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QUESTION 3
It seems right to believe that a person must be really good to go to heaven; how is it then that people are saying it is not by our goodness that we get there?

ANSWER:
It is a very normal thinking that if heaven is a good place only good people go there. Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end are the ways of death" Man never wants to admit his helplessness. In doing so he is admitting his own sinfulness. Man will admit he is a sinner, but will defend himself when those sins are exposed. The big problem with salvation by works is that no good work will take away one sin we have ever committed. It is sin that will keep a person out of heaven. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate (a man that is womanlike) nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God" Now this is quite a list. No good works could ever cleanse a person from these sins and make them acceptable to God and for heaven.

The next verse tells us the only way a poor unclean sinner can enter heaven. "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." 1 John 1:7, "..and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son.

Have you taken your place before the cross of Christ as an unclean and unfit sinner? Have you trusted Christ fully to save you from all sin?

All comments and questions to: Harold Smith

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Updated July 2009, by Shelly Allen