The Bad News

The bad news is that we all fall short of God's standard. No religion or good works can justify us to Him. Once we die, if we had not accepted what the Lord Jesus had done by dying for us, He warns that our destiny is “a furnace of fire”, “outer darkness”, where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mat 13:41-42, Mat 22:13, Mat 25:30). It's not that God will condemn us, we are condemned already (John 3:18).

But I live a good life!

We shouldn't be surprised that it is not uncommon for people to consider themselves as to be 'alright' if not necessarily good, that is afterall why they are the way they are. We can all think of many others who are worse than us! The problem is that we are all blind to just how far we are from God's standards.

Jesus' explained how although we can outwardly seem to live good lives, He looks into the heart. To illustrate this Jesus referred to two examples in the law given by God to the Israelites. In summary He said "You have heard that it was said to the ancients...":

• "You shall not kill"... I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be liable to the judgement... whoever shall say, Fool! shall be liable to be thrown into the fire of hell. (Mat 5:21-22)
• "You shall not commit adultery"... I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Mat 5:27-28)

From God's perspective, wishing for something can be as bad as doing it, and if you read the whole chapter, you will see that God has no tolerance for sin.

With this in mind, consider how you would fare by just comparing your life with examples from the ten commandments (rules given by God to Moses around 1450 BC, referred to by Jesus above).

• not to blaspheme, use God's name in vain, say "God!" as an expletive,
• to honour (obey) your father and mother,
• not to kill (or wish someone to be harmed or dead),
• not to commit adultery (of lust after another),
• not to steal,
• not to bear false witness against another,
• not to covet (desire) another's property,
• not to covet another's wife.

Then it must be impossible to please God!

We have all fallen short of God's standard and no one can ever justify himself to God. But God wants us to change, to be restored to having a nature that is not evil, that is meets His standards. As we are, we all have failed and we will not be able to be with a perfect and holy God.

But God does not want any of us to perish, click here to find out the Good News !