All roads do not lead to
Heaven. I’m noticing more and more that most people in this
country have the
idea that everyone is going to Heaven. This applies of course to those who
actually believe there is an afterlife. Anyway, from the liberal left even to
some conservative circles, Satan is rapidly gaining ground in this monstrous
lie.
This lie is being perpetrated
especially by those who say; (1) there is more than one way to God, (2) God is
love and would send no one to Hell. It doesn’t matter to them that
JESUS SAID:
“…I am the way and the truth
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know
me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen
him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus
answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a
long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show
us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father
is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it
is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that
I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence
of the works themselves.” (John 14:6-11)
“Just as Moses lifted up the
snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who
believes may have eternal life in him.” (John 3:14-15)
“Very truly I tell you, I am the
gate for the sheep.” (John 10:7)
“I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never
be thirsty.” (John 6:35)
“I am the resurrection and
the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and
whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John
11:25-26)
THE APOSTLE PETER SAID:
“Salvation is found in no one
else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must
be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
“Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that
you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69)
THE APOSTLE PAUL SAID:
“Therefore, my friends, I
want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to
you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a
justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.” (Acts
13:38-39)
“This righteousness is given
through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference
between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came
by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:22-24)
The entirety of God’s Word
points to none other than Jesus as the only way to Heaven.
THERE … IS … NO … OTHER … WAY
It is very sad when a loved
one passes away, but they are not going to Heaven because you loved them or because
they were a great person (in your eyes). They won’t even go to Heaven because
God loves them. God’s love does not save us. It is His grace that saves (Ephesians
2:8) and that can only be enjoyed by committed belief in His Son, Jesus Christ.
If we do not, in true belief, come to Jesus for salvation, then we are not saved.
I’m at the age of always reading
the obituaries in the newspaper. It is rare to not see glowing words of praise
and a heavenly send off for the deceased loved one. That is expected, but is
every person listed in the obituaries going to Heaven? One would think so after
perusing the obits.
Many celebrities passed away over
the years and in our current year of 2018. Nearly all of them have been sent
off to Heaven with glowing reviews. To read what their family, friends and
acquaintances say of the deceased, Heaven will be most fortunate to have them. Can
it be that they went to Heaven because they were talented, wealthy, and
popular? Could it be they are now in Heaven because they left so many great
accomplishments while they were here?
The world is being duped by
the greatest liar of all; i.e. Satan (John 8:44). I have heard over and over of
the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God, implying that God is the
father of us all and Heaven is the destiny of us all. Let’s be very clear. We
are only a brotherhood of man because we all came from Adam and Eve. We are
only a brotherhood of God because we came from His creation, Adam and Eve.
There is only one thing that
ties all mankind together in brotherhood and that is the fact that we “all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” ( Romans 3:23)
Only those who come to God through
Jesus are brothers and sisters, and only those are children of God. Only those
who come through Jesus will ever see Heaven. All others are of their father,
the Devil, and will spend eternity in hell.
“You belong to your father,
the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer
from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.
When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of
lies.” (John 8:44)
This is a hard article to
write, but it must be said. The truth must be told, and the truth is the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus’ words are Truth.
“You are a king, then!” said
Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was
born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side
of truth listens to me.” (John 18:37)
To reside in Heaven one must
be righteous. Unfortunately, none of us are righteous enough for Heaven. We can
say in unison with Isaiah:
“All of us have become like
one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all
shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” (Isaiah
64:6)
If we depend on our righteous
acts to get us to Heaven, our sins will “sweep us away.” We must be clothed in
a Heavenly righteousness, and that can only come from Jesus Christ. Those who
call upon Him to be saved can repeat with the Apostle Paul:
“What is more, I consider
everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I
may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that
comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness
that comes from God on the basis of faith.” (Philippians 3:8-9)
Once clothed with the
righteousness of our Savior and Lord we can freely enter Heaven and spend
eternity with Him. We can freely worship at the throne of grace, offering
thanks for the blood that set us free from sin and damnation.
In a sterile lab every effort
is taken to prevent contamination. The same is true in the operating room of a
hospital. Should any less be expected of God in preventing contamination to
enter Heaven? Anyone entering Heaven without being totally righteous would
defile it, and no one is righteous unless they are clothed in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Think of the requirements
the High Priest had to follow to enter the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle
once a year. Please recall what would happen if he failed to do as God
required. He died on the spot.
No human being will ever
enter Heaven by their own righteousness. Any attempt to do so will result in
spending eternity in Hell, and Hell is not just eternal fire and damnation. It
is also eternal separation from God. All those who have not called upon Jesus
Christ as Savior will spend eternity without Him in Hell.
The Good News is that;
“… Everyone who calls on the
name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
If you still think we can all
go to Heaven apart from Jesus, and then change for the better when we get
there, God will show us one last proof that it can’t happen. It is a future
period called the Millennium; 1,000 years of a perfect earth, without Satan’s
influence, since he will be chained up for that time. What happens?
The Millennium starts with
only those who are believers in Christ. Those believers living at the end of
the Tribulation will populate the Millennium, but just as in the beginning with
Adam and Eve, sin creeps back in again. Why? Those born during the Millennium
will have old sin natures and each one of them will have to decide to follow
Christ or not. At the end of the 1,000 years, when Satan is released, many will
follow Satan in a rebellion against God, and King Jesus will finally put an end
to all rebellion.
God placed us in the Garden
of Eden, a perfect environment, then Satan tempted us and we failed. We sinned against
God and lost everything to Satan.
God gave us the Law through
Moses to show us how sinful we really are, and that we cannot keep it. It was
given to us to guide us to the cross.
God gave us the Sermon on the
Mount to show us God’s holiness is even higher than the Law. You guessed it. We
couldn’t keep the Law, and we certainly can’t keep the Sermon on the Mount,
which is even more stringent.
God gave us salvation by grace
through faith alone in Jesus Christ, and most reject it. This is where we are
now in the Church age. All God asks is that we rest our faith in His Son.
In the future, perhaps near
future, God will give us the millennial age, another perfect environment, but
this time without Satan around to tempt us.
Man can no longer make Satan the patsy. No one can blame him, because he
will be chained up. Again, we will rebel because of our sin nature.
Why is it that from Adam
onward we keep failing? We always fall to temptation. Sin abounds within us.
Why is that? Since in Adam we died spiritually, we must be born again
spiritually and that can only come through Jesus Christ. When Jesus saves a
person, that person is born again. They are made anew. They are clothed in His
righteousness.
All those who come to Jesus
to be saved are sanctified by His blood. We are being sanctified daily. We will
be sanctified in Heaven, meaning, total release from the old sin nature. It
will be gone forever. Never again will we know sin. This will never be
experienced however unless Jesus sets us free, and He cannot set us free until
we come to Him in faith.
All those who know Jesus, the
Son of God, as their personal Savior and Lord will be welcomed into Heaven
because they are made clean by the blood of Jesus Christ. Those who refuse and
ignore this one requirement of God will never see Heaven, but spend all
eternity in the Lake of Fire (Hell).
If you want to go to Heaven
when you die (or by the Rapture), there is only one way to get there, and that
is through Jesus Christ. Any other way will send you directly to hell. Don’t
listen to that liar, the Devil, listen to God.
Grant Phillips
Email: grantphillips@windstream.net
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
Rapture Ready: http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html
