How can someone get into the kingdom of God? Many people assume that anyone who lived a “good life” will go to heaven when he or she dies. There are a few problems with that assumption.
First, how good is good? The person who supported the local scout troop, was president of the Rotary Club, and volunteered at the soup kitchen would be considered by most to be “good.” However, even with all of those good deeds, that person also did some bad deeds. If you base your salvation on doing good things, how do you know when you’ve done enough to outweigh the bad deeds to “earn” heaven?
Second, the Bible is very clear about how someone can get into the kingdom of God, and it is not by good deeds. In John 3:3, Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again to enter the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews, or a Pharisee. Pharisees were very religious. They kept the law more completely than any other group of people in Jesus’ day, but Jesus didn’t say that Nicodemus could enter the kingdom because he followed the Law so fastidiously. Jesus told him that that only way to enter the kingdom of God was to be born again. Nicodemus’ status as a Pharisee didn’t give him a different path into the kingdom or a higher rank. The kingdom of God is open to whosever will come in, and everyone is equal!
You don’t have to wonder if you’re good enough to go to heaven when you die, but you must be born again. Romans 10:9-10 tells us how to be born again: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”