PASTOR'S CORNER, Pat Mann, President of Good Samaritan Auxiliary
How good is good? How good would you have to be to be received into heaven when you die? I once spoke to a man who thought he was “good enough.” He said he was always faithful in marriage, he never cheated in business deals, he provided for his family. He said, “I’m as good as any of those people down at the church – better than most.” He believed he was on the “Good Enough” list. Yet another man told me that he was such a bad sinner, God could never forgive him. He was on the “Too Bad” list. Both of these men were wrong.
Look at what the Bible says about the condition of mankind: “For there is no one truly righteous person on the earth who does good and never sins” (Eccles. 7:20). Another text says, “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” What you think about how good you are may depend upon with whom you are comparing yourself. Almost everyone can find someone deemed more evil than he/she.
The prophet, Isaiah, could have had some reason to think he was a special and righteous man – a true prophet of God. But when he saw a vision of God, he could only say, “Woe is me. I am unclean.”
Maybe you think you are somewhere in-between – not all good but not all bad. So where does an in-betweener go when he/she dies? There just is no eternal place for such a person.
So, who was the really bad man who went to heaven? He was paying for his crimes on a cross next to the Lord Jesus. He listened to what the mocking crowd was saying to Jesus: “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross and we will believe you.” The bad man caught on to the “Son of God” things that were being said. He looked upon Jesus with new eyes. He did not see a broken man paying for his sins; he saw a king – a righteous king. He said to the other criminal on the other side of Jesus, “We deserve our punishment, but this man (Jesus) has done nothing wrong.” The man turned to Jesus and said, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus, seeing the faith in the man’s heart, did much more than the man even asked. Jesus told him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
That man may not ever have done a good deed. He had no chance to be baptized. He had no time to partake of the Lord’s Table with other believers. He did not have long to live. He was just a really bad man who made a confession of guilt and a statement of faith in the person of Jesus Christ. That was enough.
I remember Dr. David Jeremiah standing at his pulpit who said, “Good people don’t go to heaven.” A very jaw-dropping remark. He further explained, “Forgiven people go to heaven.” So heaven will be occupied by a large number of bad people who put their trust in Jesus the Christ. We do not go to heaven because we are good. We go to heaven because He (Jesus) is good. To that end is that which began at Christmas – the birth of the Son of God into the world. Jesus did not have the sin seed as everyone else does at conception. He faced every temptation and never sinned even once. Actually, it did not begin with the birth of Jesus – the Bible tells us that God planned it “before the foundation of the world.”
“For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast: Eph. 2: 8-9)
The best Christmas gift ever!
