires a perfect, spotless, sacrifical blood offering for our sin. The good news is that God in His mercy has provided that offering for us. His name is Jesus Christ. He is called the Lamb of God in scripture. He came to earth, lived a perfect, sinless life, and died on the cross, shedding His blood, as God's final payment for the sins of the world. Can you imagine how much God must love you and want a relationship with you if He does not want you to perish, but have everlasting life with Him?
The book of Romans 10:9,10 say, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
So does knowing the "Good News" that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins get us in? No, it's more than knowing. As I said on my Testimony page, "To know and not to do is not to know!" First of all, there needs to be repentance. In other words, we need to be sorry for our sin, and desire to turn from it. In Romans 2:4, the Bible says "...the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." Once we have repented, we need to put our faith and trust in Jesus as the full payment for our sin and then follow Him. That means we read the Bible and do what is says. That means we have good works in our lives. The Bible says others should look at the good things that we do and glorify God in Heaven. It says in the book of Titus that we should be "zealous of good works" and that "they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works."
Always remember that your good works will not get you to Heaven. You do them because you love the Lord and want to Glorify His name in the earth. What we do doesn't make us more righteous, better, or more Holy than anyone else. We deserve nothing but Hell, and if it weren't for Jesus, that's where we would spend eternity. Our salvation is none of our doing. Jesus gets all the credit. If there was something we could do to become better, Jesus would not have had to die.
There is a 100% chance that you are going to die! Don't wait until it is too late to make peace with God. If you have not trusted in Jesus for your salvation, all you have to do is pray for forgiveness and put your faith and trust in Him.
Read Psalm 51 and make it your prayer. Then go tell others the Good News!
