A close brother in Christ asked me to explain why I am sure that we will be going to heaven. Now, this is an excellent question! The world is full of salvation-selling hucksters who offer some ritual, which is supposed to provide you with a ticket to heaven. Well, let me share the truth with you - share scripture with you. Scripture references over 30 things that save you. Things such as: baptism, belief, confession, doctrine, endurance, faith, Jesus, truth, mercy, preaching, repentance, trust and work are all linked with our salvation. You would drive yourself nuts trying to build a score sheet and keep track of how well you are meeting all of the salvation requirements; that is why the hucksters only use a few scripture references in their salvation formulas. Oh by the way, the "sinners prayer" is not to be found in scripture; the "sinners prayer" is the invention of men's minds. Probably Satan helped!
Friends; salvation is not produced through some ritual. Salvation is the result of a spiritual transformation, which sets us on a life long spiritual and physical journey with Christ. You will know that a spiritual transformation has taken place in your life because of your love for Jesus and your desire to live life according to His instructions. Think about how you felt when you first fell in love, not lust, with that special person. You wanted to do things that made the other person happy. It is much the same way when you fall in love with Jesus. The main difference is the fact that your love for Jesus is produced by a spiritual transformation and it is not just your brain working in overdrive.
You start your journey with Jesus as a spiritual newborn and hopefully you will spend the rest of your life maturing as a Christian. Some people mature real fast and some of us are extremely slow. Many, however, never really let go of their self-interests and some just plain do not have the will power to struggle against sin. The people who cannot let go of self-interests may remain churchgoers but they are just as lost as anyone else who has not been born again. Some will eventually return to the standards of the world and no longer attempt to follow the teachings of Jesus. In either case, the odds are very good that their love for Jesus was just in their heads and never in their heart. Some people will say that the people who return to the world were never really saved in the first place, and others will say that they were saved but lost their salvation because they rejected the teachings of Jesus. To make either judgment is to put yourself on the throne of God and I don't want to be guilty of that. In any advent, the salvation ritual did not produce a spiritual transformation for the lost: those still in church- as well as those who returned to the world.
No ritual can produce a spiritual transformation in our lives. We are transformed because the Holy Spirit is in communion with our spirit and we fall under the conviction of our sins and we turn to Jesus as the Christ - our savior. We can have all the head knowledge in the world about salvation but it means absolutely nothing unless it results in a spiritual transformation - we are born of the spirit - we are born again. From that point forward we are responsible for maintaining a spirit that never stops trying to be in obedience to the instructions of Jesus. It is up to us to feed and mature our spirit by studying God's word, by prayer and by fellowshipping with other Christians. If you stop feeding your spirit this spiritual nourishment, your spirit will begin to wither up... and eventually it will die. There is no ritual, which gives you lifetime supply of spiritual nourishment.
We are in a fight against sin and we can never stop fighting. We must never allow sin to rule in our bodies. Yes, some of us will fall and fall and fall again; but as long as we acknowledge our sin, repent, and ask God for forgiveness we will continue to belong to Jesus. Nothing can take us away from Jesus except our own free will. We cannot resist sin, however, if we allow our spirit to grow weak from a lack of spiritual nourishment. Listen to the words of Jesus and the Apostles. They never say that a person has been given a ticket to heaven. Instead, they repeatedly tell us that we are in a battle and that we must never stop fighting against sin - salvation comes to those who have fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith.
So, with your kind permission, we will stop going over the basic teachings about Christ. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don't need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You don't need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding. (Hebrews 6:1-3)
INTRODUCTION
We know that we are fighting the good fight because our daily objective is to be obedient to Jesus. Jesus said: "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."(John 14:23) I, for one, am not going to heaven because I am perfect: just ask anyone who knows me. But, I have confidence in the saving power of Jesus because of His love for me and because of my love for Him. Because of Jesus, we learn to love those around us and because we love those around us- our heart is filled with the joy of being in the kingdom of God. Peter said: "You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other, as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God." (1 Peter 1:22-24) Listen to what Peter is saying! Christians display their salvation through the love of Jesus. We exercise our free will by loving others; we do not exercise our free will by serving our own self-interests: this is sinning. Christian love is a deep love that comes from the heart of the person who has died to self-interest, and now lives in loving obedience to Christ.
We are capable of loving those around us because we are already dead. I know this sounds odd! Look at it this way. A combat soldier can never become really effective until he is first dead- in his mind. As long as you are obsessed with staying alive, the fear of death will get in the way of your doing your duty in combat. Once a soldier has set aside the constant expectations of tomorrow, he can live and do his job today. It is kind of the same thing with a Christian. As long as we are focused on ourselves we will have a tendency to display some level of selfish ambition, jealousy, anger, hatred, hostility, quarreling, envy or other self-interest. The only way to get these things out of our life is to die to our personal self-interests. Jesus said: "If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it." (Matthew 10:38-40) In my opinion, Jesus was not talking only about our physically dieing for Him! I think Jesus was telling us that we must have a greater interest in serving Him than we do in serving our own self-interests. Now this does not mean we have to become ministers, missionaries or evangelists. This means that, regardless of the path we walk, we will serve Jesus before we meet our own personal wants. This means that we will love Jesus by loving those around us because they are of more importance to us than our own self-interests. We will be capable of true Christian love because we have died to self.
It is not easy to die to self-interests. The world tells us to do just the opposite. The world tells you that you are the most important thing in the world. That is why most of us have to struggle to put the feelings of others ahead of our own personal feeling. That is why it seems impossible to keep from being annoyed by the hurtful actions of other people. But, a mature Christian will raise above all this, in spite of what the world tells us to do. The world does everything it can to keep us from getting to the place where the love of Jesus fills our life! Remember, Satan is not lazy. He will see to it that our lives are so full of secular activities that we have little time left for reading God's word, praying, meditating, and fellowshipping with other Christians. The truth is: we can only be filled with the love of Jesus by getting to know Jesus. This is not "knowing" about Jesus! It is getting to know Jesus the same way we get to know a very close friend. It means we must study the word of God, and pray for understanding. It means getting to know the Holy Spirit and following His guidance in turning our heart over to Jesus. It means learning what Jesus expects from us and then obeying His every teaching. It means coming to the point where faith in Jesus dominates the way we think and act. Dieing to self-interests and falling in love with Jesus is impossible if you have not been spiritually transformed - been born again.
MILESTONES IN OUR JOURNEY WITH JESUS
The following are just a few of the things we need to hang onto as anchors for our faith and the assurance that we are saved.
1. God. We have a very clear understanding of just exactly who our God is - have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? (Matthew 22:31-32) Both the Jewish and Christian faiths acknowledge their God to be the God of the three Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Of interest, is the fact that the Islamic faith believes in the same God but probably prefers to identify Him as the God of Abraham. The Koran, Torah and the Holy Bible all contain numerous references to the fact that there is only one God.
a. "And cry not unto any other god along with Allah. There is no god save Him." Qur'an, Sura 28;88
b. "The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" Torah of the Prophet Moses (Deuteronomy 6:4).
c. "Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me." Old Testament of the Holy Bible (Isaiah 43:10)
d. "For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live." New Testament of the Holy Bible (1 Corinthians 8:5-6)
If you will notice, the first and fourth references allude to their being other Gods; but we are to only worship the one true God. We must remember that, prior to his rebellion, Satan was a high and exalted spiritual being- subject only to God. But, Satan's pride caused him to rebel against God. Satan and his army were defeated and cast out of the presence of God. Satan now rules over the earth and all that is in it - except for those under God's protection. Satan lost everything because of his lust for power; yet this desire to be God is still a major driving force in Satan. Satan presents himself to mankind in multiple disguises, which man turns into various religions and gods. In fact, the world has always been, and still is, full of false gods who all answer to Satan. Therefore, the Native Americans, the European Pagans, the Eastern Spiritualist and other religious groups all have real gods - real spiritual being; but they all answer to Satan. Christians, on the other hand, can anchor their faith to the fact that our God is the one true living God.
2. Sin. In Christianity, Judaism and Islam- the concept of sin differs from the explanation of sin found in other religions. Sin may be displayed by our actions but it originates in our hearts. Our actions do not condemn us as much as our heart condemns us. In fact, you can have the right actions but still be lost if your heart does not belong to Jesus. Jesus said: "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me." (Matthew 15:8) A person who is filled with self-interest cannot have a heart that is near to Jesus. The spiritual transformation of our heart is the key to salvation because none of us can live a totally sinless life. We are conceived in sin and born into a world where sin rules. "Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:11-12) We can no more escape sin than we can stand naked in a rain storm and escape getting wet. Does this mean that we are free to sin? Heavens to mergatroid no! We must resist sin, we must agonize over our sins, we must be humbled by our sins, we must repent -we must ask God for forgiveness. But, salvation does not come by our gaining victory over sin. We will gain victories over sin because we are saved and not to get saved.
3. Worship. The fact that we have sinned separates us from God but because of the sacrifice Jesus made we can have eternal life. "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) Earlier we said that we must have more than just head knowledge about Jesus. We must believe in Jesus to the point where we love and obey all of His teachings - we worship Him. "Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them." (John 14:21) There is no better anchor for our faith than the love of God. There is nothing man can say to change the fact that God loves us and wants us to love Him back. There is absolutely nothing complicated about worshipping God: it all comes down to the reality of love. God loves us in spite of our sin, and He expects us to love Him regardless of the situation we find ourselves in. Our worshiping God has no boundaries and it cannot be limited by any conditions set by man. When we are saved by the love of God, we are transformed and God starts filling us with the capability to love as a Christian. It is our Christian love that empowers us with the capability to worship God regardless of what is happening around us. No manmade rituals or litanies can measure up to God's desire for us to love Him above everything else, including self.
4. All Other Are Lost. A man asked Jesus about salvation and Jesus told him: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) Therefore, the Native Americans, the European Pagans, the Eastern Spiritualist and all other religious groups will lead a person away from the one true living God. Sorry, I know that sounds hard, but it is scripturally true. Even though we may not have the authority to judge the state of another person's soul, we can honestly proclaim that scripture tells us: you either come to the one true God through Jesus the Christ or you end up in hell.
As we said in the beginning of this article: there is more to being saved than just saying that you believe in Jesus. Jesus himself told us that: "Not everyone who calls out to me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter." (Matthew 7:21) If we are to do the will of God we will love Jesus by loving those around us. Jesus told a story about a king who forgave the debt of one of his servants, but the servant refused to forgive one of his fellow servants. As a result, the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. Jesus went on to say: "That's what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart." (Matthew 18:34- 35) Think about this for a moment. Do we hate anyone? Is there someone we hold a grudge against? If the answer is yes, then we have a problem. The entire message of salvation is founded on Christian love. Without unconditional love in our heart we are going to have a very hard time maturing as a Christian. In fact, we may not even survive as a Christian.
We can make the statement that: "those who have not taken Jesus as their savior and been born again are lost and going to hell." But, this proclamation must never become a judgment against an individual. There may be justification for judging another person's actions, from the perspective of their being right or wrong, but we have no right to pass judgment on another person's soul. Judging the state of another person's soul is limited to Jesus alone. Paul alluded to this when he told Timothy: "I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom:" (2 Timothy 4:1). We have no right to pass judgment on the soul of another individual, even if scripture makes it very clear that all are lost who do not take Jesus as their Lord and savior,
5. Can you be saved if you never heard of Jesus? My first reaction is to defer back to point 4. I must admit, however, that there is scripture, which could be interpreted to show ignorance about Jesus as an acceptable excuse. I would refer you to the 12th chapter of Luke. One of the things Luke writes about in this chapter is the story Jesus told regarding our living a life, which prepares us to meet Him when He returns. In this story Jesus explains that: "A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. But what if the servant thinks, 'My master won't be back for a while,' and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut the servant in pieces and banish him with the unfaithful. "And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn't prepared and doesn't carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required." (Luke 12:42-48) In my opinion, this tells us that those who never heard the word, do not have the mental facilities to understand the word, or are too young to know about Jesus will not be judged under the same expectation as the rest of us.
6. We will not all enter into heaven as equals! I grew up thinking that when I got to heaven, if I got to heaven, I would be given a halo, a harp and a cloud to sit on. To tell you the truth, I did not think this was anything to look forward to. I don't especially like music and I am not too fond of height. Well, God bless the poor simple Sunday School teachers who painted that picture. And, may God also have mercy on the Christian socialist, who thinks that we will all be equal in heaven. To these individuals I would ask: What about my treasure room, which I will fill by obeying and serving Jesus here on earth? What about the heavenly authority and positions of responsibility I can earn while I am here on earth? What about the heavenly crowns I can win as a faithful servant here on earth? The Christian socialists are wrong: heaven is not a socialist paradise! Look at what Paul had to say.
Because of God's grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have-Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials-gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person's work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames. (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)
This is why James tells us that: "What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don't show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, "Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well"-but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless." (James 2:14-17) God expects us to labor for Him during our earthly existence. No, you do not have to be a preacher or a missionary or a Sunday School teacher or what have you! But God does expect us to always lift up Jesus as savior as often as the opportunity presents itself. God does expect us to raise our Children as Christians. And most import, God expects us to live a life that reflects the love of Jesus. So you see, we will not all be alike in heaven; our earthly obedience to Jesus earns us rewards in heaven.
CONCLUSION:
Do you see how important love is in all of this? In James' illustration about faith and works, he is pointing out actions that could only have come out of a loving Christian heart. Yes, worldly people display love, but they have no faith- and thus their love does them no good. In the same way, I can believe in Jesus Christ, but if that belief has not brought love to my heart it does me no good. Love is the answer to our salvation.
There is no magical ritual that saves us! It is not by reading the word of God, saying the sinner's prayer, getting baptized, doing good works or joining a Church. I am most sorry, and almost brought to wrath, that there are people out there selling this nonsense. Jesus said to the Pharisee: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40) We are saved because, at the time of our death, our life was still filled will a desire to love and serve Jesus. Our salvation hinges on the love of God: not on some ritual!
Our salvation is dependent on our having undergone a spiritual rebirth, which is shown by our love for Jesus and for those around us. Some people may have hearts filled to the brim with the love of Jesus and they will undoubtedly be greatly rewarded in heaven. Then there are some of us who have to struggle and fight to keep love in our hearts. We have fallen many times but we have always gotten up, asked God to forgive us and we have continued to try to live a life, which is full of the love of Jesus. We know that God is not going to throw us away because of our failures - not as long as we have a repentant heart and continue to try and manifest the fruit of the spirit. Yes, there is the parable of the vine and the branches, which are thrown into the fire. Yes, a person could go through all the salvation rituals and still end up lost. Yes, a person could even believe in Jesus and still be lost. But, we are not talking about the dead branches. We are talking about those of us who have been born again and are now trying to live a life filled with Christian love. Some will be very successful and thus receive a great reward. Some of us might enter into heaven- smoking like a singed chicken! But, the life transforming blood of Jesus saves all who love and obey His teachings.