Lies We Believe #23: If I’m Good Enough I’ll Get Into Heaven

“As it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." —Romans 3:10-12

One need only go to the mall and ask those walking around, “Where will you go when you die?” And most often the answer will be “Heaven.” And when asked the follow-up question, “How do you know?” The most frequent answer is, “I hope that when my life is over, my good deeds will outweigh the bad.” Such an answer reflects another lie that many Christians sadly believe. We may say that we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), but our lives are conducted in a way that suggests we are saved by our good deeds. The Bible is very clear—we will never be good enough to get into heaven. Why? Because at our most base level, we are not good.

Philosophers and poets have long since debated about the root of man. Is man inherently good? Or is man inherently evil? The Bible is unapologetic in its response. Man, at his core, is unabashedly evil. That’s why our text says today, “None is righteous.” Perhaps there are some? After all, I know of some good people that are moral, that don’t swear, that have good families, give to the poor, and are kind to everyone. Are they evil? The Bible answers: yes. At our core we are evil, and while this evil may manifest itself differently in each of us, we know that in our heart of hearts we are evil. For some, their sins are obvious: adultery, theft, and lying, while for others it may be masked under the cloak of self-righteousness.

Pride is the most subtle of evils and one to which no one is immune. We are proud and desire to exalt ourselves above others and want glory for ourselves. Such a mindset betrays our hearts because it reveals a heart that seeks to establish a righteousness apart from that which Christ has given to us through His sacrificial and atoning death on the cross. And God’s Word is clear: apart from Christ, we are condemned. We will never, ever be good enough in the sight of God because we have failed to live the life of perfect obedience required by God. Only one in the history of the universe has ever obeyed God perfectly and lived the sinless life that God required, and that was none other than Jesus of Nazareth. He alone satisfied the requirements of a holy God. He alone loved perfectly. He alone never did wrong or evil. He alone gave Himself to pay the price that our sins required, and then, by our faith, He gave us the righteousness that was His.

If we cannot save ourselves and if we are evil at our core, then what must we do to be saved? We must repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must place our trust in Him and rest in what He has done on our behalf. And once we do, a God-wrought transformation occurs in our soul. Our sins are paid for and we are given God’s Holy Spirit to help us live the life that God requires and desires. We begin to experience the joy of knowing Him by doing what He has set forth for us to do as revealed in His Word.

My dear brother or sister, please don’t give in to or entertain the lie that we will ever be good enough in the sight of God as to merit salvation! No matter what we attempt to do to exalt or save ourselves, it will be met with abysmal failure. May we rest in what He has already done, casting ourselves at His feet, confessing His name and trusting in what He has already accomplished for us. And once we do, may we experience such relief, such joy, such unmistakable and unrelenting pleasure that we want to do nothing but live a life that is pleasing to Him. Amen. accomplished for us. And once we do, may we experience such relief, such joy, such unmistakable and unrelenting pleasure that we want to do nothing but live a life that is pleasing to Him. Amen.