Will You Be Saved Because You Are A Good Person?

"You believe that there is one God. You do well, even the demons believe - and tremble!" James 2:19 Believing that there is a God is not sufficient. Demons believe that there is a God. There is only one God, and it's vital that you know who he is. Who IS the true God? Is he the God of the Jews? The Christians? The Muslims? The Buddhists? Do all paths lead to God as long as one believes there is a God? Do all paths lead to God as long as a person is sincere? Well, no. If one can be saved through believing in any god or any religion, then you'd have to take Jesus out of the list because he said that no one can come to the Father EXCEPT through him, meaning that all others are imposters: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father EXCEPT through me.'" John 14:6 Jesus said there is only ONE way. That means there is NO OTHER way. Why is that so? It's because all other religions are based on a lie. They tell you that the way to be saved is by doing good works. They tell you you'll be saved if your good outweighs your bad. And that is heresy. It's a lie. The truth is the very opposite of that. No one is saved by his good deeds. "...by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight..." Romans 3:20 Because ...we are all fallen and our righteousness is worthless: "But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;" Isaiah 64:6 How ARE we saved, then? It's the same analogy mentioned so many times before, but it is worth repeating. When a man accused of murder stands before a judge, telling the judge all the good things he has done is pointless. No good he has done, however grand it may be, is of any concern to the judge because the issue is the man's crime. And so it is with us. We are sinners, every one of us. And when we stand before the judge, our good deeds are not the issue. Our sins are the issue. No amount of good that we have done has any merit whatsoever because our sins are the point. We are all guilty. No one stained with sin can enter heaven. "For the wages of sin is death..." Romans 6:23 And we are all condemned and under the death penalty. That's where Jesus Christ comes in. That's WHY he came. Jesus came into the world to save condemned sinners. He took the sentence due us - upon himself, when he hung upon that cross in our place. The wrath of God was meted out upon him - for us. The rest of verse 6: "...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Because our sins received their due judgment when Christ took the judgment upon himself, we then are granted eternal life if we but receive him and surrender our selves and our lives to him. Sounds so easy, doesn't it? But it isn't. We first have to come to the place of surrendering our pride and admitting our lostness. Most people won't ever get this far because the pride of man is deeply ingrained within him. Pride is the strongest force within man. So we see that what religions teach is the exact opposite of the truth. Satan doesn't care what you believe - as long as it's not the truth, and he has created multitudes of “religions” to draw mankind away from the one truth, the redemption found in Christ alone. Satan is not only a liar, he is a great counterfeiter and that's what all those other religions are all about. “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who believes on him is not condemned: but he who believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 3:17-18 If you are willing to surrender your pride and admit your lostness, pray with me: Father God, let my pride be broken before you. I am not standing before you offering you my goodness, because I realize I am a sinner and am under the sentence of death and hell. But your Son came into the world and took that sentence upon himself in my place. So I ask you to receive me, an admitted sinner, and grant me the forgiveness of my sins because of what Jesus your Son accomplished in my place. Lord Jesus, I surrender myself and my life to you. Make me what you want me to be. Accomplish in me what I am totally unable to accomplish in my own strength and prideful "wisdom." Heal my battered soul, Lord Jesus. Set me free of the evil which has had control over me all my life. I surrender all to you, and with all my heart I thank you. Amen. MORE: Who Is God? What Does "Born Again" mean?