Funeral service Elize.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.
Do only good people go to Heaven?
Why Good Without God Isn't Enough (John Bevere)
If it’s good, it must be God. Right?
These days the terms good and God seem synonymous. We believe what’s generally accepted as good must be in line with God’s will. Generosity, humility, justice—good. Selfishness, arrogance, cruelty—evil. The distinction seems pretty straightforward.
But is that all there is to it? If good is so obvious, why does the Bible say that we need discernment to recognize it? Hebrews 5:13-14.
Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Good and evil.
Our idea as humans of what is good and what is evil is very different from what God says is good and what is evil.
Modern psychology states that man is inherently good and that a person’s upbringing or environment is what is responsible for how they turn out, but God’s Word paints a very different picture of the state of humankind.
Jesus himself said this about us.
Matthew 7:11.
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Not only do we as humans not have a natural ability to differentiate between what is good and what is evil, we ourselves are evil.
This is how God views mankind.
The modern society in which we live has undermined all the Biblical principles that we have been brought up with in a western world that had strong Christian values due to the missionary work done by our predecessors and has replaced them with humanistic secular values that are in direct opposition to God’s Word.
Romans 3:10-18.
There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Do only good people go to Heaven?
Luke 18:18-19.
A certain ruler asked him, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good? Jesus answered. No one is good except God alone.
When Jesus was called good teacher he asked why do you call me good. It’s no wonder Jesus asked this question as we tend to call people good very often. I myself have heard it at many of the funerals I have attended.
Jesus was wanting to know on what basis this man was calling him good. We live in a world today in which things are called good that God’s Word says are evil.
The big difference between Religion and Christianity.
Religion is man in his goodness trying to reach God.
Christianity is God in His Goodness reaching out to man.
Do only good people go to Heaven?
We as humans are not experts in judging character, as unlike God we cannot see a man’s heart .
He was a good man.
Do only good people go to Heaven?
Luke 18:18-19.
A certain ruler asked him, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good? Jesus answered. No one is good, except God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.
All these I have kept since I was a boy, he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.
When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.
Who is Good?
What is your definition of a good man?
Perhaps it is someone who keeps the commandments.
Do not murder.
Do not commit adultery.
Do not give false testimony.
Do not steal.
Jesus spoke to this rich man who kept all these commandments, yet Jesus said that something was still lacking in his life. (He loved his money more than God…)
Who is Good?
There are prophets, miracle workers and those who have cast out demons will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 7: 21-23.
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you.
Away from me you evildoers!
Who is Good in this account?
Luke 18:9-14.
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: God, I thank you that I am not like other people robbers, evildoers, adulterers or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
A bad man goes to Heaven.
Luke 23:39-43.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us! But the other criminal rebuked him. Don’t you fear God, he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.
Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.
God can’t help people who think they are good.
Four vital things that took place in this man’s life as he hung on the cross next to Jesus.
1. He realised that he was a sinner.
Mark 2:15-17. (NLT) Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, Why does he eat with such scum? When Jesus heard this, he told them, Healthy people don’t need a doctor, sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.
God can’t help people who think they are good.
Matthew 5:20.
But I warn you unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!
Matthew 21:28-32.
I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do.
For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.
2. He took responsibility for his sin.
Often people blame someone else for their actions.
Luke 23:41. We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.
Genesis 3:13,14. And he said, Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? The man said, The woman you put here with me she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
Blaming others.
Adam blamed Eve and indirectly blamed God.
Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat? It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit!
Eve blamed the serpent. Then the Lord God asked the woman,
What have you done?
The serpent deceived me!
Accepting responsibility for your sin is vital.
The Prodigal son. Luke 16:20-24.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
3. He acknowledged Jesus as King.
Luke 39:42.
Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus isn't a way, He is the way.
Acts 5:12.
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
Galatians 2:21.
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
4. He confessed Jesus openly.
John 12:42-43.
Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God.
Matthew 10:32-33.
Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
Clive Pawson.
Christians should not be afraid of death.
Hebrews 4:14-15.
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death that is, the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
In fact the Christian walk starts with a burial.
Colossians 2:12.
Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
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