Are You Good Enough to Go to Hell?

Philippians 4:4-6-"Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness that is in the law, blameless."

A couple of years ago, I preached a sermon called, Are You Bad Enough to Get Saved? Today, I am going to ask the same question in a different way: "Are you good enough to go to Hell?" If you think you are good enough to go to heaven without being saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are good enough to go to hell. The Bible says in Romans 3:23, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." In Romans 6:23, the Apostle Paul wrote, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Are you good enough to go to hell? If you are relying on your own good works, or your practice of religion to get you to heaven, you are. You cannot see yourself as the sinner God sees. In Matthew 5:20, Jesus said, "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."

In our text, the Apostle Paul writes of the time before he was saved. He trusted in his own righteousness to get him to heaven. This is what he meant when he wrote about having "confidence in the flesh." But he was only good enough to go to hell, because he was putting his trust in his own righteousness, and not that of Jesus Christ. In the text, Paul gives five reasons he believed he was righteous before God before he was saved. All of these reasons are still used by Satan to cause people to believe they are going to heaven when in fact they are not. Actually, they are reasons people are only good enough to go to hell. The reasons are: i) he went through a ritual (circumcision), ii) he came from a good family, iii) he kept the law, iv) he was zealous for his faith, and v) he really believed he was a righteous man.

Of course, in the verses that follow this passage, Paul told the Philippians he regarded those reasons as "loss" and "dung" now that he was trusting Christ. He knew he was bad enough to be saved. But let us look at what he reveals about himself when he was good enough to go to hell. We will examine the five reasons Paul thought he was righteous before God, and show all of them are totally inadequate to get anyone to heaven.


I. The first reason from our text Paul was good enough to go to hell was that he went through a religious ritual. Our text says he was "circumcised the eighth day." A Jewish baby boy was circumcised eight says after he was born. He was part of the covenant between Abraham and God. If a baby boy was not circumcised, he was not under the covenant (Genesis 17:13-14). Paul was good enough to go to hell because he was circumcised and therefore believed he was part of the covenant. Some churches also have a ritual for babies that they say regenerates their souls and places them under a church covenant. They call it baptism. But this is not what the Bible calls baptism. If those churches think that sprinkling a little water on a baby, and then declaring he is now a "child of God" is going to get rid of original sin and save the baby, I would suggest that baby has a great start on becoming good enough to go to hell.

The word baptize in the Greek is baptizo, which means to immerse. It is not sprinkle. In a proper baptism, someone is put completely under water.

Neither circumcision nor baptism were intended to save the soul. Only a saved person should be baptized, because the reason someone is baptized is it is a testimony of his salvation. Baptismal water does not regenerate the soul, does not wash away sin, does not result in the new birth. It is symbolic that salvation has already occurred. Paul taught this in Romans6:3-5: "Know ye not, that so many of us that were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into his death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, so also we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection."

Going under the water symbolizes Christ's death and burial as our death to sin. Coming out of the water is symbolic of Christ's resurrection as our resurrection to life. Baptism is symbolic of the new birth, and as Dr. Lee Roberson used to say when he baptized people, "Praise the Lord in the newness of life in Christ Jesus." If you want to make someone good enough to go to hell, make him believe he is righteous before God because he was baptized.


II. A second reason Paul was good enough to go to hell was he came from a good family. Or text said he was "Of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews" (verse 5b). It does not matter what family someone is born into: Unless he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he will only be good enough to go to hell.

This is clearly stated by John the Baptist in Matthew 3:7-9: "But when he (John) saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."

In the eyes of God, it does not matter what family someone is from. John 3:18 says of the Son of God, "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already," and it does not matter whether he is from a good, bad or indifferent family. You are good enough to go to hell if you think you have "always been a Christian" because you were brought up in a Christian family.


III. A third reason Paul was good enough to go to hell before he was saved is he thought he was righteous because he kept the law. But the law can only condemn. It can never save. the purpose of the law is to show us our sin so we will accept the grace of Christ. Paul shows this in Romans 3:19-20, "Now we know that what things soever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them that are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

The law cannot save anyone because no one can keep the law perfectly. This is precisely why Jesus came. As John 1:12 says, "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." In Galatians 2:21, Paul writes, "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." In other words, if you believe you can get to heaven by keeping the law, you are only good enough to go to hell.


IV. A fourth reason Paul was good enough to go to hell was he was zealous for his faith. In verse 6 of our text, Paul wrote he was "Concerning zeal, persecuting the church." Paul had Christians put in prison before he was saved (Acts 8:3), and he was the ringleader at the stoning of Stephen (Acts 8:1).

Today we have people who think they are going to get to heaven by killing others and themselves. Hardly a day goes by when suicide bombers don't kill and die. They are zealous for their religion. They are like the Jews Paul writes of in Romans 10:1-4: "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." They are only good enough to go to hell because they are breaking God's law against murder, but believe they are doing right. Many are young children who need our prayers and compassion. A prayer for their salvation, a prayer that God will send workers into that harvest of souls, a prayer that the Holy Spirit will touch the hearts of these people, is more powerful than all the car bombs in the world, combined. As Paul said in Romans 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first, but also to the Greek. God wants to save the terrorist, just as he wants to save anyone else.


V. The final, and ultimate reason Paul was good enough to go to hell before he was saved was that he truly believed he was a righteous man. The rest of our text says he was "touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." He was sincere, but he was sincerely wrong. Blamelessness is not the same as sinlessness. No one could point a finger of blame at Paul with regard to the law. To all appearances, he kept the law. Only God could see the sin in his heart.

At the end of his life Paul wrote these words about himself found in I Timothy 1:13-15: "Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the world to save sinners, f whom I am chief."

Friend, how about you? Are you like the old Paul, good enough to go to hell, or are you like the new, born-again Paul, knowing you are a sinner and trusting in Christ to save you? Do trust Him. His death was good enough to take away your sins, and His resurrection proves you can have a new and eternal life in Him.


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