Good Enough for Heaven and Not Bad Enough for Hell — E.A. Johnston

Years ago, a friend asked me to go visit his dying aunt, who was in the hospital, at her bedside. I introduced myself as her nephew's friend, and after some small talk, I asked her a question. I asked, When it comes time for you to die, do you know for sure if you're going to heaven?

She answered yes. I said, Why are you so certain? She informed me she'd been a member in good standing in the Methodist Church for 30 years. I then replied, Well, some folks mistake church membership for salvation.

She told me, not her. She was going to heaven because she never robbed a liquor store or killed anybody. That's what the old gal said. She had made up her mind. She was going to heaven when she died because she was good enough for heaven and not bad enough for hell.

The Myth of Being Good Enough for Heaven

The majority of mankind, friends, thinks that way. That they're good enough for heaven because they're not bad enough for hell. That only really bad people go to hell, like murderers and serial killers and sociopaths.

Everybody else is a good, hardworking, honest person who helps their neighbors. They're good people. They're loved by their loved ones. And when they die, they go straight to heaven. Just listen to how the world talks when someone dies.

Everybody goes to heaven. They'll say, Well, at least he's not suffering anymore. We comfort the grieving family by saying, I know you miss him, but look at it this way. At least he's not in any more pain.

That's how people think that at the end of the road, when it comes time to die, heaven is waiting where there no longer is any pain or suffering. They'll say, My daddy was a good man. Why? He helped everybody.

He's up there with God now. But the trouble is, good people don't go to heaven. Only forgiving people get to go there. All babies will die when they go to heaven because David said to his child, I will go to him.

I have a baby in heaven myself. I know some of you do as well. You don't have to worry about them. But heaven is barred against anyone who isn't born from above and washed in the blood of Christ Jesus.

Human Guilt and God's Judgment

If you die in your sins, you'll bust hell wide open. When you die, God will not allow any rebel into his kingdom who's still pointing a shotgun or rebellion at him. You see, friends, most folks believe they're good enough for heaven because they're not bad enough for hell.

But the truth is, from the Bible's standpoint, all men are rebels against God. They're in a perish and lost condition and under the condemnation of a thrice holy God who must punish sin and the sentencing of the law must be carried out upon all guilty lawbreakers.

Sin is the transgression of the law, so says the Word of God. And the God of the Word says, I shall by no means clear the guilty. So the reality is, when it comes time to die, most folks just enter a crisis eternity in or damned in the devil's hell.

Oh, I know most preachers won't talk to you like this, friend. They'll just give you nice little messages. They'll just soothe you and calm you and make you laugh. But I've got a burden for your soul.

I'm being honest with you tonight. Like we say in the South, I'm going to give you the oil straight from the can. I'm not going to smooth things or soft soap things for you, friends. Listen to me. God says no one is good enough for heaven because all men are bad enough for hell.

So most folks hope of heaven is only a hole in the wall. Well, that's my introduction to my message this evening, friends, entitled Good Enough for Heaven and Not Bad Enough for Hell. Young person, you listen to this old preacher.

Repentance Is Not Replaced by Church or Religion

Don't assume you automatically go into heaven just because you were raised in a Christian home, just because you were raised in church. You got to get to Christ yourself. Church membership is not salvation.

A lot of folks assume that the religion is their ticket to heaven. They cling to their religion and wrap themselves in the robes of their religion. Whether they're a good Muslim, a good Mormon, a good Jew, a good Buddhist, or a good Baptist.

If religion got folks into heaven, then why did Jesus speak against the Pharisees and the scribes, who were the most religious leaders of his day, calling them vipers and children of the devil? Jesus pronounced woes upon them.

Religion won't save you, friend. Only repentance towards God and faith in Christ Jesus saves. There's no such thing as a Christian who's never repented. Most of the opposition I've encountered in preaching in churches has been on the doctrine of repentance.

Why? I've had deacons face me and with fire in their eyes just look at me like they wanted to kill me when I said, you must repent or just go on to hell. God sees all men as guilty rebels who deserve punishment in hell.

For God is holy and he hates sin. God is angry with the wicked day and night. So says the word of God in Psalm 711, unsaved man in his natural state is hell bound no matter how good a person is, no matter how honest he is or hardworking he is, trying to work your way to heaven by a good opinion of yourself and having a long track record of religious service is like, listen to me, it's like trying to climb up to heaven on a rope of sand.

One little gust of wind is going to blow the whole thing away. It can't be done. Listen to me, friend, you must be born again. The good Baptist stands on slippery ground unless they're born again believers.

If you don't repent, you'll surely die and go to hell. Even if you are the chairman of the deacons in Job, we read of the fate of the unsaved. Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering.

Jesus Christ Is the Only Way of Salvation

If you're not under Christ's blood, then you're good enough for hell. We are born with a rune nature and a bent towards sin. You must be born from above and washed in the blood. You must get to Jesus, Jesus.

Listen to me, Jesus is the only remedy and refuge for sin. He is the pearl of great price worth selling all for so we can be gained. In John 14, 6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

Here, Jesus answers the three greatest questions of the human heart. How can I be saved? Jesus says, I am the way. How can I be sure? Jesus says, I am the truth. How can I be satisfied? Jesus says, I am the life.

He is the bread of life. In John 6, 35, Jesus says, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Salvation is saving faith in Christ Jesus, but I fear many in the church today have believed the fact that Jesus died for them without ever believing on the Christ who died.

The Cross Demonstrates God's Judgment on Sin

You must get to Christ, friend. Listen, friend, Jesus came into this world doing good. Jesus was healing the sick. Jesus was feeding the hungry, giving sight to the blind, even raising the dead to life.

Yet what happened? Men cried, away with him, and nailed him to a cross, putting him to death, exposed the enmity of man's heart against God, so they crucified him. In Matthew's gospel, we read, then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers, and they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe, and when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head in a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews, and they spit upon him, and they took the reed and smote him on the head, and after that, they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify him.

And as those Roman soldiers took those nails and fastened the Son of God to that tree, every stroke of the hammer was an explanation point, God must punish sin. God must punish sin. God must punish sin.

The Cross Offers Cleansing and Reconciliation

Look that man on the cross, friend. Look that blessed man on the cross. See him there with his arms outstretched, beckoning you to come to him and believe on him. Look at that bloodstained Savior for sin, he cries.

Look unto me and be saved. All ye ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. Look at that lamb, that slain lamb on that bloody cross, bearing the terrible weight of sin, my rotten sins, your filthy sins, see him there as he pleads.

Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though ye sins be as scarlet, they should be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they should be as wool. The cross is the place where men sought to get rid of him, but by his death, it becomes the place where his saving power flows out to all who come in repentance, confessing they are sinners, and own them as their Savior and Lord.

The Urgent Gospel Invitation

If you've not trusted this blessed Savior, receive him now before it's too late. Soon he will come in judgment on this world when his anger shall burn as an oven, and then you shall meet him as your judge.

Come now, come, come to Jesus. Young lady, don't wait any longer. What are you waiting for, mister? Don't wait until you better come, come to Jesus. Bring to him your heartache, bring to him your fears, bring to him your sin burden, and leave it at his nail-pierced feet.

Listen, listen, friend, to the last gospel invitation that's found in the Bible. It may be for you, your last invitation to come. You may be taken out of this world. They may not even be here a year from now.

Listen, listen, even if you're the biggest sinner in this town tonight, there's room at the cross for you. There's a fountain full of blood, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains, but don't delay, friend, don't delay.

If you hear God's voice speaking to you tonight, to your heart to come to Jesus, to the only remedy for sin in the person of Christ Jesus, then come. For God says, in the spirit and the bride say, come.

And let him that hearsay come, and let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.