The Strand Study Bible

MATTHEW

MATTHEW

1532

1. First of all , if good people go to Heaven, shouldn’t God have communicated that to us directly? Outside of the seven verses listed above, there is absolutely no connection anywhere in the Bible between the Ten Commandments and Heaven. None! Nada! Zilch! It doesn’t exist. In fact, there is no promise of heaven anywhere in Moses’ writings for people who keep the Law. Ever heard of the Sadducees? They were Jewish scholars who spent their entire lives studying the Law. The greatest reason why the Sadducees didn’t believe in a resurrection (an afterlife) is because Moses never mentioned it. No wonder they came to the conclusion that keeping the Law in no way guaranteed a person anything beyond this life. Simply put, Moses never connected the two within his writings. Yet despite this fact, we have religious leaders of all shapes, sizes, and persuasions who claim that they know the formula for getting to Heaven. The problem, of course, is that they all have a different formula, thus begging the question, “Just whose religious standard of good are we to follow?” Point being: if good people go to Heaven, shouldn’t we have a clear and consistent definition from God, and not man, as to what good is. And yet, there is no list, not from God! Now if God didn’t make a list for how good we have to be to get to heaven, why would we want to trust a man’s list? For example, while some within religion are convinced that blowing up their neighbors is good and that it secures for them a place in paradise where 72 virgins await them, others are convinced that hatred for other races (racism) is good and right. Again, if good people go to Heaven, shouldn’t we have a clear and consistent definition from God as to what good is? Even religious leaders fail to agree on what “good” is. Andy Stanley put it this way, “We need a list.” 1 We need some kind of list from God of dos and don’ts that guarantee us Heaven. Yet there is no list. There may be a list of dos and don’ts in the Bible connected with this life, but never the next life. It just isn’t there. Nowhere in the Bible does God promise Heaven for those who keep the law. And nowhere does God threaten Hell for those who don’t. We find absolutely no help in our quest for a “list” by which we may earn favor with God. In fact, just the opposite is true. When it comes to justification before a Holy God, attempting to keep the law is what keeps us from Heaven, not takes us there (Rom 3:20 and Gal 3:10-13). 2. Secondly , if good people go to Heaven, shouldn’t Jesus have communicated that to us directly? Not only did the OT not give us a detailed list to follow in order to inherit Heaven, neither did Christ. However, He did reinterpret the Law to make it impossible for anybody (including the scribes and the Pharisees) to keep the law in order to get to Heaven (Mt 5:27-28). Andy Stanley notes: If you’re looking for a God who lets good people into Heaven, stay away from the New Testament. And by all means avoid the teachings of Jesus. His standards are even higher than those found in the Old Testament law. 1 3. Thirdly , if good people go to Heaven, shouldn’t the professional do-gooders (scribes and Pharisees) have gone? Nobody took their job more serious than did the scribes and the Pharisees. In fact, they came up with even more rules and laws than Moses did. Simply put, they were professional do-gooders (Mt 23:23). Yet, when addressing the common people in Matthew 5, Jesus warned them that unless their righteousness surpassed that of the scribes and Pharisees, they would in no way enter Heaven (Mt 5:20). In other words, what Jesus was saying was, “As good as the scribes and the Pharisees are, even they aren’t good enough.” Think about it! If professional do-gooders, who made a living out of being good, weren’t good enough, how can the common do-gooders be good enough? 4. Lastly , if good people go to Heaven, shouldn’t bad people go to Hell? According to Luke 23:39-43, the thief on the cross next to Jesus was promised Heaven. If the good people go to Heaven view is correct, then the thief shouldn’t have gone. In fact, his opportunity for doing well had come and gone. By his own admission, he had lived a worthless life. How then was he promised Heaven, having never done a good thing in his life? The fact is: You can’t go to Heaven for being good any more than you can go to Hell for being bad ( Mt 22:1 , Lk 16:24 – point #1 and Jn 5:29 ). Robert Farrar Capon in The Parables of Judgment notes: It cannot be said too often that in the New Testament, the opposite of sin is not virtue, it is faith. Not only does Paul say as much in Rom. 14:23: “All that is not of faith is sin”; his endless insistence that salvation is not by the works of the law but by grace through faith (not to mention Jesus’ constant habit of making prodigals, unjust stewards, tax collectors, and sinners into heroes) bears witness to the fact that our morals have nothing to do with either our salvation or our damnation. 2 Contrary to religious opinion, our Lord not only taught that good people don’t go to Heaven; He taught that bad people do. How is it that lawbreakers get to go to Heaven, but lawkeepers do not? Paul said in Romans 4:4-5: Now to him that tries to keep the law is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that tries not, but believeth on Christ who justifieth the ungodly , his faith is counted for righteousness . Charles Spurgeon in All of Grace notes:

It does sound surprising, does it not, that it should be possible for a holy God to justify an unholy man? You thought, did you not, that salvation was for the good? That God’s grace was for the pure and holy? However, He makes those just who are unjust, forgives those who deserve to be punished, and favors those who deserve no favor. He comes, not because we are just, but to make us so: he justifies the ungodly . 3

There are enough “flaws” in the good people go to Heaven view to convince any honest seeking person to discover the truth for themselves. But then again, therein lies the problem –religious people by nature are not honest seeking people. They are people who are set in their ways because they are afraid of being wrong. Thus, they refuse to come to the truth. NOTE – According to the Bible, there are only two kinds of religions in the world ( Rom 3:11 ): 1. The kind that believes you have to do something “good” to get to Heaven