Want to know God?

Mount Gilead Baptist Church, Dothan

Do you believe that you are going to heaven when you die? Most people answer that question with a resounding “Yes!” Most people believe themselves to be “good” people. 

Jesus shows two problems with that. First Jesus says it is not easy for people to go to heaven. “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matt. 7:14). Second Jesus says that no one is “good.” A man asked Him what “good deed” he had to do to go to heaven. Jesus said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only One who is good” (Matt. 19:17). Jesus refers to God as the only One who is good. 

So we may conclude that many who think they are going to heaven actually are not. While they perceive themselves as good, God sees them as bad. Paul explained, “None is righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10). This is in comparison with God’s perfect righteousness. Compared to that we are dreadfully bad. The Bible describes mankind without Christ as “sons of disobedience” and “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:2–3).

Paul said, “For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin” (Rom. 3:9). Imagine walking around with a sin-stained umbrella over your head all the time. No matter what good deeds we do, we can never erase the sin that is already in our lives. This sin separates us from God. We are still under sin’s curse, death (Rom. 6:23).

What hope do we have to escape God’s judgment? Jesus lived on earth without sin, always glorifying God completely. We might picture Him walking around with a sparkling clean umbrella over His head. He wasn’t under sin but “under life.” Now picture Jesus trading us our “under sin” umbrella for His “under life” umbrella. 

That is what Jesus did for those who turn from sin and trust Him for salvation. On the cross He bore sin and death, offering us eternal life. “He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Turn from sin, trust in Christ and live!