How good do we have to be to get to heaven?

For some reason it is very popular to believe that you must believe in God and do good things in your life to get to heaven. This is not what the Bible teaches of course as I hope to illustrate here.

Romans 10:9 says: That if you confess with your mouth that Jesus as Lord…lets stop there “Jesus as Lord” that doesn’t mean you just believe that Jesus was a good teacher or that He has some good life lessons that you should follow, and if you believe that your saved. No, this is clearly saying that Christ must be Lord of your life. What does it mean to be Lord of your life you ask? Well that’s simple make God the center of your life and follow his teachings which are shown throughout the Bible.

…continuing…and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead… let’s pause once again. This is something we need to pay extra special attention to. If you do not believe that Christ died on the cross and rose again after three days then there is no point in Christianity. Christ’s resurrection was the greatest validation of His ministry and teachings. Without him being raised from the dead there is no salvation. The resurrection shows His triumph over sin, the Father accepted his sacrifice for sinners throughout the world. If Jesus did not raise up again then we would have no hope for the future, it would have proved his ministry false.

…you will be saved… isn’t that a great promise to be saved from eternal death and damnation. The bible describes hell as “a furnace of fire” and “where there will be weeping and gnashing of the teeth” (Mathew 13:42). Now according to this verse (rom 10:9) the only thing we need to do is to accept Christ as Lord, we cannot ourselves do anything to be saved. There is no amount of good deeds that will enter us into eternal life (that is eternal life with God) we have to rely on God and Christ’s sacrifice for us. In Ephesians it states: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8-9 NASB)