Are There Any Good People?

Am I sure you have heard these two questions:

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Why would God send good people to hell?

Do you see the common dominator in these two questions? They are asking why these things happen to good people. Why bad things happen to good people is a common question but when Christians ask this, it may refer why bad things happen to them. The other question deals with judgment. People think being good is going to cut it to enter God's heaven for all eternity.

I am going to give a biblical answer to both of these questions as well to the question that is the title of this post, are there any good people? The most simplest biblical answer is this: There are no good people in this world. By now, you might be offended because I have just said there are no good people in this world which includes you, your spouse, and your kids. This is also includes myself. I am not a good person.

The Bible says:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Romans 3:10-18).

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesian church, express who we once were before we met Jesus, "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind" (Ephesians 2:1-3).

These lists in both Romans and Ephesians do not sound like you and I are not good people. I know for some this is a hard truth to swallow. You might be comparing yourself to the most vile people in all of history or even your neighbor across the street. Comparing ourselves to other human beings is not going to make you more righteous than whoever you are comparing yourself to. Want someone to compare yourself to? You only have to look at the Lord Almighty, who is good, holy, and pure.

When we start seeing how holy God is compared to us, then we can begin to see we are not at good as we thought. Romans 3:23 says we all sin and fall short of God's glory. We can measure up to His standards because our nature is to sin, which is why we needed a Savior.

Jesus came and lived the perfect life we could never live. Yes, someone did call him, "Good Teacher" (Mark 10:17), but Jesus said, "No one is good except God alone" (Mark 10:18). This does not mean that Jesus was a sinner like us. What He was saying that we need to acknowledge Him more than a moral good person, but as God and Savior, who is far above us. God does not allow good, moral people into heaven. He only lets those who have been imputed the righteous of Christ by faith alone (2 Corinthians 5:21) into His heaven which none of us deserve. If you think you deserve heaven, you may want to rethink your theology and read the Bible from cover to cover.

Christians live by faith in the Son of God and are given the Holy Spirit to guide them as they live on earth. Yes, there are some people in this world that do good things, but remember, to paraphrase Voddie Baucham, hell will be filled with people who did not smoke, cuss, and even attended church because they think that is what makes them a Christian.