Are You a Good Person – Moray Coast Baptist Church

Most people think that they are a good person, especially when they compare themselves to other people. It’s easy to look like a saint when you compare yourself to a terrorist, but it’s not so easy when you compare yourself to the absolute standard of the Word of God. The question is not how do we see ourselves, but how does God see us? God gave us His standard of goodness in the Ten Commandments. Does your life match up to God’s standard? Would you like to find out?
The Good Person Test

Q1: Have you ever told a lie?

Of course! We would be lying if we said that we have never told a lie. Sometimes, we lie on purpose, with the intention of deceiving people. Sometimes, we lie because we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. Other times, we lie through ignorance, by passing on misinformation. So, we’ve all told lies, either intentionally or unintentionally. Did you know that the Bible says that we shouldn't tell lies? (Exodus 20:16) So, when we tell lies, we are breaking one of God’s Ten Commandments. If you’re like everyone else in the world, you would have to say that you’ve been guilty of breaking this commandment many times, because we’ve all told many lies. What do we call someone who frequently tells lies? A LIAR. And, we’ve all told many lies, so what does that make us? LIARS.

Q2: Have you ever stolen anything?

We have all taken things that didn’t belong to us. It doesn’t matter if It’s a priceless work of art, or something of little value. Stealing is stealing, no matter how much the item is worth. It’s not only physical things that can be stolen, either (e.g. Plagiarism, Copyright Infringement, etc...). The Bible plainly tells ws that we shouldn't steal (Exodus 20:15). There are no loopholes and there are no exceptions to this commandment. It’s plain and simple - we should not take things that don’t belong to us. If you’re like everyone else in the world, you’d have to say that you’ve been guilty of breaking this commandment on more than one occasion. What do we call someone who steals things? A THIEF. We’ve all taken things that don’t belong to us, so what does that make us? THIEVES. That may sound harsh, but it's true. Though others may never know, God sees all the things that we Have taken without permission over the course of our lives.

Q3: Have you ever lusted after someone?

This is one that I’m sure we’ll all admit to being guilty of. There have been many times in our lives when we’ve looked at others with lust. In today’s world, with television programs, advertising and the internet, it would be strange to meet someone who had never lusted after another person. One of the Ten Commandments tells us we should not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). Now, it’s unlikely that you've actually committed the sin of adultery – but, only the Lord knows whether that’s happened, or not. But, Jesus made it plain in the Sermon on the Mount that if we look at another person with lust, we have committed adultery with them in our hearts.

(Mat 5:28) “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

He was saying that to lust after another person to whom we are not married is to commit adultery with them in our hearts. If you’re like everyone else in the world, you’d have to say you’ve been guilty of breaking this command. We’ve all looked at other people with lust, and that makes us guilty of committing adultery in our hearts. What do we call someone who commits adultery? An ADULTERER. If we’ve lusted after other people, that makes us an ADULTERER at heart. Remember, God can see the attitudes of our heart, even when others can’t.

Q4: Have you ever hated someone?

Now, we’ve all been angry with other people at some time or another. People do things to upset and offend us all the time, and it’s a normal human reaction to get angry with them. If you’ve never been angry with someone, we may have to check your pulse! We all get angry with people, but if we’re not careful, our anger can turn into hatred. We can get to the point where we detest that person, we don’t want them near us, and we don’t want to even see them. We’ve all had at least one person in our life that we have hated. One of the Ten Commandments tell us that we should not kill. Now, it's very unlikely that you've actually murdered someone. But did you know the Bible teaches that we're guilty of breaking this commandment if we have ever hated another person in our heart?

(1Jn 3:15) “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”

This means that we are murderers at heart if we have hated other people. In fact, Jesus also equated excessive anger with the action of murder in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-22). Again, if you’re like everyone else in the world, You'd have to say that you’ve been guilty of breaking this commandment on more than one occasion. There have been many people that we’ve been excessively angry with, and there have even been times when we’ve hated other people. We've wished that they were not around, and if something bad had happened to them, we wouldn’t have been too upset. Jesus said that this attitude of hatred is sin. Now, what do we call someone who kills people? A MURDERER. If we’ve hated other people, then we are MURDERERS in our hearts. Whether we go out and physically kill Someone, or simply desire bad things to happen to them, the attitude is the same, and it is sin.

Q5: Have you ever taken God’s name in vain?

People use God’s name as part of a curse word all the time. Taking God’s name in vain is not only cursing in His name, but also treating His name in a disrespectful manner, or mocking the things of God's Word. The Bible plainly tells us that we shouldn’t use God’s name in vain (Exodus 20:7). Again, if you're like everyone else in the world, you’d have to say that you’ve been guilty of breaking this commandment many times. We’ve all treated God’s name with disrespect at some time or another. We may have even mocked the teachings of God's Word. What do we call people who say disrespectful things about God? A BLASPHEMER. If we’re honest, we’d all have to say that we’re BLASPHEMERS at heart

How are you doing so far?

At this point, we’ve only covered five of the Ten Commandments. There are five others that we could go into, but the result would be the same. We would find that we are guilty of breaking those commandments, as well. For example: have you always treated your father and mother with respect? Have you always put the Lord first in your life? Have you always set aside a day to worship the Lord? No. Neither have we. I think we would find that we have all broken every one of the Ten Commandments, if by our actions then by the attitudes of our heart. If God were to judge you based on the Ten Commandments, would you be guilty or not guilty? GUILTY. Again, we’ve all broken God’s Ten Commandments time and time again.

What does the Lord think of our continued disobedience to His commands?

(Jas 2:10) “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

You see, in the Lord’s eyes, even if we kept every single commandment, and only broke one of them, we would still be guilty before God. We all know that we’ve broken many of God’s commands many times! This means that we're all GUILTY and deserve God’s judgment.

(Rev 21:8) “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and MURDERERS, and WHOREMONGERS, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all LIARS, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

There are many things in this list that we’ve all admitted to being guilty of! The fact is, we all deserve to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire (hell) because of our sin.

You might be thinking, “The good things I’ve done will outweigh the bad things that I’ve done.”

Or, “God will look at all the good things that I’ve done and overlook the few bad things.” But the Bible rules this out, and so does common sense. Suppose a judge were to tell a suspected murderer, “There is overwhelming evidence against you, and no evidence to exonerate you. However, because you lived a decent life on the whole, and did some kind things for others, I am dismissing this case. You are free to go.” What would you think of that judge? Would it be right for him to allow a criminal to go free simply because he had done some good things in his life? Now judge in your own heart if it would be right for God to overlook your sin simply because you’ve done some good things in your life. Because God is righteous, He cannot overlook our sin. He can’t sweep it under the rug. He can't pretend it didn't happen. We have all violated the Law of God, and we all deserve the eternal punishment of the Lake of Fire because of our sin. Because God is righteous, that sentence must be carried out when we die.

Now, you might be thinking, “This situation sounds hopeless!”

It does sound hopeless...until you hear the rest of the story! Yes, we've sinned against God and we deserve the punishment of Hell, but there is hope! God has provided a way for YOU to be saved from the penalty of your sins.

(Rom 5:8) “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

You see, Christ was willing to take our place on the cross and die for the sins we committed. It really was hopeless, until Jesus came and took our punishment upon Himself.

So, we know that Jesus died in our place, but how can a person actually be saved?

1. First of All, the Bible Says that You Must REPENT of Your Sin

(Act 3:19) “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;”

Now, to REPENT means that you see yourself as God sees you – a sinner that is hopelessly condemned to the eternal punishment of Hell. To REPENT means that you understand that there is nothing you can do to save yourself.

We’re not good enough to earn salvation, because we have broken God’s Law. Even though we’ve done some good things in our lives, we're still accountable before God for the bad things that we’ve done, just like it is in human justice systems.

To REPENT means that you are willing to turn from your sin and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. The Bible Also Says that You Must Have Faith, or Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ

Biblical FAITH is a whole-hearted belief and unreserved trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must believe that Christ died on the cross, and rose again to pay for your sins.

(1Co 15:1-4) “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; (2) By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. (3) For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (4) And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"

3. You Must Trust in Christ as Your Personal Saviour

(Joh 3:16-18) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

You must trust in Christ like you would trust in a parachute if an aeroplane was about to crash. Just believing in the existence of the parachute wouldn't save you. You would need to put the parachute on, strap yourself in, and jump out of the aeroplane. In the same way, believing in the existence of Jesus isn't enough. You must trust in Him as your one and only Saviour.

Now listen to this: All you have to do to be lost is NOT believe.

If you don’t believe, you’re condemned already.

(Joh 3:18) "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

(Joh 3:36) “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

Again, all You have to do to be lost is not believe. If you don’t believe, the wrath of God already abides on you. If you die without trusting Christ as your Saviour, you will face condemnation, and God’s wrath will be poured out upon you for all eternity.

Have you ever repented of your sin and trusted Christ as your Saviour?

You might be thinking, “I have plenty of time to make that decision. I’ll wait until I’m older.” However, life is short, and tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us!

(Jas 4:14) “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

Compared to eternity, our life is like a vapour; like the steam that rises out of the kettle… Why not REPENT of your sin and place your FAITH in Christ today? Don’t wait until it’s eternally too late.

Once you die and step out into eternity, there’s no going back – your fate will be sealed.

(Heb 9:27) “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

What is your plan for eternity? Many people plan for their retirement, and make provision for their family for when they pass away (life insurance). But how many people actually plan for eternity. It is the single greatest decision you will ever make. Do you want to leave it to chance? Or are you willing to believe what God has said in His Word? Stop fighting against the Lord, and open your heart to Him, and receive Him as your Saviour.

If you'd like more information on how to become a Christian, please don't hesitate to contact us.