Your Good Deeds Won’t Save You

There will be good people in Hell. That’s a sobering thought, isn’t it? Of course, when I say “good” people, I mean people who trusted in their own human efforts, people who trusted in their own personal reality, people who trusted in the religious things they did.

Jesus warned, “On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name’” (Matthew 7:22 NLT). If we updated the passage, the people might say, “Lord! Lord! We were baptized in Your name. We received communion in Your name.” But Jesus’ reply is the same: “I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws” (verse 23 NLT).

These are good people. They paid their taxes. They recycled and put the right trash in the right can and did their best not to damage the environment. They volunteered at soup kitchens and donated to food drives. They did everything right.

But they’re still not good enough. No one is. No amount of good deeds can erase our guilt before God. If they could, we would have something to boast about. Our salvation would be a do-it-yourself project. We could stand back and admire our spiritual handiwork. Eternal life would be something we earned.

Eternal life is possible only because of God’s mercy and grace. He sent His Son to die in our place—not because we’re good people, but because He loves us, even though we’re helpless sinners. We are saved through faith in Christ, not through good works.

That’s not to say that good works play no role in a Christian’s life. True, they’re useless in our salvation. Isaiah 64:6 says, “When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags” (NLT). After we’re saved through grace, however, our good deeds are purified by Jesus. They become evidence of His work in our lives. Good works show others that our faith is alive.

James wrote, “So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Now, someone may argue, ‘Some people have faith; others have good deeds.’ But I say, ‘How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds’” (James 2:17–18 NLT).

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