Good People Will Go To Hell - Soul Choice Ministries

When I was just a small child and growing up, my mom said that if I was ever rebellious or did something wrong, she would almost faint. I was always a good kid, wanted to do the right thing, and hated evil. I always had the good guys on TV as my role models. Even as a teen, I never partied, drank, did drugs, or was promiscuous. To make this point, I will share my first dating adventure when I was 17.

I started seeing this girl, but I discovered she had a wild side and liked to party with her friends, which was not what I wanted in a girl. One day, I found out she had gone to Lauderdale Beach during Spring Break, where thousands of young people gathered to party. It was a wild time at the beach. You couldn’t even drive the streets, as there were so many people. Guys would pick up any car that attempted to drive through and carry it off to the side, all while being on the hunt for girls.

So I went looking for her, and amazingly, I found her among the thousands. She wouldn’t come back with me but wanted to hang out there. Well, I picked her up, threw her over my shoulder, and carried her off and back to her home. She wasn’t too excited about it, but I didn’t care—I didn’t want her subjected to all the drinking, drugs, and wild guys on the prowl, even though she wasn’t the right girl for me. And I found out: you cannot change someone’s behavior. Only God can.

In saying all of that, my point is that I lived as clean a life as anyone could—apart from God. However, I was still destined for hell. If we can grasp that all of us, even with our cleanest living and most noble good works, are still far below God’s standard of perfection. My goodness would not grant me entrance into Heaven—and this is my point.

One more true account I will share: A few years ago, my wife and I were invited to speak at a church in another state, in a rough area of town. The congregation was comprised of many former prison inmates, people who had been living on the street, ex-gang members, former drug addicts, and such. I wondered how I could best relate to them since I had lived such a different life. I was dressed in a suit and tie and looked like Mr. Clean-Cut—someone who knows nothing about the world they came from.

So how would I start off speaking in order to get their attention? What could I possibly say to gain their respect? I quickly prayed and then felt led to say:

“You know, I realize you’re probably thinking, ‘How can this clean-cut, starched-collar guy relate to us, and what could he tell me that I might value?’ And you’re right. I lived a morally pure life, was never in any kind of trouble, wasn’t street-savvy, knew nothing of drugs, never drank, hated evil and wrongdoing, read the Bible, and attended church.

However, so you understand—with all of that good—I was still going to hell. I was no closer to Heaven than the worst of you. And in Luke 7:47, Jesus said that those who are forgiven much will love much, and to him who is forgiven little, loves little.”

I continued: “Since I was, in a sense, forgiven little, that means I might only love a little. Whereas you were forgiven much—you also could love much. And since my wife and I arrived here, you have all shown us much love and have been very kind to us. So in God’s eyes, He would be well pleased with the love coming from those of you who were once considered the worst. So you are to be congratulated.”

Jesus said in John 13:35
“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Well, this broke the ice with them, and they now paid attention as I shared my vision of hell that I wrote about in my book, 23 Minutes in Hell. At the end of the service, many came to the altar, repented, and surrendered their lives to Jesus. Many also wanted prayer and instruction to remain strong and not fall back into their old ways.

My point is that without receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, all of our best works and best behavior won’t give us entrance to Heaven.

The Bible says in:

Romans 3:10–12
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Job 15:16
“How much less man, who is abominable and filthy,
Who drinks iniquity like water!”

Isaiah 64:6
“But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.”

Psalm 143:3
“For in Your sight no one living is righteous.”

James 2:10
“For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”

If we had only committed one sin during our entire life, we would still end up in hell. God and Heaven are perfect. Perfection is a very high standard that not one of us can achieve.

If you are relying on your occasional good works and believe that since God is a loving God, He will overlook your shortcomings and sin—then you are gravely mistaken. We all need a Savior, and there is only one. There is only one who lived a perfect, sinless life and died on the cross to pay the price for our sins and our deserved punishment.

2 Corinthians 5:21
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

1 Corinthians 15:3–4
“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Hosea 13:4
“God said, ‘For there is no Savior besides Me.’”

Romans 5:8
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

We must all understand that our sin separates us from God, and the Bible states that the wages—or payment—for our sin is death. Only Jesus Christ is sinless and perfect. He shed His blood and paid the penalty of death for us. Then He rose from the dead by His own power. Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God.

You either believe that fact, or you reject it.

Jesus asked Peter and the Apostles in Matthew 16:16:
“But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

This is the most important question we can ever be asked. And your answer determines either your eternal bliss or your eternal suffering.