Would God Send Good People To Hell?
Because God is holy sin MUST be condemned. In the Judicial system if someone breaks the law they are brought before a court of law, their case is judged and a sentence imposed according to the crime. The criminal must pay for his or her crime.
You have been caught driving at 150kph in a 60kph zone. The consequence is you must pay the fine or go to jail.
In the same way, because God is Holy and righteous, sin or disobedience to God’s laws must be punished. Because God is everlasting, God’s punishment is everlasting and His jail is not a cell, it’s the lake of fire (hell).
If we go to hell it’s not God’s fault, we go to hell because we rejected God’s loving offer TO BE SAVED from his wrath.
But I’m A Good Person
You may say, I am a good person Ive not killed anyone and I do my best to help others. True, this is very commendable and a good thing to do, you have good morals. Your friends would also contest that you are ‘a good person’. The issue not of how good you are, but sin. Sin is the problem that condemns us, it keeps us from God and good works cannot fix that.
“For as by the one man’s disobedience [Adam] the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience [Jesus Christ] the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19)
We need the Forgiveness of sin to have eternal life
We Are Sinners In The Eyes Of God
While in your eyes you are a pretty good person, in the eyes of God it is a very different story. God is Holy and completely without sin, perfect in every way, without evil thought or action…God cannot lie, it is impossible for God to lie. God is 100% perfect, righteous and holy. By breaking just a single law we have fallen short of the mark God has set. We sin in thought and deed everyday. We all stand guilty and there is a price to pay for disobedience.
“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.” (Romans 3:10-12)
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
To get to Heaven through our own merits you would have to be 100% perfect your entire life and no one has lived a perfect life.
We Will Give Account Of Our Lives
God tells us that after death we will be called to give account of our lives. Your whole life has been recorded by God, every idle word and every thought and you will be judged.
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27)
“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.” (Revelation 20:11-15)
Unbelievers Must Pay For Their Sin
If you do not believe, God’s punishment for sin is to spend all eternity in the lake of fire.
“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)
“And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15)
“And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night…” (Revelation 14:11a)
The Good News is that while God justly prepared hell for the punishment of sin, in his loving mercy, He has also provided the means whereby we can be saved.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” (Romans 5:8-9)
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”(Romans 6:23)
God loves us that much that although we are sinners, deserving of death and hell, God provided a way for us to escape His wrath. That way is in His only begotten son Jesus Christ.
“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6)
“He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)
There is no sitting on the fence, there are just two choices;
1. Pay for our sin ourselves by dying and going to Hell, or
2. We can accept God’s free gift of eternal life and go to Heaven when we die.