Wait! How can that possibly be good news? Most of think we are pretty good people. And most of us would like to believe that if we treat people well and do enough good deeds that, surely, God would welcome us into heaven! But if this is your viewpoint, just how many good acts do you have to do? Do you need to be as good as Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, or perhaps Gandhi or someone else you consider to be a “good” person? If you think you know the standard, then what happens if you fall 1 or 2 good deeds short? Wouldn’t that really tick you off, if you thought you were good enough only to find yourself a couple good deeds short? And what happens if God counts all of our meanness and bad actions against us, and those end up offsetting the good we do? The truth is, most of us don’t really think this through at all! We just assume we are good people because we can always point to someone down the street or at work or school or in the news who is a much worse person than us, so we rationalize that we are pretty good!

As a pastor for many years, I’ve seen people in my churches as well as those who aren’t Christian believers at all be equally confused about this question. Let me share what the Bible says, and maybe you will find this to be a welcome solution. In what seems like bad news, the Bible makes it clear that NONE of us are good enough on our own to make it to heaven! In Romans Ch. 3 Paul tell us:
Romans 3:9-12 (NIV)
9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
As a matter of fact, Paul explains that we are actually spiritually dead in our sins, unable to do anything to save ourselves! He explains this in Ephesians Ch. 2:
Ephesians 2:1-10 (NIV)
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The good news of Christianity is that we are saved from our sinfulness by Jesus’ forgiveness through his death for us on the cross. This is where Christianity differs from all other “religions”. They all tell us to work hard and do good to prove ourselves to God, but Jesus did all the work for us on the cross, and we are invited to accept his gift of forgiveness by faith, or trusting in him.

Let’s get back to Heaven, or the Kingdom of God. Would you want it to be like this world, where because of our sinfulness we have wars, injustice, hatred, murder, and all the other horrible things that make life tragic and difficult in this word? More importantly, would you want it to be filled with people like you and me, marred because of our sinfulness in the very way we think and act? At our best, we are still flawed by sin and can’t think or act in ways that are always good or right.
No, God has much better plans than that for his eternal Kingdom! He wants us to be perfect and sinless, just as he intended before sin entered our world back in the Garden of Eden. He gives us a little hint in Revelation:
Revelation 21:1-4 (NIV)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Does this mean that we can never be part of this, because we are sinful & imperfect? NO! The good news is that if we accept the free gift of forgiveness and new life that Jesus offers us through his death and resurrection, he will begin the process of changing us for the better, and when we leave this existence and enter his Kingdom fully, he will restore us to the people we were created to be! When you admit your sin and turn your life over to Jesus and decide to follow him, he promises to put his own Holy Spirit in you! Paul describes the difference in how we are now, under sin, with how we can become as we walk with the Holy Spirit’s help:
Galatians 5:16-26 (NIV)
16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. 19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

So yes, the good news is that we can’t get into God’s Kingdom by our own “goodness”. He has something far better than that planned for us! We all have a choice to accept Jesus’ free offer to forgive us and change us into new creations, or we can choose to ignore him and settle for a life limited by our sins, blindly hoping that we are somehow “good enough” and hoping it will all work out in the end. Jesus said there are 2 alternatives for life after this one: which do you choose to be part of for eternity?