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3) There are several ways for a person to make it to Heaven.

This is a myth that is probably as old as time, but that has become especially prevalent in today’s American culture. We want God the same way we want our fast food: made to order.

“I’d like a large helping of love, a standard salvation, but please hold the devotion.”

Unfortunately for us, it doesn’t work that way. As Proverbs 16:25 reads, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." The way that seems right to many of us nowadays is to see Heaven as a bicycle wheel. There are spokes all around the wheel and you may take one spoke to the middle and I may take another spoke, but in the end, we’ll all end up in the middle.

Quite simply, this is a made-up truth that we latch on to in order to avoid the inconvenient aspects of true devotion to Jesus Christ, the one and only “spoke” that leads to heaven.

The Bible is pouring with verses in support of this Truth. There are two that are most striking for me. In both of these instances, it is Jesus who is speaking.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” -- Matthew 7:13-14

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” -- John 14:6

An image that depicts this well is to imagine a large canyon (which represents death) separating us from God. We can try as hard as we would like, but nothing we can do ourselves will get us across the canyon (see my post last week). We can try as many different routes as we like, but the canyon is infinite and there is only one way across. Only Christ’s sacrifice will bridge the canyon.

If you’re one of those who has “traded the truth of God for a lie” (Romans 1:25), there is no time like the present to set things right. Sometimes the quickest (and only) way to get to where you need to be is to turn around and go the other way.

Go the way of Christ and you won’t be let down.

Answer true or false to the following statements about Heaven:

1) If the good things I do outweigh the bad things, God will recognize my effort and reward me by allowing me into Heaven.

2) Although there are some people who are bad and should be sent to Hell, most people are basically good and will probably go to Heaven.

3) There are several ways for a person to make it to Heaven.

4) If I just believe in God, I will go to Heaven.

Somewhere along the line, these statements got mixed in with church theology. The general population treats these as though they are the true doctrine. But the reality, the truth that is revealed to us in the Bible, is that each and every one of these statements is false.

Let’s look at each of these individually:

1) If the good things I do outweigh the bad things, God will recognize my effort and reward me by allowing me into Heaven. AND
2) Although there are some people who are bad and should be sent to Hell, most people are basically good and will probably go to Heaven.

God’s judgment isn’t a tally with good items tallied on the right and bad items on the left. Many people seem to think that just as long as there are more good tallies than bad, then they’ll make it to Heaven. In fact, in terms of earning salvation, all of us would have only bad tallies. Consider Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The simple truth is that we are all sinners. It’s all over the Bible for anyone to see. Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear.”

Each of us needs to look no further than the ten commandments to know that we have sinned. Ask yourself honestly, have you ever told a lie? Even a small one? A white lie? I think all of us have, which means we are guilty of breaking one of the ten commandments.

Or have you ever stolen anything, even something that isn’t worth much, like a pen? Even if it was on accident? When I was young, I once pocketed some candy in the grocery store. What can I say? It looked good. But those of us who have stolen something are guilty of breaking another of God’s commandments.

Surely, though, if we’ve only done one or two bad things, the tally is still in our favor though, right? Nope. James 2:10 tells us, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”

Well crud. Now our tally is all messed up.

But, you may ask, what about the good things we do? Surely giving to charity and helping people is worth something in God’s eyes, right? Wrong. As Isaiah 64:6 says, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”

To put it in perspective, let me pass on a story that was shared in my church a few weeks ago. The man speaking was talking about his dog. One day, the dog seemed very excited and led the man to the backyard where there was a dead squirrel in his bowl. The dog looked at the man as if to say, “Look at this wonderful gift I have brought for you. Aren’t you proud of me?”

That is what our good works are to God: filthy rags and dead squirrels.

Gross.

In the end, there is one and only one thing we can put in the “good” category. Titus 3:5 says, “he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” And in Romans, the verse I shared above about everyone falling short of the glory of God is followed up with, “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Our belief in and devotion to Jesus Christ is the only thing we can put in the “good” category. It almost sounds like bad news when I say it that way. But in reality it’s the best news possible, because once that one thing is tallied, all of the bad tallies are erased and never return.

Wow. Examining that issue took up more space than I anticipated. Looks like we’ll examine numbers 3 and 4 in the coming week(s). God Bless!