“Won’t a good moral person get to Heaven?”

At the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled Skeptic. During this series we are spending our time looking at the eight common questions that skeptics pose as a challenge to the Christian faith. And as we go through this series, our hope and prayer is that we would address these eight common questions that skeptics pose to challenge Christianity in way that answers these questions and that equips us to have confidence and convictions about the nature and character of God and His activity in the world around us.

This week I would like for us to spend our time together addressing the seventh of these eight common questions that those who are skeptical ask as a challenge to God and the Christian faith. And that question is this: “Won’t a good moral person get to Heaven?” If we were to have a conversation in the courtyard coffeehouse, this skeptical question would sound something like this: “Well Dave, I don’t understand why a good moral person wouldn’t get into Heaven. I mean I am not an ax-murderer. I am not a rapist. I am a good person. So why should I not be able to be in Heaven”.

Now this is not a new question. As a matter a fact this question is the subject of a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Romans. The book of Romans is a letter that was written to a church that was located in the center of the most powerful empire in the known world. Rome was not only the capital city of the Roman Empire; it was also the cultural and intellectual center of the known world. Rome was so influenced by Greek culture and thought that they were often referred to as Greeks. To give us a little perspective, if we were to take New York City, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles and combine the characteristics that mark these cities into one city, you would have Rome.

In addition, the Rome was an extremely diverse city ethnically and spiritually. The city was filled with a wide range of religious and philosophical systems, including, Judaism, and Greek and Roman polytheism. And as Christianity began to take root and spread in the midst of this diverse intellectual, cultural, and spiritual society, a question began to be asked by the residents of Rome: Is the God that is portrayed in the Bible right? Are the claims of Christianity right? 

Paul responded to these questions by writing a letter that proclaimed that the timeless answer to these questions was that the claims of Jesus Christ and the message of the gospel reveal the reality that God is right. Paul proclaimed that God is right. God always has been right; God always will be right. And the extent that we are right when it comes to our relationship with God is directly related to the extent that our heads, hearts, and hands line up with what God believes is right, because God is right.

Paul then stated that the fact that God is right is revealed to all humanity through the message of the gospel. The message that that while all of humanity was created for a relationship with God and one another, all of humanity selfishly chose to reject that relationship, instead choosing to love our selves over God and others. And it is out of our selfishness that we do things that hurt God and those around us, which the Bible calls sin. The message that reveals that God responded to our selfish rebellion and sin by sending His Son Jesus, God in a bod, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. The message that reveals that Jesus died on the cross, was buried in a tomb dead as a door nail, and was brought back to life as a result of the Holy Spirit’s transforming and supernatural activity in order to be our Lord and Savior. The message that provides the opportunity for all humanity to receive the forgiveness of sin and enter into the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

However, Paul was well aware that there were people who would question and push back against the idea that the message of the gospel reveals the reality that God is right. As a matter of fact, I may have just described you. You may be thinking “well how does the gospel prove that God is right? You seem to be telling me that I have a problem that requires me to be rescued or saved and that only faith in Jesus can do that. Well I don’t know if that is true. I’m not sure that I buy the idea that I have a problem when it comes to God that can only be resolved through faith in Jesus”.

Paul began to address this question and push back by proclaiming that humanity is guilty of having a problem with God when we leave God out and live as though He does not exist. In Romans 1:18-32, Paul provides two pieces of evidence to prove that humanity is guilty of leaving God out and living as though He does not exist.

First, as we discovered in the very first sermon in this series, Paul explained that we are guilty when we leave God out and live life as though He does not exist by ignoring the evidence within us when it comes to creation. Second, Paul explained that we are guilty when we leave God out and live life as though He does not exist by ignoring the evidence revealed by our rebellion. Paul explained that humanity provides evidence of foolishly leave God out and living as though He did not exist by rejecting God’s design for worship, God’s design for marriage and sexuality, and God’s design for relationships. And it is our rejection of God’s design that provides the evidence that proves we are guilty of having a problem when it comes to our relationship with God when we leave God out of our lives and live as though He does not exist.

However, Paul recognized that some people reading his letter would respond to Paul’s charge by thinking “Well I am not like those people. I don’t ignore God, I just believe that I am a good moral person and because I am a good moral person, I don’t have a problem with God. So, am I guilty?” And it is in this context that we are going to jump into this section of this letter in our Bibles, called the Book of Romans, where we see Paul address and answer this question, beginning in Romans 2:1. Let’s look at it together:

Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

Paul begins this section of his letter to the members of the church at Rome by addressing the person who would argue that they were a good moral person. This person would argue that they do not have a problem when it comes to having a relationship with God because they are good, moral people who live according to specific code of conduct or standards. And it is this code of conduct and standards that a good moral person lives by and uses to judge others. When Paul uses the phrase passes judgment, this phrase literally means to pass an unfavorable judgment upon the lives and actions of other people.

In other words, a person who views themselves as a good moral person will base their opinion on the fact that they have a code of conduct and standards that they follow and use to justify why they are a better person than others. The person who is a good moral person will often live a life that is marked by comparison. “I am a better and more moral person than other people, because I have a code of conduct that I believe in that other people do not follow”.

However, notice Paul’s response to the person who views themselves as a good moral person: you have no excuse. In other words, the person who believes that they are a good moral person, has no excuse that they can use to avoid being found guilty of having a problem when it comes to having a relationship with God. Paul the proceeds to provide two pieces of evidence to prove his claim.

First, Paul charges that the good moral person was guilty based on the evidence of their own violations. Paul stated that the moral person had no excuse that they could use to deny that they were guilty because in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things. If Paul was writing this letter in the language that we use in our culture today, this phrase would sound something like this: “You have no defense when it comes to your behavior. As a matter a fact, your own code of conduct that you use to unfavorably judge other people’s behavior is the very evidence that proves your guilt. You are guilty because you do not even live according to the code of conduct that you use to judge others. You do not even practice what you preach”.

Paul then contrasted the hypocritical and judgmental attitude of the person who maintains that they are a good moral person with the judgment of God. When Paul uses the phrase the judgment of God rightly falls, this phrase literally means truthfully or rightly. In other words, unlike the subjective and debatable standards that are used by a person who claims to be a good moral person, God’s standard of truth does not waver. All of humanity will be judged by God’s absolute truth.

And because of this reality, Paul reveals two timeless implications that flow from the good moral person’s attempt to achieve moral excellence through a code of conduct. First, Paul exposes the timeless implications of their failure to live according to their own code of conduct. Because, if you believe that you are a good moral person based on the code of conduct that you use to pass unfavorable judgment upon the lives and actions of others, then where does that leave you when you violate your code of conduct? 

Do you view yourself as a good moral person who strives to live life by a code of conduct? Do you violate that code of conduct yourself? Because if you sit in judgment and pronounce guilt upon those who fail to live according to your list of what makes a good moral person, then what happens to you when you fail to live up to your own list?        

Second, in verse 4, Paul exposes the timeless implications of misunderstanding God’s gracious kindness. When Paul uses the phrase “think lightly”, this phrase literally means to look down on someone or something with contempt as being of little value. Paul’s point is that a good moral person has a tendency to look with contempt upon God’s gracious and beneficial act of bearing up and putting up with humanity as they continually selfishly rebel and reject God.

A good moral person does not deal well with immoral behavior; they are provoked to pass negative judgment swiftly on those who do not follow their code of conduct. And in their mind, it is contemptible and of little benefit to extend grace to anyone who fails to meet their standards.  Paul then exposed the reality that the good moral person is often ignorant and uniformed as to why God extends such gracious tolerance.

The reason that God so graciously bears up and puts up with selfish rebellion and sin is to provide the opportunity for people to respond with repentance. Paul’s point here is that while a good moral person views God’s gracious patience with contempt, God’s gracious patience is divinely designed to provide the opportunity for people to recognize their selfishness and rebellion and respond by turning a life that was running away from God back toward God.

Then, in verse 5, Paul explains that the very fact that a good moral person views God’s gracious patience and tolerance with contempt reveals the reality of their own hard and rebellious heart that refuses to turn away from their code of conduct and turn towards God. And it is this hard heart and rebellious attitude of a good moral person that results in them experiencing God’s just and right response to their selfishness, rebellion, and sin.

When Paul refers to the day of wrath, this phrase refers to the end of God’s story here on earth, when Jesus will return to earth to defeat selfishness, sin, and death and will judge all of humanity based on His absolute standards, not the standards of the good moral person. And it is God’s just and right verdict to selfishness, sin, and rebellion that Paul turns to in order to provide a second piece of evidence to prove his claim that a good moral person is guilty of having a problem when it comes to a relationship with God.

We will look at that evidence together tomorrow…