Test: How Good Are You?

Love Has Everything to do with Life

We are made in God’s image. What is God like?

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” -1 John 4:7-8

The proof?

“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8

So, how does that work? Suppose I say to you, “I love you,” and then I add, “And I will prove it by running into the highway in front of a speeding truck and kill myself for you!” That wouldn’t make any sense at all.

Can you tell me of a situation where someone might actually show their love for you by dying for you? You’ve read the stories. “Teen dies saving friend from drowning.” “Father dies saving son from burning home.” “Mom dies pushing child safely away from speeding truck.”

If you are in life or death danger, then dying for you while saving you makes sense. Are you in life and death danger?

Making Sense of the Good Enough Test

80% might work if God graded on a curve. But He doesn’t. He requires perfection. In many cases, our lives also depend on perfection. If 99.9% were good enough, then according to recent data . . .

49 commercial plane crashes will occur today.
341 babies will be given to the wrong parents today.
7,000,000 hearts will stop beating in the next minute.

99.9% would sound incredibly good for a baseball batting percentage or a soccer winning percentage but would be pretty awful in other fields. So how good is good enough? Well, it depends on the circumstances and how important the issues are, doesn’t it? It also depends on who sets the standards for performance. You might think 50% on-time arrival to work was plenty good enough, but if your boss disagreed, you might lose your job.

Good Enough for Heaven?

So how good is good enough for heaven, and who decides? We humans often think we do. Virtually everyone has some kind of bottom line sin. God doesn’t ask us to decide. He gave us a list of absolute laws in Exodus chapter 20 defining forever what is right and wrong in any culture. It is called God’s Ten Commandments. They show us how to live in harmony. How to avoid doing damage to ourselves and others. Despite its promises and allures, sin is always a destructive force in our lives. Sadly, these laws also prove every one of us are sinner, hurting ourselves and others. Even if you are not a murderer, you still are a sinner if you do any wrong at all. Can you honestly say…

…I have NEVER made anything in my life more important than loving and obeying God (that’s the first
commandment)!
…I have NEVER bowed down to a statue or a picture
…I have NEVER used God’s (or Jesus’) name flippantly
…I have NEVER worked on the Sabbath
…I have NEVER dishonoured or disobeyed my parents
…I have NEVER killed anybody (or just hated them)
…I have NEVER committed adultery (or lusted in my heart)
…I have NEVER stolen ANYTHING, … EVER
…I have NEVER told a lie.
…I have NEVER coveted anything (be honest now)

Ask Yourself:

1. Have you ever told a lie? (white lies, and fibs count)
2. Have you ever stolen anything? (no matter how small, or how long ago)
3. Have you ever looked at someone with lustful thoughts?
4. Have you ever used “God”, “Jesus”, or “Christ” as a swear word or a curse word (like, “Oh my G-d!”)
5. Have you coveted after the things in another person’s life?
6. Have you gone to church every week? EVERY week?
7. Have you given to charity regularly?

Based on your answers, do you think yourself good enough to go to heaven when you die? Most people are able to show they are good in some areas. You probably are a pretty good person in most people’s eyes, but what about in God’s sight?

That’s the killer list – it proves beyond any doubt that we all (if we are honest) are thieving, lying, blaspheming, disobedient adulterers at heart – if not worse!

The Need for Salvation

Do you still think you would go to Heaven when you die? While you may hope God in His goodness will overlook your sins, the truth is, He won’t. Sinful acts have been destructive to ourselves and to others and deserve justice. What we “sow” is what we are going to “reap” (Galatians 6:7).

Since God is so good He will make sure that every murderer, every rapist and every thief receives full justice. But He won’t stop there. He will also make sure every liar, blasphemer, and adulterer also is punished. And we at heart know that this is right for Him to do. Our problem is that the Bible is very clear that the place of punishment for those who sin is Hell. God says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17).

Does the fact you’re headed for Hell concern you? It should! Jesus said Hell is so horrible that you would be better off tearing out your own eyes than ending up there for all eternity (Mark 9:43-48). So, unless God offers another solution to our guilt, fear and shame, we are hopeless.

Salvation is found in a Person, Not in a Religion

Whether you admit it or not, everyone of us are all sinners, separated from God by a mountain of sins. “For All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23.

And there’s no escaping it—our sin is killing us! “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23.

Here is the good news – “But God commendeth (extended) his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.

Did you get that? Jesus died in your place not because you were a good person, but because you were a sinner who will perish without His intervention! So, God sent his only Son, Jesus, to die in your place on the cross — suffering the punishment that God’s justice demands for sin.

Then Jesus rose again from the grave, defeating even death! The Bible tells us, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).

You have an important choice to make today – you can either hope for the best and continue doing what you like, OR, repent–turn from your sins–and trust in Jesus Christ alone to fully forgive your sins! He died to save you from a real place called HELL!

Your conscience tells you you need to turn around. Ask Him in prayer to save your soul right now! God says it is impossible for any sinner to save themselves from the penalty of their sin through their own good works! But God has provided a way out for you.

God’s Love

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” Ephesians 2:8,9. Only Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross, was buried, and three days later miraculously rose again to bring something called salvation to anyone who would just call on Him in prayer to save them!

Being rescued from the penalty of our sins and invited to become a child of God is a GIFT! “The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23.

Stop trying to be good enough for heaven, and just accept by faith the free gift that Jesus offers even a sinner like YOU! For God, it cost everything. For us, it is all free! All you have to do is ASK in faith – “For whosoever shall call (in prayer) upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.” Romans 10:13.

Don’t be so proud you would miss this opportunity. Hell is full of good people who were too proud to do what needed to be done, right away!

God has set the standard for His own home. It’s called “the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Anything that could detract from His glory, mar His home, deface His image, or introduce rebellion must be kept out. In other words, His standard is perfection. But nobody could meet that, could they?

Only one person has, the Lord Jesus Christ. He “did no sin” (1 Peter 2:22). “In Him is no sin” (1 John 3:5). He “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The rest of us have failed miserably — “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). We deserve to be barred from admission to God’s home. Beyond that, we deserve just judgment for the sin we
have committed.

How Can Anyone Approach a Perfect God?

Only through the perfection of the one perfect man, Christ Jesus, can anyone approach God. He offers salvation to all through the blood He shed on Calvary’s cross. He suffered wrath against sin from a holy God so that we could come to God through Him. He “now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).

Repent means to turn away from a life of sinning and wanting our own way, and to humbly receive what He says about our sin and His provision to save us from what we deserve. Then we discover that “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Will you turn from your sins and self efforts and call out to Him as your Saviour who provides His righteousness for you today?