Don’t Attempt to Get to Heaven by Guess-Work!
Don’t Attempt to Get to Heaven by Guess-Work!
When people dream up some way of investing their money they normally take care to see their facts are right. Admittedly they cannot be absolutely certain they will get a good return on their money. But at least they have the good sense not to go purely by guess-work. The sad fact is however that lots of people in our modern society are content to pin their hopes of heaven on what is nothing more than pure guess-work.
Allow us a moment to put the case to you that hoping for heaven by guesswork is a perilous business. All sorts of things in people’s minds give them the idea that it is safe enough to hope for heaven without any certain foundation.
God is Love⤒🔗
One idea is that if God is love all people will surely get to heaven. Now this is a half-truth. It is true that God is love but not true that therefore all who die will get to heaven. The Bible makes it clear in scores of places that no one will get to heaven if they are not spiritually qualified. To be spiritually qualified means that we must repent and believe in Jesus Christ as our own personal Saviour if we are to have a sure hope of heaven.
Good Deeds Outweigh Bad Deeds←⤒🔗
Another guess about getting to heaven which people have is that we shall be fit enough for heaven provided our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds in the end. But this is nowhere to be found in the Bible. The fact is that none are fit for heaven if they have any unforgiven sin to answer for when they come to die. And the obvious truth is that we have all sinned and all need God’s forgiveness. Let me put a few urgent problems to you. God is absolutely holy and hates all sin. If a person dies with any unforgiven sin to answer for they will by no means enter heaven when they die. So the most urgent problem we all have is to make sure we are forgiven all our sins in this life. Do you know how to get forgiveness for your own sins?
No Sins←⤒🔗
Of course this problem leads to another. Lots of people just try to make out that they have no sins to answer for. But that is rather foolish because our very consciences tell us that we have all sinned. And this is exactly what the Bible tells us. All of us are sinners and need God’s forgiveness.
One easy trick which appeals to some people to get round this problem is to say that they do not believe the Bible to be important in this whole discussion. But this is just to put your head into a hole in the ground and to pretend there is no problem. The Bible is the revelation of God to mankind. It is given to us all to teach us the way to get God’s forgiveness and so to get to heaven at last. It is a sure and certain way not to get to heaven if people deny what God Himself tells us. God calls the Bible His divine revelation.
Heaven and Hell←⤒🔗
Let me offer you a serious argument if you have any genuine wish to get to heaven at last. It is absolutely clear from God’s revelation in the Bible that there is both a heaven and a hell. Check this out for yourself. Read any one of the four Gospels of the New Testament or any other part of the Bible and you will quickly see that God has made a heaven at last for those who have their sins forgiven; and that He has made a hell at last for those who have not got His forgiveness in this life.
What you find is that God tells us we are all sinners and are all unworthy of heaven but that through faith in His Son Jesus Christ we can have God’s gracious pardon and His promise of heaven at last.
The Bible makes it very clear that there is no end to heaven for those who are counted worthy to get there. And there is no end to the sufferings of hell for those who die with unforgiven sin in their lives. Surely this is such a serious set of facts that we dare not drift along in life without any sure and certain basis for our hope of heaven in the end?
But sadly many people are content to hope for the best even though their basis of hope is nothing but thin air. This must surely be a species of madness when the consequences of being wrong are so momentous. Not to get to heaven after death is to go into outer darkness and to be in torments eternally. Check out these statements for yourself from the Bible but you will find this is exactly what God tells us in His Book.
Sins will be Blotted Out←⤒🔗
Let us turn to the happy side of what God tells us. He says that all our sins will be blotted out and eternally forgiven on the condition that we repent and believe in His Son. The Son of God is Jesus Christ who lived two thousand years ago. His mission for mankind was to die for us on the Cross and to rise again. He died so as to pay the price for our salvation. He suffered on the Cross so that He might pay to God the debt which we owe to Him for our sinfulness. This was an act of wonderful love on the part of God and of His dear Son Jesus Christ. But forgiveness is not automatic for all mankind. The God who has shown such love demands that if you and I are to enjoy personal forgiveness we must become real Christians by believing in His Son Jesus Christ. God is absolutely reliable in all that He tells us. He is delighted to give forgiveness to those who sincerely come to Him for it. If anyone wants to have their sins forgiven He will assuredly forgive them on the condition that they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
Perhaps it seems to you to be too good to be true. Perhaps you say to yourself, Surely God requires more of me than this. Perhaps you ask, how can God be so ready to forgive me if all I have to do is to believe in Jesus? The answer is that Jesus has done all things necessary to put us right with God. Jesus suffered immensely on the Cross in order that we might have forgiveness and eternal life. So when we take God on His own word we find He is absolutely true and faithful. God forgives all those who believe in His dear Son Jesus.
Make Sure←⤒🔗
You do not need to drift on in a state of uncertainty. Let’s face it, soon we are all going to have to die and enter into another world. Does it not make perfect sense then to listen to God’s word to mankind? Dear friend, our motive in telling you these things is a very good one. We want you and all like you to be sure of heaven. Put an end to your guess-work and be sure of the way to heaven. Let me put it in God’s own wonderful words:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Why not pray to God right now that He would open your eyes to see the truth of this grand old gospel message? Many have done so and are now happily in heaven and in glory with God forever. The most precious thing you have, after all, is your own soul.
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