Talking to people about God and heaven, some tell me, “I'm pretty good, but I'm not perfect.” They seem to think they can live with the perfectly righteous Creator in a perfect place with something less than perfection.
God is perfectly good. His goodness demands that of us. That is the point of the “Good News,” the Gospel. We are hopelessly unable to meet God's standard. We need perfect righteousness to live forever with the God who is perfectly good. We fall short of God's glory. (Rom. 3:23)
“But I never murdered anybody.” “I try to do the right thing.” “I've done more good than bad.” “I hope it all works out in the end.” “I hope to straighten up my life.” The thing is, being better than the other guy is not good enough. Since God is perfectly good, any one sin has eternal consequences; and we have many. God did not leave the outcome of our choices ambiguous. The wages or pay for sin is death (separation). (Romans 6:23) God spelled out the consequences. He wrote them down in a book (The Holy Bible) so that we all could know.
We are not perfectly good. We cannot solve that problem. Only God can solve our eternal problem to give us the perfect righteousness that we need.
Only Jesus Christ, as the triune God in human flesh, could satisfy the justice of our eternal condemnation and clothe us in a righteousness equal to our eternal need.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” — John 14:6
Jesus Christ satisfied God's justice with His own blood by paying our penalty through His death and purchasing our pardon. What great love! Through His resurrection from the grave, He proved His identity as God, the sufficiency of His payment, and demonstrated His authority to clothe us in the perfect goodness that we need: His own.
By faith, by believing His Word, we receive His gift and make Him our own. Perfection can be ours only through our relationship with Him. Our righteousness is rooted in His ability to deliver us from evil. Our goodness is rooted in His character to lavish His goodness on us, in His Holy Spirit within us, and His ministry to others through us.
This is good news that every sinner needs to hear! It is God's gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ that makes us acceptable to God. It is available to all by faith.
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” — John 3:36
“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” — 1 John 5:11-13