Are You Good Enough?

		*Crying In the Wilderness* *Web Ministry*
Home Reference Articles/Sermons		Are You Good Enough To Go To Heaven? This is a question that our culture has struggled with for centuries. I find this ideology reaching back through the ages and what is surprising is how it actually made it through the reformation whose focus was salvation by grace. The premise is, that one has to be good in order to obtain eternal bliss. The doctrine has even evolved to the better you are here, the more you will have there. Beloved, the truth is, you are not good enough for heaven. I am not good enough for heaven. In fact, no human being is good enough for heaven. It doesn’t matter how many times you are baptized, how many churches or denominations you belong to, how many times you’ve attended Sunday school, how much money you have dropped in the collection plate, etc. etc. None of this makes you good enough to have earned heaven! You may have visited the sick, helped the poor, fed and housed the homeless but you are still not good enough for heaven! You may have read the bible through many times and even memorized the 23rd Psalm but you are still not good enough to go to heaven. Where can you go or better yet, how can one obtain entry into that celestial city we have heard about? First let’s correct some errors that the tempter sowed among our fields in an attempt to dull the light of the glorious gospel of Christ! Heaven is not a reward! That is the first place where we stumble. From childhood, we are taught that if we obey and do good things we will receive a reward. When training our pets, we use the same methods and they learn that if they perform certain functions, they will receive a treat. This is in our nature early but this is not how heaven works. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. It is not a reward but rather an inheritance for the children of God. There is a major difference between a reward and an inheritance. A reward is typically something that is earned for either doing something or failing to do something forbidden. An inheritance is something received or passed down through a family! In the second chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians’ we find in verse 8 and 9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” After almost 2000 years, we find feeble man still struggling with this concept. You are not saved by your works and you are not even saved by faith but through it. The scripture also states that we are all dealt a measure of faith. We have enough faith to receive grace but the choice is ours. Now there are those who attempt to take liberty with this free grace by thinking they will wait until their death bed to accept it. There are many factors that make this a bad plan. First, if you are called out suddenly, you would not have time to accept the free gift. The biggest problem with this plan is that it doesn’t take into account one tiny issue, you can’t be saved when you want to. In order to be saved, you have to be drawn by the Holy Spirit or what we commonly call conviction. John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” With this we see that there is no way to God but through Christ. Now, here is the sticking point: John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” So now we see that we can’t come to Christ unless the Father draws us. There goes the plans for death-bed repentance. Don’t misunderstand, there is mercy and grace and some have obtained death-bed repentance but you should not plan on it as a life choice. Now that we have concluded that none of us are good enough for heaven, let us now confirm this with scripture. Psalm 53:3 “Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Or how about: Romans 3:12 "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Remember “no not one”! Also, Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” So now there should be no doubt as to whether or not we are good enough to get to heaven. So our works cannot justify us and make us fit subjects for eternal glory but His grace can. His grace and His grace alone for we will never be good enough but our righteousness though like filthy rags is swallowed up by His righteousness. For we have put on Christ if so be that we are born again. Our life is now hid in Him. While in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing except Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:50 “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God for it is corruptible but the portion on the inside that God saved for Christ’s sake can and will inherit. Not because the flesh is good but that which has been saved on the inside is and cannot sin. 1 John 3:9 “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” Now, don’t let this scripture scare you for it is referring to that portion of our inward man that God has saved. The easiest way I know to describe this is with Esau and Jacob. These were twins born to Isaac and Rebecca. Hebrew custom was that the birthright goes to the firstborn. Esau was born first but it had been prophesied that the elder shall serve the younger. Esau later sold his birthright to Jacob and Jacob inherited the blessing. Esau represents the outward man or if you will, our flesh. Jacob represents the inward man, the one who receives the blessings. Let us look in Hebrews 12:16-17 ”Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” Though Esau sought repentance carefully and tearfully, there was none found for him. Thus, the flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So in conclusion, it goes back to what I remember my Dad preaching when I was just a young child. “It’s not what you have done that will keep you out of heaven but what you have failed to do.” You must be born again and can only be saved when the Spirit draws you to Christ. This I will leave with you, an old Preacher that I came up under used to say, “If you want your kids to have the measles, take them around where the measles are.” So if you want the Holy Spirit to convict you or your family, go around where the Holy Spirit is likely to show up.

Crying In the Wilderness

Web Ministry

Are You Good Enough To Go To Heaven?

This is a question that our culture has struggled with for centuries. I find this ideology reaching back through the ages and what is surprising is how it actually made it through the reformation whose focus was salvation by grace. The premise is, that one has to be good in order to obtain eternal bliss. The doctrine has even evolved to the better you are here, the more you will have there.

Beloved, the truth is, you are not good enough for heaven. I am not good enough for heaven. In fact, no human being is good enough for heaven. It doesn’t matter how many times you are baptized, how many churches or denominations you belong to, how many times you’ve attended Sunday school, how much money you have dropped in the collection plate, etc. etc. None of this makes you good enough to have earned heaven! You may have visited the sick, helped the poor, fed and housed the homeless but you are still not good enough for heaven! You may have read the bible through many times and even memorized the 23rd Psalm but you are still not good enough to go to heaven.

Where can you go or better yet, how can one obtain entry into that celestial city we have heard about? First let’s correct some errors that the tempter sowed among our fields in an attempt to dull the light of the glorious gospel of Christ! Heaven is not a reward! That is the first place where we stumble. From childhood, we are taught that if we obey and do good things we will receive a reward. When training our pets, we use the same methods and they learn that if they perform certain functions, they will receive a treat. This is in our nature early but this is not how heaven works.

Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. It is not a reward but rather an inheritance for the children of God. There is a major difference between a reward and an inheritance. A reward is typically something that is earned for either doing something or failing to do something forbidden. An inheritance is something received or passed down through a family! In the second chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians’ we find in verse 8 and 9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” After almost 2000 years, we find feeble man still struggling with this concept. You are not saved by your works and you are not even saved by faith but through it. The scripture also states that we are all dealt a measure of faith. We have enough faith to receive grace but the choice is ours.

Now there are those who attempt to take liberty with this free grace by thinking they will wait until their death bed to accept it. There are many factors that make this a bad plan. First, if you are called out suddenly, you would not have time to accept the free gift. The biggest problem with this plan is that it doesn’t take into account one tiny issue, you can’t be saved when you want to. In order to be saved, you have to be drawn by the Holy Spirit or what we commonly call conviction. John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” With this we see that there is no way to God but through Christ. Now, here is the sticking point: John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” So now we see that we can’t come to Christ unless the Father draws us. There goes the plans for death-bed repentance. Don’t misunderstand, there is mercy and grace and some have obtained death-bed repentance but you should not plan on it as a life choice.

Now that we have concluded that none of us are good enough for heaven, let us now confirm this with scripture. Psalm 53:3 “Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Or how about: Romans 3:12 "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Remember “no not one”! Also, Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” So now there should be no doubt as to whether or not we are good enough to get to heaven. So our works cannot justify us and make us fit subjects for eternal glory but His grace can. His grace and His grace alone for we will never be good enough but our righteousness though like filthy rags is swallowed up by His righteousness. For we have put on Christ if so be that we are born again. Our life is now hid in Him. While in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing except Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:50 “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God for it is corruptible but the portion on the inside that God saved for Christ’s sake can and will inherit. Not because the flesh is good but that which has been saved on the inside is and cannot sin. 1 John 3:9 “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” Now, don’t let this scripture scare you for it is referring to that portion of our inward man that God has saved. The easiest way I know to describe this is with Esau and Jacob. These were twins born to Isaac and Rebecca. Hebrew custom was that the birthright goes to the firstborn. Esau was born first but it had been prophesied that the elder shall serve the younger. Esau later sold his birthright to Jacob and Jacob inherited the blessing. Esau represents the outward man or if you will, our flesh. Jacob represents the inward man, the one who receives the blessings. Let us look in Hebrews 12:16-17 ”Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” Though Esau sought repentance carefully and tearfully, there was none found for him. Thus, the flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

So in conclusion, it goes back to what I remember my Dad preaching when I was just a young child. “It’s not what you have done that will keep you out of heaven but what you have failed to do.” You must be born again and can only be saved when the Spirit draws you to Christ. This I will leave with you, an old Preacher that I came up under used to say, “If you want your kids to have the measles, take them around where the measles are.” So if you want the Holy Spirit to convict you or your family, go around where the Holy Spirit is likely to show up.