Are you a good person?

Are You a Good Person? If good people go to heaven when they die, how good do you have to be to be good enough to go to heaven?

God has given ten commandments which reveal His standards. Ask yourself: have you ever lied about someone, even in ignorance? For example, have you ever said something even slightly untrue about your own parents – putting them down? Then you have broken the ninth commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour” and you’ve also broken the 5th commandment, “Honor your father and mother, that it MAY go well with you.”

If you’ve broken these commandments, your own record is already spotted, and you are not qualified on the basis of your goodness to enter heaven. A good reputation is to be chosen above wealth, according to the Scriptures. So if you have used your tongue to destroy someone’s reputation unjustly or falsely, you have done more evil to that person than if you had stolen money from them. How can a righteous God accept your record as being good enough to enter his pure dwelling place?

The seventh commandment says, “You shall not commit adultery”. Have you ever had an affair with someone you are not married to? Then you have broken this holy commandment of God. How can a holy God see you as good enough to enter heaven? Perhaps you have never committed physical adultery, but have you ever looked at someone with lust and wanted to have them? Have you ever looked at pornography willingly? Then you’ve broken God’s holy seventh commandment. Jesus said that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28). The world may regard it as a joke, something normal, but God never. He just can’t accept this kind of impurity. You will never be able to stand before God based on your own record if you’ve done this.

Many people not only have looked at pornography on the net, but have actually become in a sense enslaved to it, addicted to it. How can you stand before a Holy God if this is the case with you? You have disqualified yourself from entering God’s fellowship based on your record.

The sixth commandmnet says not to murder, but Jesus said that if you are even angry with your brother without a cause you are guilty of this. The spirit of murder has entered you. The apostle John said that he who hates his brother is a murderer, and that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Do you stand as a murderer before God? You may be religious.

The second commandment says not to bow down to and worship any graven image or icon. Your religion may teach you that this kind of thing puts you in touch with the divine, but God regards it as an insult that you could represent divinity by some work of a human craftsman. Likewise worshiping a man or a woman or an animal is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments, which says, “You shall have no other gods before me”.

And if you are a lover of money, not only have you violated the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet”, but you have violated the first commandment right there too. Is God in second, third or fifth place for you? Then you are an idolater, and God cannot accept you unless you repent. Do not think that God will just forgive you so easily for this. It is a serious offence and you cannot make up for it by anything you do now or in the future.

If you’ve used the name of Jesus as a curse word, you have broken the third commandment, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain”, and God says that he will not hold such a person guiltless. Have you stolen anything?

We call people who steal thieves. Have you lied? We call people who lie, liars. God will never say that a thieving, lying, blasphemous, idol-worshiping adulterer has been good enough to enter heaven?

So what then? Ask yourself: if God was to judge you by the Ten Commandments now, would you go to Heaven or Hell? If you are like me, the answer would be hell. But there is a way out for sinners. The way was provided at great cost to God himself. There is only one way. Nothing you can do now will ever pay for your mistakes. Even if you became a perfectly loving human being it would not atone for your previous faults. God provided a solution through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ own blood pays for your sin, and allows God to exchange your imperfect record for his perfect record.

This has been proven by the historical fact that Jesus Christ rose physically from the dead on the third day. To receive this status of a forgiven righteous person, you must give your life to God, turning away from the principle of sin, which is to resist God’s Word and put your own thoughts above God’s. You must trust in the sacrifice of Jesus for your forgiveness, and ask Jesus to come into your life as Lord and Savior. It is not that you must live a life of perfect obedience after that to be right with God, but you give God the right to change anything in your life. God calls you to draw near to Him daily, and to put your trust in His salvation. He will teach you and clean your heart and mind from all sin. But you can receive by faith the flawless record of Jesus Christ to your account if you surrender to Him and believe the message.

If you want to do that, talk to Jesus Christ, telling him you are sorry for going your own way without him, and thanking Him for dying in your place. Ask Him to come into your life, change your heart, and lead you from this moment on. Then daily seek to know God. This proves that your repentance was serious, and you want to be a Christian, and not a religious hypocrite.