What a terrible mistake it is to assume that a person is too evil to have hope of salvation. The blood of Jesus must not have a limit put to its cleansing power. The self-proclaimed ‘chief-of-sinners’ knew of the grace of God made available through the blood of Jesus and understood he was able to stand in a right position with God (1 Timothy 1:12-17; 2 Timothy 4:6-8). While Jesus walked this earth, He was welcomed by and welcoming to sinners. He spent time with the outcast and those the religious elites of His time often saw as outcasts (Luke 15:1-2). There is not a single face that we will look into that is not capable of having their sins washed away in the powerful blood of Jesus (Acts 22:16; Revelation 1:5)!
But what about good people? No one is harder to bring to Christ than the one who is almost better than anyone. When compared to others, this person is considered by the world’s standards to be moral and upright –do they need Jesus? The devil knows this truth: no one can reach God by just being a good person.
In John 3, a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews named, Nicodemus, came to Jesus. By the world’s standards, he was seemingly a good and upright man. He was religious and seemed to do things well. Jesus told him that unless one is born of the water and Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5). In Acts 10, we read of a man named Cornelius who is described as a devout man who, “feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always,” (Acts 10:2). Yet, he needed Peter to come and tell him words, “by which you and all your household will be saved,” (Acts 11:14). Outside of Christ, good men like Nicodemus and Cornelius were lost.
Heaven is for those who do the will of the Father (Matthew 7:21). The bad and the good are spiritually dead before surrendering their lives to Christ and put Him on in baptism (Romans 6:3-7). It is only in baptism that the Bible says one can have their sins forgiven and be found in Christ (Acts 2:38; Galatians 3:27). Only in Jesus can one be saved, being made new (2 Corinthians 5:17). Just being good and honest will not save us. The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him(Hebrews 5:9).
Let us see the need for all people of accountable age to be found in Christ. May we never allow ourselves to see anyone as beyond the scope of saving by the blood of Jesus, even good people.
-Adam Orr
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