by Roger D. Campbell
03 January 2010
“She is such a good person.” “He is always doing something to help other people.” “I have never heard a bad word come out of his mouth, and I have never heard of him ever doing anything out of line.” “If my aunt does not make it to heaven, then I do not see how anyone possibly could. She was just a good old soul.”
These and similar comments are often made about people that most folks would consider to be “good moral people.” No one can please the God of heaven without living by His moral code of conduct, but is everyone that might be called “a good moral person” heaven bound? Some apparently think so, but such a concept is not supported by the teaching of the Bible.
Sin is the greatest problem that mankind must face, because sin separates sinners from the Lord God (Isaiah 59:2). Thus, man’s greatest need is to have his sins forgiven. The Bible teaches that “all unrighteousness is sin” (1 John 5:17) and “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23).
The Bible further declares that “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). God grants eternal life through Jesus, not through man’s good moral living. Man’s morality could never wash away a single sin. Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse one of past sins (Revelation 1:5).
In the Book of Acts, we read numerous accounts of the conversion of lost people. In some cases, we read that lost people inquired about what they must do to be saved. Never do we read that they were told, “Just be a good moral person.” What we do read is that they were instructed to believe in Jesus, repent of their sins, confess their faith in Jesus as God’s Son, and be immersed for the remission of sins (Acts 2:37,38; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 22:10,16).
It is a lie of the devil to declare that being a good moral person “is good enough to get you inte heaven.” Friends, while God wants His children to be “zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14), those good works have no power to remove one’s transgressions. At the same time, abstaining from unlawful deeds, while such abstinence is required by the Almighty, could never cause one to be translated out of the power of darkness into the Christ and His kingdom (Colossians 1:13,14).
Jesus is “the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Hebrews 5:9). To whom does the Christ offer salvation? Not to all “good moral people,” but rather only to those “that obey him.” While the world would surely be a lot better off with more good moral people in it, it is also true that those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus, regardless of their good morality, “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9).
If the Bible does not teach that a person can get into and remain in a good standing with God by being a good moral person, then why do you suppose so many people accept such an idea? Some probably buy into this false idea simply because they have heard others say it, and they just repeat it. Perhaps others accept it because they consider it to be more convenient and/or less demanding that what the Bible teaches. At any rate, the bottom line is this: according to the Bible, no not all good moral people are going to heaven.
