He Was a Good Man!

“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:20

 

Have you ever heard anyone speak of someone who has just died with words like these:

“He was a good man!”

Or

“If anyone made it into heaven, it was him.”

While those might sound like kind words to speak of someone or to someone’s friends or family left behind they can also carry some misconceptions about our own righteousness.

It is never our own goodness or righteousness that gains us entry into heaven.

It is only through the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

I wonder what thoughts were passing through the minds of some as they heard Jesus’ words that day.  

To most, in that day, there were none more pious, none more religious than the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.

Their outward religiousness was not what God desired.

He desired, and still does, truth in the inward parts.

We cannot earn our way to heaven no matter how good we are.

God provided the sacrifice and only as we ‘put on’ Christ do we gain access to heaven.

I am certainly not advocating a life void of good works.

We have ample scriptures declaring the righteous are to be full of the fruit of good works.

But those good works flow out of a life into which His grace has flowed.

If it is ever said of me, “He was a good man!” let it be followed with the words:

“…because of Christ working in him!”

May that be said of all of us to His glory!