ARE YOU GOING TO HEAVEN?
There are many people today who don’t really think about their salvation but they have a certain religious interest. They have been baptized as an infant, confirmed, or go to Mass. Most have their own church that they are affiliated with. Nevertheless, they ignore the real issue of salvation and hope at the end that everything will turn out all right for them in eternity.
Scripture tells us that everybody who is planning to go to Heaven will not arrive there. Jesus said only the few will enter Heaven. Matthew 7:13-14 says, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to (eternal) life, and there are few who find it.” These verses also have an application to the gospel by depicting the two roads and destinies of the human race. Simply, if you choose the easy way, the wide road, the way of the world, you will have plenty of company, but you will miss God’s best for you – Heaven.
The question that needs to be answered is this: Why can’t everyone go to Heaven? The answer from the Word of God is that the door of Heaven is shut to every guilty, unrepentant sinner. It is an absolute impossibility for even one sinner to enter Heaven. I know that many of you feel you are not really such great sinners and that somehow God will make an exception for you and allow you into His Heaven. But God makes it clear in Romans 3:22-23: “…For there is no difference: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” HAVE sinned and the ALL means the morally upright person as well as the drunkard or the murderer. It includes you and me. There is no difference with God. If you have never trusted Christ as your own personal Lord and Savior, you are lost and separated from God, eternally.
No matter what your profession may be or your status in the community or how good of a person you are; if you are outside of Christ, you are under the wrath of God. You may be trying to live a moral life and try to do good to others, but if you are not saved you will be shut out of Heaven, the same as the adulterer, drunkard, or murderer.
The Bible makes it clear that sin must be paid for by someone. The debt of sin is an account that must be settled. Do not believe for a moment that because God is love He will wink at your sin. As it says in Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”
How can a sinner find the entrance into heaven? There is only one door into Heaven and that door is through Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).” According to Jesus, there is only one way to know God personally – through Him. There is no other way. Neither church membership, nor the sacraments, nor the Mass, nor your good works or self effort can open Heaven’s door to sinful men. Only those whose names are written in “… the Lambs book of life“ can enter Heaven (Rev. 21:27). Only those individuals who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ – born again with God’s spirit dwelling in them.
The earliest followers of Jesus affirmed the teachings of Jesus on this issue: “And there is no salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).” The apostle Paul also noted, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).” This gospel was the good news of the risen Jesus. Paul taught that those who believed in Jesus would receive salvation and receive eternal life with God in heaven.
Christ came into this world for the primary purpose of taking upon Himself the penalty of our sin, which is eternal death. Christ came to die on Calvary’s cross for us. He shed His precious blood for our sins. “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you have been healed (1 Peter 2:24).” Peter goes on to say, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit of God (3:18).”
Now up to this point in the message we have seen that as sinners before a holy God, we have nothing whatever to do with our salvation, with forgiveness of sins, or with our entrance into Heaven. We stand before God guilty, with the wrath of God upon us. But Jesus Christ stands before God as the Savior of men who paid the penalty of sin for every person. So, how can the two be brought together? Scripture tells us, “Be reconciled.”
The answer is faith. Salvation is by grace…. through faith. Faith involves knowledge of the gospel (Rom 10:14), acknowledgement of the truth of its message, and personal reception of the Savior (John 1:12). Works of any kind cannot save (ex: sacraments, Mass, trying to be good, etc), but good works always accompany salvation (Eph. 2:8-10). Here’s what Scripture says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” There are no works you can do to earn your way to heaven. The only path provided by Jesus is faith in Him. Jesus taught us in John 3: 16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
CONCLUSION: The truth of the matter is that when we are born into this world with a sinful nature, we all are sinners under the sentence of eternal death, which is eternal separation from God. Each one of us at birth is on this wide worldly road that leads to spiritual death and destruction, until we make that 180° turn of repentance and being reconciled to God through His Son, Christ Jesus. If you do nothing while you’re still alive, to change the direction of the present road that you’re on, then your destiny will be sealed as it is with Satan and his fallen angels. You will be “tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev. 20:10).” Is that really what you want? Because God is a perfect gentleman; He will honor your wishes if you so desire to have nothing to do with Him.
It’s hard to imagine that anyone of us, in our right mind, would reject God’s pardon which His Son provided for us on Calvary’s cross. But if you do reject what Christ Jesus did for you then you must pay the penalty of your sin in a place reserved for Satan and being separated from a loving God for all eternity. Each one of us has a decision to make while we are still alive – while the door to heaven is still open.
REMEMBER: HEAVEN IS A PREPARED PLACE FOR PREPARED PEOPLE
Oscar
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