I’ve asked this question to many people, “If you were to die today and find yourself standing before God, what would you say if He asked you why should I let you into Heaven?” Through the years, I’ve had many answers. The most popular was that I am a good person, I take care of those in need, I treat my neighbors with respect, and I even give to charitable organizations. Others have said I’ve been baptized. Another said I am a member of the Baptist church. When asking one gentleman the question he said because my good outweighs my bad.
Before you read any further, stop, think about the question, and answer in your own heart: “Why should God let me into His Heaven?”
While all the things mentioned above are good in themselves, they are not what God set as the standard for spending eternity in Heaven.
Let’s look at the most common one, “I’m a good person.” When measuring something there must be a standard by which we measure. If a person is considered good, who are they measuring themselves against? If a guy who steals measures himself against Hitler, he probably looks pretty good. However, if he measures himself against Mother Teresa, he probably looks bad. So, we must determine what God’s standard is when gauging our goodness. God’s standard is perfection!
Revelation 21:27 “And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, nor maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
There will be no sin in Heaven! God’s holiness won’t even allow Him to be in the presence of sin. That’s why when Jesus was on the cross, and all our sin was placed on Him, God turned His back on Him.
All the reasons mentioned in the former paragraphs were all based on what we do, to put it in a group, they are all works. The Bible says much about doing good works. It says that we are to be like Christ, and he did many good works. James even says faith without works is dead. However, we do not work for our salvation. We are to work from our salvation. When we understand what Christ has done for us, our love and gratitude for Him will cause us to want to work for Him.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
The only reason God will let us into Heaven is because His perfect Son gave His life as a payment for our sins. He paid what we owed. No amount of money or sacrifice from us could have satisfied God’s wrath. On our own, we just aren’t good enough. Jesus Christ offers His own perfect righteousness in the place of our self-righteousness, which can never save us. Keeping the law never saved anyone. The law was to make us conscious of our sins.
Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
We are all sinners. If we think we have not sinned, we are fooling ourselves. God’s word must be our authority if we are to be His child and spend eternity with Him. His word tells us in Romans 3:23 that we are all guilty. No one is exempt!
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
1 John 1:8, 10 “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves,” and “If we say we have not sinned we make God a liar,”
God must judge sin. If we have not accepted the payment for those sins, we will not enter Heaven. Jesus paid the price, but we must yield ourselves to God’s plan, or we will face judgment for our own sins.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life”
Hebrews 9:27 “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this comes judgment.”
Thank God that he saw our need and loved us enough to make a way for us to be forgiven. He loves us and offered His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for our sins.
I John 4:9-10 “By this the love of God was revealed to us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the payment for our sins.”
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 eternal life.”
His forgiveness cannot be earned but is offered as a free gift, to all who will accept it by faith.
Romans 6:23 ” For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Either we must pay for our sins, or we must accept God’s payment for our sins. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, came to earth, lived a sinless life, died on the Cross, and rose again on the third day, as God’s only acceptable payment for our sins. If we try to pay for our sins ourselves through things like good works, rules, or religion, we can never do it perfectly or never completely enough to pay for them all. We must accept Jesus’ sacrifice as the complete payment for our sins to be perfectly and completely forgiven.
God loves all of us more than we can imagine. He has demonstrated His love to us by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sins. He offers us salvation and forgiveness. The choice is ours to make. No one can do it for us, and there is no other way to get to Heaven.
