Take Advantage of This Hot Topic

Watch for ways to inject this God focused perspective
Into every conversation that resembles this Hot Topic

Good is Not Good Enough!

This is bad news for 77% of all Americans and 62% of all Christians.  Being good doesn’t get you or anyone else into heaven.  There are millions of wonderful people in the world doing good things that have nothing to do with salvation.  Believing you can earn your way into heaven may be the biggest deception in all of humanity!

When asking people if they believe they’re going to heaven, most will say yes because of the good things they do.  The following information will help you know what to say to the good people in your life who mistakenly believe that being good IS good enough to get them into heaven.

The numbers are shocking
77% of Americans believe you can earn your way to heaven, 70% of Americans believe you don’t have to be a Christian to enter heaven, and only 27% of those who say they’re “Evangelicals” believe God punishes sin.

But the scriptures are clear
God saved you by His Grace when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a Gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we’ve done, so none of us can boast about it.  For we are God’s masterpiece.  He created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Cultural Christians
More than half of all Americans believe they’re Christians simply because they’re good people who believe in God and are aware that Jesus is His Son.  But if it were that easy, why did God have to sacrifice His Son on the cross?

Those who call themselves “Christians,” who believe their own goodness will get them into heaven are believers in themselves, and not in the God who sent His Son to die for them.  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (I John 1:8).

We can’t even live up to our own standards of good. All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God (Romans 3:23).  No man can justify himself before God by a perfect performance of the Law’s demands – indeed, it is the straight edge of the law that shows us how crooked we are (Romans 3:20).

How can a sinful man stand in the presence of a Holy God?
In the Old Testament of the Bible, God instructed His people to shed the blood of a lamb ‘without blemish’ as a sacrifice for their sins.  In fact, according to the Law of Moses, everything was purified with blood.  For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22).

It was the killing of the lamb and putting the blood on the doorposts that saved the children of Israel from God’s wrath.  This is what the Jews celebrate as Passover . . . on the very day that Christ was crucified and Christians call Good Friday.

In the New Testament, God sent His own Son to Earth, knowing our names and our sins, to shed His blood as the ultimate sacrifice for all of our sins forever!  Indeed, it’s only His sacrifice on the cross that provides all of us with a path to heaven, in spite of our sins.

Crisis in America
The crisis in America is that over 200 million Americans have never paid attention to this message.  Calls for salvation from our pulpits are out of vogue today.  Less than 10% of our churches still mention the words hell, sin, or redemption (Pew Research).

Only 20% of our population remain regular church attendees due to our failure to call people out of the world and into the family of God.  Edifying (feel good) messages reinforce the belief that being good gets you into heaven and makes the Church irrelevant.

Yes, the Church is complicit, if not the chief protagonist, in America’s belief that being good is good enough . . . and it’s made America a post-Christian nation!

Scripture References:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9

Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.
Ecclesiastes 7:20

There is none righteous, not even one.
Romans 3:10

But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.
I Corinthians 2:14

Satan, who is the God of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the Glory of Christ.
II Corinthians 4:4

So, letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
Romans 8:6

The wages of sin is death, but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23

You can enter God’s Kingdom only thru the narrow Gate (Jesus Christ). The highway to hell is broad and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life (Heaven) is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few will find it.
Matthew 7:13-14

Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life: no one can come to the Father, except through me.
John 14:6

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (from Hell). For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Romans 10:9-10