Frequently
Asked Questions
6. If my good deeds outweigh
my bad deeds can I still reach Heaven?
In the early sixties, a song came out by
J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, entitled, "The
Last Kiss." The song is about a couple out on
a date who get into a car accident. The girl dies in
her boyfriend's arms. He mourns her death singing: "Oh
where, oh where, can my baby be, The Lord took her
away from me, She's gone to heaven so I got to be good,
So I can see my baby when I leave this world."
This song sums up the attitude of a lot of people.
They think if they can live a good life, if the good
works they
do outweigh the bad, then they will have earned their way
to heaven.
Unfortunately, the Bible does not allow anyone
to earn his way to heaven. The Scriptures teach that
good works have
nothing to do with one entering into a right relationship
with God. This relationship is nothing we can earn, because
God has done everything for us.
" Not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to his mercy he saved us" (Titus
3:5, KJV).
" 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, KJV).
"
But without faith it is impossible to please him" (Hebrews
11:6, KJV).
"
This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom
he hath sent" (John 6:29,
KJV).
If our eternal salvation
was on the basis of works and we could earn it successfully,
then God would be our debtor:
He would owe us something (Romans
4:1-3). The Bible teaches
that God owes no man anything, and our own righteousness
is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).
The simple reason is that
God has a perfect standard, and all of us have sinned and
come short of this mark (Romans
3:23). We like to compare ourselves to others, and thus we
feel that we are not so bad after all. But God compares us
to Jesus Christ, and next to Him we cannot help but fall
far short, all of us without exception.
This can be illustrated
by the following example. Out in Southern California, there
is an island off the coast called
Catalina, twenty-six miles from the pier at Newport Beach.
Suppose that one day three men are standing on the end of
the pier.
One is an alcoholic, grubby, sick, living in the
streets. The second is the average American, and the third
a fine,
upstanding pillar-of-thecommunity person.
All of a sudden,
the alcoholic leaps off the edge of the pier five feet out
into the water. The other two yell, "What
are you trying to do?" The man in the water yells back, "I'm
jumping to Catalina!"
The second man, the average man on the street, says, "Watch
me. I can do better than that!" He proceeds to jump,
landing ten feet out, twice as far as the alcoholic. The
third man, very moral, upright, outstanding person he is,
laughs disdainfully at the two men in the water.
He moves back about fifty yards, takes a running leap and
lands twenty feet out, twice as far as Mr. Average, and four
times as far as Mr. Alcoholic.
The Coast Guard fishes them
out of the water and asks what they are doing, to which they
all reply, "We are jumping
to Catalina," and Mr. Average boasts of his beating
Mr. Alcoholic, and Mr. Great boasts of his accomplishment
in beating both of them.
The Coast Guard officer could only
shake his head and exclaim, "You
fools! You are all still twenty-six miles short of your mark."
Although
modern man considers himself better than or at least as good
as- others, he is still far from the target
God has set for us. It is impossible for anyone to jump from
the pier to Catalina, and it is impossible for anyone to
reach heaven by his own deeds and apart from Jesus Christ.
As Jesus Himself puts it, "No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me" (John 14:6, KJV).
1 Is Jesus God?
2 Can Christianity be proved?
3 Is The Bible really word of God?
4 What so special about Christianity?
5 What about all the war and suffering caused by Christians?
6 If my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds can I still reach
Heaven?
7 What happens to those who’ve
never heard of Jesus?
8 If God is so good why does he allow evil to exist?
9 Truth and tolerance, what does
Christ require?