Why Good People Cannot Be Saved – Luke 5:27-32

Anyone that thinks he deserves to be saved errs by thinking that he is intrinsically good. If you think you are already good before your salvation, the joy that you experience from salvation is not true, because you think you deserve salvation. Contrary to this, the Bible states that no one is good. None are righteous, not even one (Rom 3:10).

The Bible states that when God created man in the beginning of history, man was good (Gen 1:27, 31). God is pleased with man as He created him. However, man is not birthed with the same goodness. Because of the sin of the first man, Adam, all subsequent generations, from Cain and Abel, become evil. Man’s goodness is not preserved. Sin enters through one man, and all sin (Rom 5:12). Again, it must be emphasized that no one is good except God alone (Mk 10:17-18), and if no one is good, none deserves to be saved.

Because of their strict adherence to the law, the Pharisees and scribes thought themselves to be good and thereby set apart from others. This is why they were indignant that the disciples would eat and drink with sinners and tax collectors, whom they considered to be unclean because of their sinfulness.

However, Jesus rejects “good people” who do not realize they are sinners. The Pharisees deny their sinfulness and are the subject of Jesus’ mourning. How, then, can anyone be good like Jesus? One must understand that goodness is not determined by outward acts alone but is ultimately determined by the heart. The Pharisees believe they are good because they believe they are disciples of Moses (Jn 9:24, 28). They have a holier-than-thou attitude, but Jesus sees through their act into their hearts. They are moralists who believe that their works will save them. Even though the law clearly delineates the need for a Savior through the exposure of sin, “through the law comes the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:19-20), the Pharisees believe themselves to be saved by their legalistic following of the law. They do not understand sin, which is an inward state that precedes evil deeds and a state of heart that refuses to be in subjection to God (A. W. Pink). Sin comes from within (Mk 7:18-23). All men are intrinsically sinners. The Biblical principle is that if you see yourself as intrinsically good, you cannot be saved. Only when you see yourself as Jesus sees you, a sinner by nature, you can be saved.

Jesus rejects “good people” who deny that they are spiritually sick. Every man is born with a congenital sickness – sin. The Pharisees reject Jesus’ diagnosis that they are sick and are in need of a Physician. Their preference is to turn to philosophy, science, or entertainment. They believe they can become perfect and fulfill their desire for anti-nomadism. Jesus states that He came to fulfill the law. How do we avoid becoming pharisaic in our self-examination? We can determine if we are spiritually sick by examining the fruit we bear (Jn 15:5) and by examining whether we are guided by the Word of Jesus (Jn 9:40-41).

Jesus rejects “good people” who claim to be self-righteous, who follow their own standards instead of God’s holy standards. Jesus states that he came to save the sinners to repentance (v. 32). The Pharisees’ self-righteousness arises from their studying of the law. The self-righteous serve themselves rather than God. As John Flavel states, “It is easier to cry against one thousand sins of others than to kill one of your own.”

Without repentance, no one can be pardoned. As A.W. Pink states, “Repentance is a supernatural and inward revelation from God, giving a deep consciousness of what I am in His sight, which causes me to loathe and condemn myself, resulting in a bitter sorrow for sin, a holy horror and hatred for sin, a turning away from or forsaking of sin.”. We are indeed sinners in need of the grace of God, but we can become the righteousness of God in Jesus (2 Cor 5:21). How wonderful it is that Jesus the Righteous is our Advocate with the Father (1 Jn 2:1)!