Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 18
March 9, 1967
NUMBER 43, PAGE 11c-12

Salvation For Good And Bad

Leslie Diestelkamp

Some people expect to go to heaven because they are good. On the other hand, some people think they are so bad that it is impossible for them to ever reach heaven. Both groups are badly mistaken. No one is perfect, for "All have sinned" (Rom. 3:23). So, even the good or the very good cannot go to heaven without salvation by God's grace. Yet, regardless of the terribleness of one's sin, the grace of God is sufficient to save (Heb. 7:25).

Nicodemus was a good man who became a disciple of Christ, but the Lord told him that he had to be born again (in. 3:3-7). His moral integrity, that evidently included such qualities as honesty, sincerity, and moral cleanliness as well as unselfishness was not enough. He had to be obedient to Christ.

The eunuch from Ethiopia, Cornelius and the twelve men of Acts chapter 19 all seemed to be very good men. They had all done all they knew to do. They had demonstrated complete devotion and submissiveness. Yet all of them were required to believe and be baptized. Jesus said, "Not every one that saith Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Mt. 7:21). And when Jesus said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," he included even good and very good people in this requirement.

The Bad Too

In 1 Cor.6:11, and in Acts 2:23-41, 18:8 and 8: 19-23, we read of wicked people--indeed very wicked people. They were not only dishonest, insincere, unclean and selfish, but some were murderers, adulterers, and deceivers. Some had killed the Son of God. Some had lived lives of shame and immorality. But Paul said, "Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus" (1 Cor. 6:11). Again Paul said of such evil people, "Ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed... being then made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness" (Rom. 6:17,18).

Peter said, "God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth God and doeth righteousness is accepted of him" (Ac. 10:34).

As we study through the book of Acts we find that good people--the eunuch, Cornelius, Lydia and the twelve men of Ac. 19--all had to be obedient in order to be saved. Likewise, as we trace our way again through the book of Acts, we find that very wicked people--murderers of Christ, Simon, a deceiver, the jailor, an unbeliever and adulterers in Corinth --were all able to receive pardon from God and complete forgiveness by grace. The important lesson is that both the good and the bad, yes, even the very good and the very bad, all had to do exactly the same thing.

God's law of salvation does not change. Today, good and bad people must and may be saved alike. God's grace does not fail. Today he is still "Able to save to the uttermost" all of those, both good and bad, who come to God by him. Indeed, "Whosoever will may come".

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