It is very poignant that in light of this current COVID-19 pandemic, the end-of-the-world theorist or “Armageddon” and “Raptures’ theorist” are interpreting the pandemic as initiation of the cataclysmic event. But be that the case or not, Jesus Christ had advised His own not to worry about the times and dates that the Heavenly Father sets. However, unless an individual think about how much good works they can or want to achieve in the time period before the event, then that is the ground such individuals rationalizes for themselves for ignoring Jesus Christ’ instruction.
Reasons “Good people go to Hell”
Even our “good works” cannot save us. Salvation is by Grace
We need the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and our surrender to him as Lord and Saviour, to clean our lives of sin and make us fit to live in Heaven.
Romans 3:23; since all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God.
In Romans 2, the apostle Paul shares with us the seven factors of judgment that Jesus will use when he opens the Books of Works at the Great White Throne Judgment. From these books Jesus will prove why good people are not fit for Heaven.
Romans 2 does not show folks how to be saved. This passage shows folks why they are lost! These are not the principles of salvation. These are the principles of evaluation.
- God will judge everything according to truth because we all are in the habit of comparing ourselves with others.
On Judgment Day God will say to those who died without Jesus Christ as their Saviour, “Let’s judge you for who and what you really are.”
- God will evaluate according to His kindness. Romans 2:4 God’s judgment will be in proportion to the amount of kindness that God has poured out to people during their lifetimes.
God expends his kindness to us that he might lead us to repentance.
Christians often wonder why lost people seem to have it so good. The answer is that it’s just God’s kindness to turn them to repentance – the longer they reject his kindness, the more inexcusable they will be when they stand at the Great White Throne Judgment.
- God will evaluate according to His accumulated wrath. Romans 2:5. Hardening of arteries can take us to an early grave – but hardening of the heart, spiritually, will take us ultimately to the Lake of Fire.
If the grace and kindness of God have not led us to repentance, then every day, moment by moment, hour by hour, we are storing up drops of the terrible treasure of God’s wrath which will break forth at the Great White Throne.
God is allowing us to live and he is holding back punishment – giving us kindness – so that we might turn to him in repentance.
Our judgment for eternity will be in direct proportion to the amount of kindness that God has given to us to which we ignored as coming from God.
- God will evaluate according to deeds. Romans 2:6-10. This is the deal breaker, this is why even Apostle Paul with everything that he did for the spreading of the Gospel, was told in 2 Cor.12:9 “My Grace is sufficient”. Standing before God now is the person who says, “Look, God, judge me according to my deeds. I’ve lived a good life. Take my good works and put them beside my bad ones and certainly the good will outweigh the bad!”
But the problem with the moral man is that he thought that his good deeds will be weighed against his bad deeds or at least be compared against the deeds of others.
That will not be the case. God will take the best works of the moral man or woman and compare them with Jesus’ deeds. Jesus raises the lame, gives sight to the blind, and heals the sick. He takes on the sins of the entire world and by his death and sacrifice brings salvation to those who commit to him as Saviour and Lord.
No person in his or her right mind wants to be judged on works. He or she wants mercy.
- God will evaluate without playing favourites. Romans 2:11; God offers salvation to everyone because everyone needs it. God is no respecter of persons. He shows no favouritism. Regarding the issue of sin, no one is better than anyone else from God’s perspective. An analogy goes this way;
Go to the top of the 10-story building, look down, and all the cars will look like toys. Then “Look at the people.” You’ll notice that “They all look small.” You cannot tell the difference “between the five-foot-tall people and the six-foot-tall people”. However down on the sidewalk or street level “you can tell the difference between a tall man and a short man easily”. So, it is in our human judgments. On the human level we see all sorts of variations in wealth, culture, education, character, goodness, and badness.
But, from God’s point of view from the 10th story, everyone looks alike! Without being irreverent I can almost hear God saying to some individuals,
“You dummy. Do you really figure that you have calculated some shifty plan that will let you go up against me and get away with it? You don’t have a ghost of a chance.”
God doesn’t like to judge. He definitely says that judgment is his “strange work” (Isaiah 28:21-22).
Nevertheless, he will judge: “He who spared not his own Son but delivered him up” will certainly not hesitate to judge those who reject his free offer of grace in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:32).
- God will evaluate according to how well we’ve lived up to the light we have received. Romans 2:12-15; There are two types of people: Those who have heard the gospel and those who have not. Both are judged according to how they respond to what they know. In other words, they will be judged on the amount of “light” which they have received.
Those who have heard the gospel have seen the “light” and by receiving Christ are living up to the level of the light they have received. But there are many people who hear the gospel and reject it. They have not lived up to the light and therefore stand condemned for God.
Of course, this begs the question regarding the natives in remote parts of the world who will never be exposed to, or hear, the gospel during their lifetimes. This is certainly unfair to send people to hell and have never had the chance, and most likely never will have the chance, to hear the gospel and respond positively to Christ.
Paul teaches us that these folks will be judged according to how well they live up to what they know, and they know much more than we realize. They have an internal conscience which guides them as to what is right and wrong behaviour. They can look at the stars at night and see the universe and know that there must be a God who created all.
In a startling way, Paul seems to be teaching us that salvation is available to those who never heard the gospel if they live up to the light they’ve received.
“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger” (Romans 2:7-8).
This idea of living up to the light brings up some intriguing thoughts. Do you know anyone who’s lived up to the light they have received? Is it possible that God accepts for salvation those who have lived up to the light received, then, perhaps, it’s best that we not share the gospel because those who hear it may reject it and be lost. They might have a better chance to live up to the light that you have received.
People who have greater “light” have more responsibility to live up to the “light” (Matthew 11:23-24).
The key is – are we living up to what we know? The answer is a resounding “No!” No person performs up to the level of what they know. We all fall short.
- God will evaluate according to the inner secrets of the heart. Romans 2:16; At the Great White Throne God will open the closet doors and reveal the secrets of the people who stand there. Jesus spoke of this often (Matthew 10:26-27). Skeletons will come out of closets then. Deeds long buried in the depths of memory will be brought up. Unsolved crimes will find their solutions. These are the secrets of men.
As a Christian I know with absolute assurance that I will never stand before this Judgment Bar. “There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
(Anyway, I’ve already settled my case out of court!)
The way to avoid The Judgment Seat of Christ is to settle your case before it comes to trial.
Christ said, “If you meet your adversary in the roadway, you had better settle with him, lest he drag you into court and you have to pay to the uttermost penny!” (Matthew 5:25-26).
In this passage, the adversary will be God. He will be Judge, Jury, and Prosecuting Attorney.
Christ died on the cross to offer us a chance to accept him now and settle our sin issue before Judgment Day comes. If we die without Christ, our case will come to trial and God has enough evidence to condemn every person to Hell – and he will. There is mercy now – settle out of court. The days of mercy are not without end. When we die, our choice is sealed for eternity.
