The Way
“…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” -Jesus
John 14:6
Jesus is the exclusive way to Heaven. It may not be politically correct, but it is the truth, in its absolute form. It is not by denomination. No membership card will get you into Heaven. The religious leaders of Jesus time thought they were the stuff. They each thought that they were the cream of the crop. The religious upper crust. The righteous untouchables. Here is what Jesus thought-
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” Matthew 23:27-28.
All church goers may think they are good inside. Going to church is a good thing. But it does not make you a good person. In fact, it is paying honor to God and that is good, but that will not make you clean before God. Even a convict will show respect for the judge when they appear before the court. But that does not make the convict innocent. The convict is simply doing what is expected of him in that situation. Belonging to a church is nothing more than belonging to something such as the Rotary, the Red Cross, United Way, Oprah book of the month club, AAA, VFW, or the American Legion. Nothing is wrong with these institutions but they are just that, institutions, created by men. God expects more.
Some people think that if they are a good person that they will be granted eternal life in Heaven with Jesus. Being a good person is…well…Good. But that’s it. It’s good to be a good person. But how do you know if your good enough? Do you keep a book with you and every time you do something good you mark it down? Do you mark it down every time you do something bad? Does one bad deed outweigh three good deeds? Or.. vise versa? What about thoughts…are actions louder than thoughts? Do bad thoughts count? You can begin to see how complicated this process can be. God is the only one who can judge a man, but, wouldn’t you think God would give man a better clue than hoping he might make it? Here is what the Bible says about good deeds and the prospect of going to Heaven-
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9.
God does not look on the works of man to determine his entrance into Heaven. If man was good enough to get into Heaven then he would most likely be guilty of pride and…oh yeah..boasting. That’s what Ephesians tells us, that man would boast of his “earned” entrance into Heaven. What does the best good works of man look like to God? Let’s see-
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6
Even on our best days we still look pretty filthy to God. We like to think of ourselves as good people. But we as the human race are pretty delusional. Think about it…how many times have you been to a funeral where something bad was said about the deceased? Everybody can’t be good. Somewhere, someone had to have been a bad person and died. But we only say the positive things about the person and the rest is faded into the past. This is a delusion, not the truth. God looks upon the truth of our lives. We are guilty even if we don’t believe any of this, or believe in Jesus-
“He that believeth on Him (Jesus) is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18.
You may not believe in gravity. You may defy it in your mind all you want. But when you decide to jump from the roof of your house, you will seriously injure yourself. It’s a fact. Whether you like it or not, and no matter how many times you try it, you will get hurt. The fact is that every person on this planet is a sinner. We have all thought evil things. We have all said evil things. We have all done evil things. We cannot even go one whole day without doing something we shouldn’t.
So what are we supposed to do? Does God even love us? The answer is yes. God does love us and He provided a way out. “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 God loved us so much that He was willing to leave Heaven, become a man, put up with abuse and ridicule, be tortured, and ultimately be murdered for our sins. See…God created man innocent and holy. But God gave man a choice. Man could follow God’s rules and live forever in a perfect world, or man could reject God and go it alone. Man chose to go it alone. As a result of this, God could not look upon man in his sin. God is a pure, righteous and Holy God. Mankind is filthy in his sins. But God has continued to reach out to His creation. God has continued to love mankind so much so, that God became a man and died for our sins upon a cross two thousand years ago, and fulfilled the requirements of justice. Jesus’ blood that was spilt upon the cross paid the price necessary for God to be able to look upon a man. The Bible says that-
“God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.
Christ died for you. He paid your debt of sin. Think of all the horrible things you have done. We have all done them. Think about all the evil things you have thought and knew nobody else knew. God knows. Even if everybody else doesn’t know what you think or do in secret. God knows. God is offering you a choice. This choice is a lot like the one made by mankind thousands of years ago at the beginning of time. The choice is do you accept God’s love. Or…do you go it alone?
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13.
What choice will you make? The way to Heaven is through Jesus and faith in Him. Will you make that choice? It’s the only way.
